Sewing gauge for even button spacing - photo

[Jon]

Sewing gauge for even button spacing.

Fullsize image: https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...s_fullsize.jpg




Previously:

Scroll saw from sewing machine - video
Making a hat on a sewing machine - GIF
How jeans pockets are sewn on - GIF

[Toolmaker51]

Sewing gauge for even button spacing.

Not revolutionary, only smaller than the original. A commonplace tool in aircraft fuselage manufacture and repairs, known as a 'rivet fan'.

[bruce.desertrat]

Similar tools are used in woodworking too; anywhere you need an even division of a given length of material.

I once watched a show on TV (Cooking Channel, iirc) where a high end candy maker used something very much like it to evenly divide part of the sculpture thing he was making out of spun sugar.

It's a good project for a novice-ish metal worker: making a bunch of duplicate parts is good practice, and it would use inexpensive flat stock...and you end up with something useful out of it.

[desbromilow]

and if you're in a hurry, there is an even simpler tool, but it takes 3 hands to operate.
take a length of elastic (or a large rubber band cut to be open) and lay it out in a line next to a ruler. Mark on a number of evenly spaced marks (1" for elastic, 1cm for rubber bands) with a pen.
then take the elastic (or band) and place one mark at a reference point, and then stretch the elastic so the "n-th" mark is at the other end of the distance to be divided. Then get your third hand (pretty assistant) to mark the material at the corresponding divisions.
The method I've described works on the principle that the elastic will stretch evenly along it's length, and therefore the marks transferred from the ruler will be evenly distributed along the stretched length.

[Karl_H]

take a length of elastic (or a large rubber band cut to be open) and lay it out in a line next to a ruler.

Good use for the elastic that is left after you got all the small rags you could get from your spent tighty-whitie underwear.

[mklotz]

In the days of manual drafting there was a device that consisted of a spring mounted in a frame such that the spring could be extended and locked in position. Evenly spaced marks were painted on the spring edge.

Same principle as the rubber band although I suspect the linearity of the spring expansion was better than that of the rubber band.

[Jon]

Not revolutionary, only smaller than the original.

But but but, this one's...3D-printed!

[Toolmaker51]

Jon posted But but but, this one's...3D-printed! emphasized with mind-blown GIF [get load of those 70's era sideburns] that the button spacer was not made conventionally.

Another, less well rounded forum, spends bytes whether 3-D printing is machining, or not. There are codgers [of I suspect various age groups] perpetuating debate 'additive' fabricating is less honorable than 'subtractive'. The [some] detractors aren't so equipped, nor have exposure to programming.
I asked how sweeping chips, pulling them out of shoes/ fingers/ eyes, and how those remnants aren't easily used makes anyone 'special'.

Simple as button spacer appears; aside from difficult assembly, it would not operate reliably if the links, connectors and pins vary from intended dimension(s).

[Toolmaker51]

In the days of manual drafting there was a device that consisted of a spring mounted in a frame such that the spring could be extended and locked in position. Evenly spaced marks were painted on the spring edge.

Same principle as the rubber band although I suspect the linearity of the spring expansion was better than that of the rubber band.

re; the spring version, Mr.K is exactly right, again. The tool was created as the inventor experimented with elastic band from undershorts. Poof, there it is.
Mr. Gerber patented the Variable Scale. One model, the TP007200B carries US No. 2843935, UK 845215. It's about 22' long. Interesting to me, this design incorporates a slide rule variety wire 'sight', to interpolate very closely the target value, which of course multiplies accuracy of the 11 sections available, and the 'tween increments.
Pre development of CAD, and numeration programs, impact probably equals the vernier for simplification in reading fine divisions.

No, haven't calculated trajectories, orbits, investment charts. But, print out a picture, guesstimate some object to base scale on, it's quite easy getting close to actual size overall. That's one more trick bestowed on us by PJs.

[mklotz]

An interesting variant of this form of spatial division using a mechanical device is a golden ratio divider. An interactive image of what I'm on about can be seen here...

https://demonstrations.wolfram.com/GoldenRatioDividers/

If you care to make one you can scale the required part lengths from the values shown here...

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...MygNegUIARDNAg

Perhaps not everyone knows what the golden ratio is. At the risk of boring our more mathematically adept members, I'll explain.

The ancient Greeks thought there was a length to width ratio of an object that was most pleasing to the eye; they christened it the "golden ratio". Their description could be condensed into a simple analogy.

Break a stick into two pieces such that the ratio of the longer piece (a) to the shorter (b) is the same as the ratio of the original stick length (a + b) to the longer (a).

a / b = (a + b) / a

Defining g = a / b

g = 1 + 1 / g

which becomes

g² - g - 1 = 0

which has the solution

g = (1 + sqrt(5)) / 2 = 1.61803398875

and 1/g = g - 1 = 0.61803398875