Fancy Triangle Ruler  

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

Are you planning to share the .stl file, either in the Prints section or by simply attaching it?

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

@jsw

With the design being very much a carbon copy of a normally commercially sold item I'd rather not be making the files available - I'd also like to think with the design being kinda stupidly simple one should be able to make a copy for themselves in the matter of less than 15-30min.

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

There are plenty out there.  Here are some links.  It is low risk to post them as long as you don't put the TM stamp or name on them.  

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=precision+ruler&type=things&sort=relevant

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=Triangle+ruler&type=things&sort=relevant

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=carpenter+tool&type=things&sort=relevant

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

Thanks Chuck!  🙂

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

I can't imagine somebody trying to patent or copyright a measuring device unless it has some innovative technology in the design. Logos and branding would be protected by trademark.

Some interesting tools on Thingiverse I hadn't seen before. Thanks for the link, Charles.

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

You probably couldn't patent the mechanical aspect of it but I'm sure you could do something about the rather unique design of the set which I copied basically 1:1 ( except for the imperial scale on one side of the original... blergh )

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

Does anyone know a link to a slide rule, like this one for example:

Aristo

I used such one in school (not a calculator) about a hundred years ago.

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

Posted by: @karl-herbert

Does anyone know a link to a slide rule, like this one for example:

Aristo

I used such one in school (not a calculator) about a hundred years ago.

 

As someone who has actually used one, and still has one, somewhere, if I look for it, I think, I really don't think you will be able to get anywhere near the accuracy on one printed on one of the popular 3d printers.  Anyway, here's one:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2801299

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

@karl-herbert

Fuckin' lol... I actually have one of those from my father who used it during his school days, same company even!
Have to agree with JSW that you're most likely not going to get the best results out of a 3d printed one - Not with FDM.
Laser Cutting / CNC Milling + Engraving, on the other hand, may be a viable option though.

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

@jsw

@durahl

thanks for the link!

This should of course be much more of a decoration. A few well-preserved leftover copies from the old days can still be found on ebay.

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

You are dusting off some rusty memory cells here.  When I was back in undergrad, which was so many decades ago that I don't want to admit it, a slide rule was required for several of the math courses I took.  I splurged and got a top of the line one which had all of the log-log scales, which would allow you to do arbitrary exponentiation in one operation.

Our main campus computer was an IBM 360, and student jobs were run overnight.  You punched and turned in a deck of cards, came back the next morning to receive (hopefully) the run printout, but often times a HUGE pile of greenbar dump due to an error.  Rinse-repeat, the next day, that is.

My sophomore year we got subscription access to a CDC 6000 timesharing system, which was used via a dial-up teletype machine.  I remember being extremely impressed with a library program called 'Simex' which would solve systems of equations in a few seconds!

Hand calculators came within the next couple of years.  My first one was something like US$400 and change.

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

We were more lucky - in the first class when I entered a technical school to become a technical engineer we used this:

The calculator is now more than 36 years old and still in use!

Best regards, Clemens

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

LOL, i have the same one. Spend hours with the BASIC programming. I had even the hardware interface to store the programs on a music cassette.

Correction: I have a FX-850P

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

@pedroid

I also had the cassette deck and the thermo printer. Both is still working (but not any longer in use).

Best regards, Clemens

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

I never had a programmable calculator.  I still have a late 1980s vintage HP scientific calculator, which I still occasionally use, but mostly, instead, I use the calculator app in Windows or Linux.

When I was in my late 20s, however, I built a Heathkit H8 computer, which of course supported all of the common programming languages (Basic, Fortran, 'c' etc.) of the era.

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

@clemens-m

I bought a couple of old Tandy and Sharp computers/calculators for my son.  He is a senior in computer science.  He loves those things.  Old but still useful.  

I might have to find a slide rule.  

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

I also worked with Fortran 77 and wrote CAD applications for our first CAD system Euclid (late seventies) from the french Matra DV (VAX and MicroVAX from DEC with Unix and Open VMS) and even still have the textbook from the 70's for it. With Fortran 95 the applications were then ported or adapted to MS Windows. A little later, of course, the Commodore era was lived through. In the meantime I could actually build a small museum.

The Sharp PC 1403 has been with me for almost 35 years now. Back then, I had to pay a monthly salary for it.

In those days, these were all high-tech machines 👍 

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

Allright... Since everyone now started showing us their oldest calculators, they still have and that still works, here's mine:

Just out of curiosity though... While I have no doubts about the superiority of using a calculator with tactile buttons, I must wonder about clinging to ones that old. Any specific reason, other than sentimentality, not to upgrade to a more recent model? Is this some kind of IBM Keyboard thing where everyone has grown attached to the particular tactile feel of the buttons ( and due to their age, tackiness as well ) combined with a "They just don't build them anymore like they used to." mentality? ( hard to argue with that either... )

Just wondering 🤔

RE: Fancy Triangle Ruler

@durahl

You are absolutely right - if I would have to buy a calculator I would buy a new model. But the reason for me still using my HP-1403 (Sharp) is - it is already here, it is working, I know it very well and much more.

I also own a HP 49G which is much more powerful - most time I don't need his abilities. And then: the keyboard of the HP is really awful - so most of the time it is the Sharp I am using.

And maybe it is also some kind of sentimentality. Shouldn't be a problem to others 😉

Best regards, Clemens