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Madsamurai's Locks and Projects

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jimylongs

Familiar Face

Posts: 66

Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 1:25 pm

Location: Utah, United States

Post Mon Apr 06, 2020 9:45 am

Re: Madsamurai's Locks and Projects

madsamurai wrote:
jimylongs wrote:I've printed out vernier scales for the outside, what also helped was printing finer lines for the inside of the dial where you read at. The lines on the dial itself are freaking huge.

Yep, you can print or buy printed scales. The big advantage to this one is that the needles overlap the lines on the dial, and the one that is aligned will create a nice consistent solid line that your eye naturally picks up on, even with thick dial markings like S&G. The adjustability allows you to overlap as much or little as works best for you, and get them very close to the dial to avoid parallax. I personally find it's much quicker to read and more precise than using paper/stickers. Plus it's much quicker to attach and set up than printing and trimming and trying to tape securely and straight. And if you're a professional, I think it would make a much classier impression on the client than stickers or taped-on print-outs.



For sure, this looks great. Didn't mean otherwise. Just the idea of having something on the dial would help too.
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Oldfast

User avatar

OldddffAASSTT the Spin Master Extraordinaire and American Lock Slayer
OldddffAASSTT the Spin Master Extraordinaire and American Lock Slayer

Posts: 4412

Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:16 am

Location: Michigan

Post Mon May 18, 2020 12:01 pm

Re: Madsamurai's Locks and Projects

I'm really quite excited about this honestly. I'm thrilled (and always will be) to have received the 2nd rendition! But I'm even more excited to see and purchase the FINAL set/version when the time comes. In addition to purchasing my own, I'm hoping to donate whatever I'm able to afford at the time to play a small part in getting things moving.

Appreciate you graciously insinuating that I've helped Chad. Truth is, not much!! lol... beyond placing it on some of the dials I have here. I can't imagine the plethora of problems you discovered and overcame along the way to arrive at what you have now. And it's only getting better with some of the add-ons and changes you've decided to make! :)


Setup & Use

Setup is seamless. Slap it on, move it into alignment, turn the knobs for some up/down adjustment if needed. A matter of seconds in most cases. Admittedly, I'd never even used or understood the vernier scale when I received this. The concept is really rather simple, and with very little coaching from Chad, I was off and running. Even the most minute fluctuations equate to enormous drops on the scale. We're talkin' 1, 2, 3 whole increments. Crazy obvious.

Just my opinion, but... beyond some of my homemade shit and my audio amp... I've found most tools designed for manipulation don't usually hold their weight. In fact, many of them tend to only elongate the process and make it more cumbersome. But I actually took a liking to this immediately and its in my go-to bag. I'm finding it to be a versatile tool. And I'm thinking it should appeal to number of other people too (beginner-advanced) for a variety of reasons.


Multi-Functional

I think most of realize that a good many locks will not require the intense amplification the vernier scale offers in order to reach an opening. But we also know some locks' tiny whispers can be turned into shouts, and this tool will be a life-saver in these cases. I feel proficient in reading tenths with most dials, but there are plenty of people who struggle and simply don't have a keen eye for such divisions. The vernier scale should allow you to focus more on strategy, and spend far less time in deliberation, trying to place an exact value on each and every reading. Similarly, people with poor or failing eyesight; a tool like this could get you back in the game.

I especially like using this simply as a pointer! Extending and using just a single needle in place of the index. Having an exacting needlepoint tip (versus a thick opening index line) I've found to be extremely advantageous for me at times.

And, although I haven't used it for this yet... I'm thinking dialing diagnostics. You essentially have a quick, easy, moveable index that should be useful for carrying out some of the procedures involved with a stuck fly or loose spline.


Thanks so much Chad! Keep at it.
Can't wait for more developments.
Hope it all pans out for you, and if not...
I want a couple before you go under! LOL
" Enjoy the journey AS MUCH as the destination."
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madsamurai

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Active Member

Posts: 368

Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 10:13 pm

Location: Germantown, Ohio

Post Mon May 18, 2020 2:57 pm

Re: Madsamurai's Locks and Projects

Thanks so much, Oldfast, both for helping me out and the great review. It's great to see you back here again.

Here's the progress report, for those of you who are interested... With the covid shutdown, I thought I'd be able to get a lot done with this, but my laser engraver guy also closed, so I haven't been able to continue with prototyping or make any more. So what I have been working on is building my own laser so I can do revisions more quickly and do my own production (and work on some other cool ideas I've got)... this is a pretty massive project in itself - lots of parts from lots of different places - so it's going to take a little time to finish that up. The government was nice enough to pay for it, I just had to wait for the funds to arrive. I was going to do a Kickstarter, but since stimulus money was enough to cover my startup expenses I think I'm going to skip that and just go straight to selling... there's a lot of fees that go into Kickstarter and I'd rather keep that money, I think, and it'll mean making this available sooner and shipping pretty much immediately.

I'm placing the final few orders for the rest of the laser parts this week, and everything just depends on shipping time after that... some things are coming from China and could take a while. In the meantime, if my laser guy opens up again I'll probably go ahead and run another iteration, which I think is going to be the final version... there's just one little thing I want to improve, and I think it'll be golden.

Long story short, I'm hoping to start taking orders for these in about 2 months, give or take. There will be three sizes and multiple wood & trim options, as well as a stand-alone pointer, and will be offered individually or in sets. I'll put a website together for orders when the time comes. Stay tuned... :-D
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MHM

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Familiar Face

Posts: 222

Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2016 2:33 pm

Location: Napier, New Zealand

Post Mon May 18, 2020 4:49 pm

Re: Madsamurai's Locks and Projects

Gotta say I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on one of these.
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