Solo Stick: One Person Measuring Device
Ryan Converse
Demonstration of the Solo Stick.
Solo Stick in use for vertical measurements
Summary
Taking precise wall or window measurements are sometimes very difficult
especially when trying to take these measurements yourself. When finishing a house, the
trim joints can make or break the look of the house. Non-precise measurements can lead
to miss-cut boards which in turn leave unwanted visible gaps between trim boards. When
trying to take these measurements, a measuring tape is difficult as it bends, bows, and
cracks leading to inaccurate measurements. Not only can the measurements be
inaccurate, but the user can forget what the exact measurement actually was. Was it 2 feet
3¼ in or 2 feet 3¾ in? Laser measurements are sometimes also inaccurate and hard to
obtain. There are other products out on the market for obtaining these measurements but
most of them are expensive and difficult to operate.
The project is to design a measuring device that will be able to span the length of
a wall without bending, be operated by one person, be mindless in the sense of not
needing “actual dimensions,” and be affordable to the avid “Do it yourselfer.” “Do it
yourselfers” are usually working by themselves which gives importance to the solo
operated feature. The device would be something that spans the length of the wall and
can be locked down at an exact length. Once locked down, the entire structure can be
taken right over to the piece of trim that needs to be cut. The piece can then be marked
off and cut without having to memorize the actual measurements.
All of the concepts consisted of five 3ft coinciding aluminum pieces. This will
allow for the product to be easily maneuverable, while still spanning a length of 15ft. In
order for this to work there needed to by some type of locking unit attached to each tube.
The locking mechanisms considered were; a crimping screw, ovular tubing that would
twist against the preceding, a twist-lock mechanism like on pruning loppers, and flip lock
such as on an umbrella. I also considered different geometries such as; triangular, square,
round, ovular, and c-channel. Each of which had different advantages and disadvantages.
I decided to go with five 3 feet sections of coinciding Aluminum 6061-T6
seamless tubing with twist-lock mechanisms in order for the device to lock at various
lengths. The locking mechanism that was chosen was that of an extendable paint roller.
What happens is when the two pipes are twisted, an off center washer that is attached to
an off center axis on the rod end rotates causing it to stick out applying pressure on the
preceding tube. Taking the paint roller apart one can see that the design of the locking
mechanism is a very simple, one in which could easily be rapid prototyped for each of the
inner tubes. A few end attachments were also fabricated to compensate for different wall
geometries. These end attachments include; blunt ends, a pointed end, a corner end, and
an eyehook end. These attachments screw onto the end of the outermost pipes.
The final prototype measures just over 3ft when fully collapsed and can extend
out to just under 15ft. When fully extended and locked down it is very rigid. There is
essentially no deflection meaning the results are accurate. The locking mechanism
enables the user to lock the device down at an exact wall length. The locks lock tight with
a very minimal twisting of the pipes enabling quick and easy adjustments. The devise
relays precise measurements with no need for any “actual” dimensions. The cost of the
project came out to just under $60 which meet my design requirement of less than $100.