[Novalug] OT: Rant Engineering Steel Square

[greg pryzby]

On Sun, Dec 26, 2010 at 11:09 AM, Varol Okan
<varokan at movingsatellites.com> wrote:
> So I am trying to build this chess robot and as such I'll have to do
> some metal work.
>
> One of the things I was looking to get was a simple "engineering steel
> square", which I thought should be easy to find. However after going to
> Sears, Lowes, Home Depot, and finally looking at Amazon I came to the
> realization that this is the hardest tool to find.


I was looking for a diamond bit 1-1/2" or 1-3/4" for porcelain work.
The largest you can but locally is 1-3/8" or 2". I found it online for
14$ (although shipping was high).

I have found the right tool makes all the difference. After building a
bathroom (21x2' floor and 1'x2' wall porcelain tiles) and drywalling,
I have replaced a number of of cheap tools with ones that will last.

> Sure I could have gotten a set of 3 or 4 for about $30,- to $40,- but
> since I mostly use one hand to hold the square and one to hold te piece
> I am working on, I really only needed 1 steel square and $30,- for a
> tool like that seemed too high.

Make one :)

> Now why is that ? A simple tool like this ? It's not a trade secret
> after all; two steel bars aligned at 90degrees, without much fuss. Go
> figure.
>
> What I found however were about two gazillion pliers, the same amount of
> wrenches, screwdriver and the likes.
>
> Sorry for the rant but I found that very interesting. I ended up buying
> a steel square for wood work, which is covered with a in clear paint
> coat to prevent it from rusting. So I guess it'll do ( barely though )
> but it is not the perfect tool for the job plus it is a bit bigger than
> I needed it to be.

Next time ping me, I have a friend that is a wood worker, sculptor and
handy man. He knows where to get just about anything.

-- 
greg pryzby                              greg at pryzby dot org
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gpryzby

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