You’ll never come up short with this measuring tape. That’s because there isn’t actually any tape in the device; it measures distance based on the rotation of a wheel. Roll it across the room and you’ll get an accurate measurement of the distance the little bugger traveled. Like the Etch-a-Sketch from Monday this uses the encoder wheel from a mouse as the input. The IR emitter and sensor from the ubiquitous peripheral find a new home on the PCB that hosts the PIC 16F819. It monitors the rotation, turns it into inches, then spits that number out on a 7 segment display. Handy, and cheap!
I think the real hack is how he used his pet gerbil to make the window in the case.
You know, hacks don’t have to look like ugly … just sayin’.
Certainly won’t win any beauty pageants, but very clever.
I agree with Bill.. a $15 file set will do wonders.
cool hack but he should really invest in a nibbler tool. $10 at the Rat Shack…. it’s a must have tool for any “case mods”.
best part about the traditional measuring tape is that you don’t have to touch the surface your measuring.
Or if there is no surface between the things you are measuring…
What’s a Calib Rate?
:-P
@oxid
…your measuring what?
Cool idea, but I think accuracy would be a problem unless you rolled it in a *very* straight line.
So, it’s a pocket sized surveyor’s wheel?
Nice, I wish it had a power sipping LCD and ran on button cells.
If this is made to do a job they find other device’s don’t do so well Then worth the build as in the end they may save time and money
Good Job
I’m not sure, but aren’t such devices called odometers?
Actually, even, Opisometers!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opisometer
Hatin’ on the enclosure makes hacky jebus cry.
@Brennan
Open space?
What kills me is that this guy is a mechanical engineer as he says on his instructable.