Erroneous Lufkin 100' Tape measure.. BE AWARE !

[Marctrees]

Long story short...Tried to 3 4 5 a 40 x 50' area for slab forms.

Of course, used the basically longest dimensions possible..33' and 44'.

Was using both Lufkin wind up 100' newer cloth plastic tape, AND 30' Stanley steel tape intermittently.

Now, I have not done this for years.... screwed w it for HOURSSSS,. something was goofy....

FINALLY... figured out the 100' was about an inch off per approx 40'

Most of a day of two guys would have been saved if before we started I compared the two tapes side by side.

Now I know.

Marc

 

[Marctrees]

I always use the SAME tape measure when in shop doing like accurate cabinet work... but never thought of following through w that idea on a big area.

Duhhh !!!

Marc

 

[Jakemedic]

I too found out the hard way! I tend to loose my tapes while building in the garage. My Stanley and my Craftsman are about 1/8” different. Ironically, the craftsman is the accurate one! Best of luck with your pour! I have one of those in my future as well.

 

[Boilerhouse]

Helped a friend build his 30 x 50 shop once. Used his vinyl tape to check for square. It seemed to stretch when pulling taut and I didn't really trust it. I much prefer my steel tape.

 

[Marctrees]

I think possibly , maybe, but need to verify still, would be a steel tape.... as long as you are conscious in wiping it dry/ clean when rolling up.

Certainly my cloth/ plastic tape is good enough for many jobs, but now I learn not ALL.

Goes back to every tool has it's value, when used within it's limits or purposes.

Marc

 

[spam4us]

Same with the freebee HF 25 ft tapes. About 1/4 inch in 16 ft.

 

[tarmy]

I think possibly , maybe, but need to verify still, would be a steel tape.... as long as you are conscious in wiping it dry/ clean when rolling up.

Certainly my cloth/ plastic tape is good enough for many jobs, but now I learn not ALL.

Goes back to every tool has it's value, when used within it's limits or purposes.

Marc

Remember...steel tapes “ move” too. Temperature affects the length of the steel...there are charts for adjustment. Surveyors always note temp when a steel or rag tape is used so that adjustments can be calc’d. The survey instruments get adjusted too.

When you square up...always use the same device...and tension on the device.

Good luck.

 

[Capt Crash]

My cousin was doing concrete and they were putting in a drain. The drain didn't come out square. It seems that the boss had bought them all new tape measures from the dollar bin and they all went 14", 15", 15", 16".
Brian

 

[James-W]

I always use the same tape measure when on the job site and when in the garage working I use my metal yard stick.

 

[gunguy]

Similar but different - Once my buddy and I had to do a set up in metric but nobody had a meter tape. My buddy does the conversion thing, we set up but it just doesn't look right to me. I asked him to recheck his conversion calculations and sure enough, he was off. After that incident, I bought a meter tape for those occasions we had to work in the metric system.

Moral of the story: whenever possible avoid conversions and use tools calibrated in the system you're working to.

Jim

 

[NUTTSGT]

Same with the freebee HF 25 ft tapes. About 1/4 inch in 16 ft.

I have one I keep in the basement while working on the floor and for laying block. I figure it's good enough for that. It rarely comes out more than a few feet.



Whatever I'm doing, I try to stick to using one tape and use no others. If something is off, it "should" be consistent with itself.

 

[ScottsGT]

Reminds me about the time I hung 100+ TV's around campus with a bad level. Never could figure out why they were always crooked.
It was a cheap level that came as show swag given away be a vendor. I gave them a piece of my mind the next year at the show.

 

[aka Larry]

Reminds me about the time I hung 100+ TV's around campus with a bad level. Never could figure out why they were always crooked.
It was a cheap level that came as show swag given away be a vendor. I gave them a piece of my mind the next year at the show.

My neighbor was using a knockoff post level and the bubble was less than half the size of the lines it's supposed to kept in between. That basically comes down to 'eyeballing it', and if you're going to do that you don't even need a level!

 

[Cooter Brown]

A little poking around on the net is interesting. I was not able to find a published standard or minimum of accuracy, either US Gov. or ISO. It seems there's a member here that works in a metrology/calibration lab and would know where to find that.

In Europe tape measures are divided into Class 1 and Class 2, Class 1 being the most accurate. Apparently the Stanleys/etc. that are sold for general purpose in the US fall under Class 2.

https://www.thetapestore.co.uk/tapes-rules/tape-measures/tape-accuracy


In the US you can get a NIST certified Stanley--they're expensive. Accuracy of hook +/- .005", accuracy of blade +/- 1/32"--I think at 6". Not super precise.

http://lixertools.com/products/tape-measures/16-ft-stanley-power-lock-tape-measure.html

One drop landing on the hook takes that out. Like others I try to use one tape throughout a job that requires accuracy, but anything that requires dead on accuracy I try to use a story stick or a better measuring device, and I check my tapes against a Starrett rule.

Lixer makes calibration tools for tape measures and other devices as well. Interesting little rabbit hole.

 

[Jon_E]

It appears that Lufkin brands and sells various grades or quality of measuring tapes. I spent most of my 'first' career as part of a land survey crew, from about 1985 until 2013, and Lufkin was a trusted and respected name in quality for steel and cloth tapes. Highly accurate. Keson and CST/berger were the other two names we used. The cheap Lufkin stuff in the home centers is just that - cheap garbage. I tend to stick with Stanley measures or the engineer/survey-grade Lufkin. If it's good, it's NOT cheap.

 

[Falcon67]

Same with the freebee HF 25 ft tapes. About 1/4 inch in 16 ft.

So - maybe metric inches.

LOL but serious - 16' = 487.68 cm. Round down to 487 cm, divide by 2.54 - 15.977690, works out to 15' 11.73228 inches. So right at 1/4" off.

 

[My Old Tools]

As a timber framer, we never ever use the hook. In any TF shop you'll hear guys calling out "burning an inch". Most shops will buy tapes by the case, go through them and compare until they have as many as they need that match at say 20'. Then return the left overs.

You don't really need an accurate measure to square something. The Egyptians did it with a piece of rope with 13 evenly spaced knots in it. The key is the even spacing.

 

[jack stand]

FINALLY... figured out the 100' was about an inch off per approx 40'

Longer or shorter?
One's an estimating tape (measures longer)
The other is a building tope (shorter)

 

[BukitCase]

This got me wondering, so I took both of my 100' Lufkins out and checked (one's a couple years old, 3:1 fast wind, the other's at least 25 years old. Both are steel; at 60' and hooked on the same board with the "droops" in the middle at exactly the same height, they were too close to see a difference.

It wasn't real warm today, if I think of it I'll check on a warmer day to see if they have the same temp coefficient... Steve

 

[Northislander]

In the early eighties i was a shipwrights apprentice one of our projects in school was to build an eight sided ships wheel with no power tools. That's 8 pieces with 16 cuts that have to be the exact right length and angle or your pieces don't meet correctly on the last joint. Learned to throw the tape measure out pretty quick as even using the same tape our skills to see and mark the length every time were lacking and that was with my 20 year old eyes.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

AH ha. I have a lot of poorly fitted things around here that I thought were MY fault. Now I know that I can blame my tape measure's!!!



.

 

[Falcon67]

You don't really need an accurate measure to square something. The Egyptians did it with a piece of rope with 13 evenly spaced knots in it. The key is the even spacing.

Sure, have you tried to find an Egyptian that can tie 13 evenly spaced knots?

Or, anyone. I know I'd not get anywhere close to "even".

 

[GrayFlattop]

Reminds me about the time I hung 100+ TV's around campus with a bad level. Never could figure out why they were always crooked.
It was a cheap level that came as show swag given away be a vendor. I gave them a piece of my mind the next year at the show.

yeah - I learned this the hard way too. A relatively new, undamaged Johnson box-beam aluminum level I had was off. And it was off by almost 3/8" in 30".

Always check your levels by flipping them end for end.

FWIW, after that caused a LOT of headaches I ended up buying new Stabila levels. No problems since, but when the work is critical, I always double-check. It takes less than a minute.

 

[Ray-CA]

I have several tapes as well but mine are a mix of standard “foot/inch” tapes and engineering “foot/tenths” tapes. I recognize the difference right away but have to be careful to use the same tape for the project.

Ray

 

[My Old Tools]

Sure, have you tried to find an Egyptian that can tie 13 evenly spaced knots?

Or, anyone. I know I'd not get anywhere close to "even".

No, but I have actually used it myself. Surprisingly easy. Of course a paint mark or such will work as well. How did you think they squared those pyramids to a fine tolerance?

 

[Falcon67]

I don't know, but Aliens.

Yes, I've read over the tools used and the simplicity, then felt rather "unworthy" when the 185' back fence line comes out not straight as an arrow.

 

[bdbecker]

I nearly got into a fistfight with my little brother one day because our tapes were measuring differently. He'd shout out a measurement, I'd cut a board, and half the time it would be too long. After awhile, he started giving me a hard time about not knowing how to read a tape measure or run a saw. It finally started getting out of hand and my Dad had to step in. Turns out, his tape was short by about 1/32" for every foot compared to Dad's and my tape. He was using some no-name cheap tape that he got from his old framing job. Once we gave him a good tape, everything magically started fitting.

BTW, this was only a few years ago - we were both grown men at the time. We can laugh about it now, but at the time, we were one wrong word away from a scuffle. Funny how some things never change.

 

[redmondjp]

I nearly got into a fistfight with my little brother one day because our tapes were measuring differently. He'd shout out a measurement, I'd cut a board, and half the time it would be too long. After awhile, he started giving me a hard time about not knowing how to read a tape measure or run a saw. It finally started getting out of hand and my Dad had to step in. Turns out, his tape was short by about 1/32" for every foot compared to Dad's and my tape. He was using some no-name cheap tape that he got from his old framing job. Once we gave him a good tape, everything magically started fitting.

BTW, this was only a few years ago - we were both grown men at the time. We can laugh about it now, but at the time, we were one wrong word away from a scuffle. Funny how some things never change.

Thanks for the great story! This would be perfect for a hidden-camera TV show ("we've secretly replaced these tape measures with ones that read wrong").

 

[AZ Pete]

Reminds me about the time I hung 100+ TV's around campus with a bad level. Never could figure out why they were always crooked.
It was a cheap level that came as show swag given away be a vendor. I gave them a piece of my mind the next year at the show.

easy enough to check a level's accuracy by switching ends, on the same surface, if the level does not show the same, each direction, it is time for a new level.


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[L5wolvesf]

I don't know, but Aliens.

I thought the sliver ones were metric

 

[naturalgas]

Try the new Strandly CHR tape measure


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[naturalgas]

https://www.chruler.com/

 

[PelicanPines]

https://www.chruler.com/

Use mine daily...

 

[850xpeps]

Only steel tapes are used when I pull any tape out. Building large commercial buildings or even smaller garages. They don’t stretch. Nylon do and unless you pull the same exact every time you’ll get different dimensions. Another thing I learnt if I always have the other guy hold it on 1’ that way your taking away the ability to have a loose end mess up your measureing. I do the same with my 26’/8m tape. When I want exact measuring I start on 1” mark or something similar.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

Now I an wondering how accurate the laser measuring devices are. I use two types, one is a Disto and shoots a red laser beam, which is visible, the other a Nikon, which I look through, and which has no visible beam.

I use the Disto for up to ( about 250-300' ) and the Nikon for longer distances.



.

 

[rburke65]

On my interior of my new shop, I was cutting styrofoam to stuff stud cavities using a hot wire set up. I would measure the studs spacing with a steel tape, and I used a yard stick to bump the stops I had set up on the table with the wire. It took me a long time until I realized the yard stick was ****.

 

[WaterBoyz]

https://www.chruler.com/

Worked on machines for years (70s & 80s) and we always used RCH for the "exact" adjustment. Wouldn't tell the new guys what it stood for until waaaaay after their probation period.



If I make a purchase what will my statement show?
Your credit card or PayPal statement will show a transaction from “Rulers & Such”.

 

[77Birdman]

Many years ago I did layout with a cloth tape. I learned the hard way. They stretch way too much. Stick with a steel tape. The cloth ones are good for rough layout to get batter boards close, and landscaping but def not finish work.

 

[b-boy]

I've burned my self using different tape measures. When I was framing 12 ft walls, I'd keep one inside and another out by my saw. I figured out after the 3rd cut that there was a problem and things weren't lining up well.

Same thing with levels. I have a 2ft, 4ft, and 8ft level. They give completely different readings.

I've been using my laser measuring tool and laser level a lot during my pole barn build. They are really accurate as long as you take some time to setup the site. I like them better than my tape measure and bubble level. Sometimes you have to use the older tech though.

 

[MScott]

Speaking of levels, I have a buddy who claims he levels everything with a beer bottle level. You simply take of drink from your favourite brew, set the bottle on the item to be checked and see if the beer is level in the bottle. If not, take another drink and recheck. Repeat until it appears level.