There are many tricks for finding the middle of a board without doing any math. The photo shows a centre marking jig, two dowels in a board with a pencil dead centre, rotate the board until the dowels rest on the two sides of the workpiece, then simply slide the jig along and you have a centre l...
If you have followed me for a few years you know that I hate tape measurers, just because I hate making mistakes. That is why I love jigs.When you want to drill all those evenly spaced holes in the cabinet sides, and all four support pins have to line up with each other or else the shelf will wo...
There are times, especially when working with moulding, that you need to divide an angle in half. I learned how to do this with a compass in high school and since then I have fallen in love with the Angle Finder, an impressive little device that uses more geometry than my compass to measure exac...
Measuring by yourself can be a drag. Here are three gadgets to help you out.If you are working with metal studs, you can now find a tape measurer that has magnetic on the hook. That won't slip and you can even just put it on the surface of the stud and measure from there.To get the hook on your...
Just a few math answers to common renovation questions.How far should steps go up (rise) and how wide should steps be (run)? The rise should not be less than 4 inches or you will stumble on it, nor more than 9 inches or it becomes a ladder. Then within those limits, the rise times the run should...
You can get an idea of the total power possible to bring into the house by looking at the main fuses or breakers -- not the set of ordinary ones that you replace or reset often. The main breakers are in the top of, or above, or between the regular electrical box and the electrical meter. There ...
One of our viewers sent in this tip.Mark the wall where you want a curtain bracket.Cut a piece of wide masking tape perfectly square and tape it to the table.Place the curtain bracket into the corner of the masking tape and use a pencil to mark the screw holes on the masking tape. Now fix the ta...
The high tech laser lights first came into common use as pointers. School teachers use them to shine a dot or an arrow on a distant wall.Electronic tape measurers use them to indicate what surface you are measuring to.Infra Red thermometers use them to indicate what surface is being measured.Hun...
The Stud Vision Pro looks just like a video screen. You actually see the stud pass by in the window, showing where is the left hand side, the right hand side and if it is one, two or three studs wide. In addition it shoots out a light to tell you exactly where the center is, made by Zircon. Ev...
