Tape measure question

[David Ragan]

Anyone have any advice on overhauling my Stanley tape measure?

It has lost the spring. Tried taking it apart and winding it up again. Seems like there is too much friction for it to coil back up inside.

How about lubing with graphite?

How many turns of the inner coil spring for this 16' Stanley Lever Lock?

Do I really have to spend another $15?

[peter gagliardi]

Toss it and get another.

[John A langley]

I'm in the toss it and get another one boat

[glenn bradley]

Do I really have to spend another $15?

Sounds like you already have, in time wasted but, I know how you feel. I still use a 40 year old Stanley (in my office drawer) I bought back in college. If all you're going to end up keeping is the case, I would get another. There are a lot of quality tapes out there today and a lot of junk. One thing I have done is to get a few tapes for different purposes. I find no need of a 16' tape in the shop and I want them to read from right to left. If I am framing a shed, that's a different story.

[Randy Red Bemont]

Yup, toss it and buy a new one. A lot cheaper in the long run. I have several "Fastcap" tape measures and they are very nice. You can get them in all sorts of styles.

Red

[George Bokros]

I have a Fast Cap and I really like it. Thinking about getting a Fast Cap flat back for laying out on stock and sheet goods.

[Steve Baumgartner]

Agree with everyone - pitch it! This is not like so many overpriced, built-to-fail items today. Unless you buy junk, you will easily get your $15 worth out of it before it fails.

[Cary Falk]

I vote toss it also. I always stock up on tape measures at Thanksgiving/Christmas when ACE has them for $3-4. My favorite though is a 25' Stanley Fax Max.

[Jack Lemley]

Todd it and get a Starrett. Good price and free 2 day shipping if you have a Prime account on Amazon.

Jack

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Aren't tape measures disposable? I bought a dozen Starrett on eBay several years ago, and I can always find one. Paid way below retail.

[Bill Huber]

I am in the toss it group, get a new tape, I like the ones that lock as you pull them out and then you push the button to retract them.
They are called auto lock and sold by Fastcap and Lee Valley also.

Plus they have a small area on the side you can write things down.

http://www.fastcap.com/estore/pc/vie...9&idcategory=0

[Bob Hoffmann]

The consensus is to get a new one ... but no one has addressed what to do when you get it ...

Whenever I replace my tape measure -- and I use only one to ensure consistent measurements, is to verify that all of the scales on all of the other equipment match the tape. That way, the entire shop has the same reference -- so the table saw fence, sliding table cut-off scale are all the same ... I can measure the size with the tape measure, and set the size on the scale, and make the cut ...

[Mel Fulks]

Well,even if the graphite worked it's amusing to think of the mess that would make. I'm only using Harbor Freight tapes
now. I check them with a 24 inch starret "blade " at different points and they are much more accurate than cheap tapes
used to be. Just a few years back a lot of the USA made tapes were off .

[Curt Harms]

Sounds like you already have, in time wasted but, I know how you feel. I still use a 40 year old Stanley (in my office drawer) I bought back in college. If all you're going to end up keeping is the case, I would get another. There are a lot of quality tapes out there today and a lot of junk. One thing I have done is to get a few tapes for different purposes. I find no need of a 16' tape in the shop and I want them to read from right to left. If I am framing a shed, that's a different story.

Yup. I have 2 'nonstandard' tapes that are occasionally useful. One is a fastcap 16' where one edge reads left to right and the other edge reads right to left. It is kinda big for shop use IMO though. The other is a starrett that is inch on one edge and metric on the other. I use the metric side for among other things dividing up a distance into equal sections. My calculator works a lot better dividing 1519 millmeters into 7 equal sections than it does dividing 4' 11 13/16" into 7 equal sections.

[Myk Rian]

Well,even if the graphite worked it's amusing to think of the mess that would make. I'm only using Harbor Freight tapes
now. I check them with a 24 inch starret "blade " at different points and they are much more accurate than cheap tapes
used to be. Just a few years back a lot of the USA made tapes were off .

I had a Certified Starrett 100' tape to use for checking tape measures.
Measurements STARTED at 3 1/8". I questioned the supplier (a gauging supply house) about how they checked it for accuracy. I don't recall their answer.
They sent me a new one.