Friday, March 12, 2010
Bostitch Level: “Look Ma, No Hands!”
Toolmonger: "When I first ran across the Stanley-Bostitch clamping level in Popular Science, I didn’t think much about it because it was pictured just sitting on a surface. Later I came across a picture of the level hanging off the bottom of a 2×4 and thought, “Hey, now that’s pretty cool!” It’s funny how much difference the choice of picture influences our perceptions of a product."
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2 comments:
This seems pretty nifty but, I'm not sure how long I would trust it for. After a bit of wear and tear the teeth may not be as successful as they were at first and you may be left with inaccurate results due to sliding. I guess this would only be detrimental if you are clamping in upside-down in which case, you can just rest it on the top of the structure without having to move it -- and, if it's clamped on side-ways, then any sliding might not be as bad since the clamps would tend to both side together.
I can't decide if this is cool or just silly. It takes only a small amount of coordination and care to check the level, adjust, and recompare. If you're using these clamps, rather than just holding it up, it seems like it would be hard to make sure it's making good contact and is actually giving a good reading. I think folks tend to underestimate the tactile aspect of this sort of stuff, and mechanizing the process instead doesn't increase accuracy unless the mechanism is of a lot more precision than can be tacked on to a level.profflu
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