Calculators in the Shop

[Tony Haukap]

Anyone using anything fancy like this TI-nSpireCX-CAS?
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I was given this about 3 years ago and it's been sitting in a drawer since then. Today I finally decided to open the package and take it out and see what exactly it can do... well, it's way, way beyond my needs and just about everything I've seen on the 'web makes it out to be more for school/student use than for real world use.
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After playing around with it I realized my old eyes really needed a calculator with a back-lit color screen!
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So, what can this do? Well I found quite by accident that it can convert fractions to and from decimal...
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But, there has to be more to this thing...I found a very nice program that runs on it called "EEPro" that's for electric calculations...
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However after much searching I haven't found any programs with with Feet-Inches-fractions, conversion to metric and back, etc. I have an HP-50G that has an add-on program that can do feet-inches-fractions and it would seem that *someone* *somewhere* would have done the same for the TI-nSpire, but if it exists I haven't been able to find it.
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This calculator is probably overkill for my needs, but I intend to use it just because the back-lit screen makes it so much easier to read. I already have a couple of Foot-Inch calculator models; one's an architectural version that does stairs and roofs among other things and one suited more for contractors that estimates quantities like bricks and studs, etc. So it's not like I'm without that ability, but I'd like to consolidate everything into one calculator if possible.
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[Max Neu]

If you are a smart phone user,you can get apps to do anything that will do.I have a few different apps that I use for converting fractions,mm's,decimals, etc.There are also apps specifically for woodworking that are very helpful.

[Justin Ludwig]

Construction MasterPro here. The actual calculator costs about $90 at the BORG, but I have the app on my iPhone and it was $20. Works the same. I mainly use mine for conversions and figuring arcs/ellipses.

[Matt Day]

If you want to go back to school and take a differential equations, that is the Calculator you want! I unfortunately took all those classes and have an older version of one of those calculators that hasn't seen the light of day since college.

I use a calculator app on my iPhone and it does everything I need.

[John Coloccia]

re: conversions and things like that
I simply printed out a reference table that gives me:

-fractions
-decimal
-metric
-number/letter drills

I stuck it to my band saw with a couple of magnets.

That's not the only chart I have. Generally, anytime I need to calculate anything, I either find, or make, a spreadsheet and print it out. Router bushing/bit sizes is another one. Why calculate when you can simply look up? Much fewer errors that way. IMHO, you should avoid doing math in the workshop if at all possible.

I also keep a notebook that has all sorts of useful tidbits in it...like if I want to use some small brads to pin a piece of ebony in place, what size do I drill the clearance hole? I can look that up. I can look up everything having to do with all of the hardware and setups that I use.

One added advantage to using a chart is that you can immediately see the relationship between the difference measures and drill sizes. This comes in very handy if you want to make a hole just a little bigger or a little smaller, or if you fall between sizes and you want to see what the closest matches are.

[Mort Stevens]

Anyone using anything fancy like this TI-nSpireCX-CAS?

If I had a $170 calculator (which I don't) the last place I would take it is out to the shop where it's dusty and could easily get knocked onto the concrete floor! I have a $10 solar powered calc in the shop and while it doesn't do fractions and all that fancy stuff, it does the 4 functions (plus+,minus-,divide/,multiply*) that get used every single day. The foot-inch calculators look interesting and I've been tempted to buy one on a few occasions, but I just can't bring myself to spend $50 on something that doesn't cut wood. :)

[Tony Leonard]

Wow, that is neat! We didn't have anything like that when I was in engineering school. Wonder if you could write your own apps for it? I try to do everythign I can in my head just to kep the brain oiled. I can't, howeve, do trig by hand. A buddy of mine found a deal at Staples a couple of years ago that resulted in a very nice Sharp scientific (old style) for free! It even has a sliding cover that helps keep it clean. It sure does come in handy when I am using trig or working with decimals that get past my brain capacity. My old Casio from school was programmable, but the tape holding it together finally gave up! Once you get used to doing fractions in your head, it becomes second nature. I guess the other option is to go metric!
I would appreciate the electronics stuff these days as I have started fooling aroudn with that too. Actually been calculating RC times for 555 chips this week. Probably an app for that for the phone, but I rarely take it out to the shop.

Tony
Tony

[Robin Powlus]

Looks like you have a solution in search of a problem.

[Jim Matthews]

You measure?

Whatever for?
https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/tipstechniques/working-without-numbers

[Rod Sheridan]

I only have one calculator, an HP 11C.................My brain only works in RPN......................Rod

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I only have one calculator, an HP 11C.................My brain only works in RPN......................Rod

It took years but I finally recovered from the RPN disease!

[Rod Sheridan]

It took years but I finally recovered from the RPN disease!

LOL..........Did you sit there with an algebraeic calculator saying "How in the heck do I do this"?

Regards, Rod.

[Todd Willhoit]

I only have one calculator, an HP 11C.................My brain only works in RPN......................Rod

+1. Algebraic calculators are a pain. Put the Free42 (HP 42S) app on your phone and never be without a great calculator.

[Lornie McCullough]

LOL..........Did you sit there with an algebraeic calculator saying "How in the heck do I do this"?

Regards, Rod.

I have done that so often, I now refuse to use them. Now it is rpn or pencil and paper or slide rule.

[David L Morse]

I have done that so often, I now refuse to use them. Now it is rpn or pencil and paper or slide rule.
Same here. All those parentheses are a pain.
297485

[Keith Hankins]

I've never found needing anything other than a pencil, and piece of writing implement i can find close.

I've used pieces of paper from finishing tables. Mostly it's cardboard boxes. I keep pieces around for putting under and behind things when finishing them.

Hell who ever buys my house when I pass on, will try to figure out what the hell I was figuring on all over the place, because, all the 2x4's in my shop have writing on them. :)

[Rich Engelhardt]

However after much searching I haven't found any programs with with Feet-Inches-fractions, conversion to metric and back, etc.It won't do "feet", but, it does go back and forth between decimal - fractions and metric at the push of a button.

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-digital-caliper-with-metric-and-sae-fractional-readings-68304.html
I use mine all the time for that.

[Tony Haukap]

Looks like you have a solution in search of a problem.
http://i58.tinypic.com/2s7xdhc.gifA solution looking for a problem? Yeah, I think I have a lot of those kinds of things! Often times I will purchase something with the intent of putting it to good use... there's a couple of Dremels, one corded, one cordless... seemed like I tool I *should* have... just don't know when or if I'll ever use it though.
http://i58.tinypic.com/2s7xdhc.gifI have a bunch of calculators, many, many more than any one man needs including some Hewlett-Packards with Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) - those make my brain hurt whenever I pick one up and start using it until I realize "Hey, Dummy! It's in RPN!" I know RPN has it's fans and it's claim to fame is that it saves keystrokes, but for quick calculations I usually find myself keying in the same problem a couple of times until I get it in the right order!
http://i58.tinypic.com/2s7xdhc.gifThe more I play with the TI-nSpire the more I like it... the backlit screen is easily its best feature! It probably has the best screen of *any* calculator I've seen and the keypad has good feel too.... maybe not quite up to HP50G standards, but pretty darn close. The look, feel and build quality of my tools is very important to me... and while the Calculated Industries construction calculators have the functionality, they lack the quality build and feel of even the basic HPs.
http://i58.tinypic.com/2s7xdhc.gifThe lack of an architectural program to run on the TI-Nspire, like the one I mentioned someone wrote for electrical, really surprises me. I did find a couple of articles that mentioned "Texas Instruments has decided to block any attempt to develop native language (ASM) or C for its Nspire by updating the OS to block the installation of 3rd party exploits" and that right there may be why there doesn't seem to be as much third party support as for the Hewlett-Packards models. Or it could be TI is just so geared towards the education market that many professionals overlook it as a teaching tool. Although, it's kind of funny that you can run Game-Boy games on this, but not many real-world applications! :)
http://i58.tinypic.com/2s7xdhc.gifBUT...I'm not ready to give up on this thing yet! There's a website that shows how to turn the TI-Nspire into a "WP-34S, known as the most powerful scientific calculator on the earth!" here... http://scalc.org/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=80 unfortunately I don't read that language and there more information here... http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=169099#p169099 nor do I read that language! So after some bablefish translations and some more guesswork and with full knowledge of the possibility of bricking this thing... but as-is, at least to me, the calculator was a paperweight anyway. I installed the WP34S program which looks like this running...
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http://scalc.org/data/attachment/forum/201408/25/154430c4lcn8nfyj3ya7x8.jpg
http://i58.tinypic.com/2s7xdhc.gifVERY NICE!
http://i58.tinypic.com/2s7xdhc.gifSeems odd that to unleash the full power of the TI-Nspire you have to run an open-source HP calculator emulator on it! Now the learning curve begins trying to figure out how to turn it on and off in WP34S mode? Right now, as far as I can figure out, you have to exit the program and turn the calculator off, then start the calculator and run the WP34S program again... surly there a way around that, but English language support is very lacking... makes one think about the direction the USA is headed when the leading TI-Nspire websites are in France and China!
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[Steve Rozmiarek]

I had to google RPN, now we know how old you guys are! :)

I had a Ti-85 from college that I loved. It did unit conversions easier than any other calculator out there. It died, so I've tried a lot of them.

[Mort Stevens]

Often times I will purchase something with the intent of putting it to good use... there's a couple of Dremels

You and I are on different levels! I don't have a lot of extra money where I can buy tools on an "if see" basis. I have to carfeully think about how I'm going to use something and if I can put it to use again in the future before I plunk down the money! Dremels are expensive given what they are and the accessories are crazy expensive--a wire wheel brush is like $5--I've looked at them a couple of times, but just can't bring myself to pull the trigger.

[Mort Stevens]

English language support is very lacking... makes one think about the direction the USA is headed when the leading TI-Nspire websites are in France and China!

Bricking an almost $200 calculator is probably what keeps most US students from exploiting the possibilities because they can't afford the risk. While it looks interesting and the color display looks nice I know I'll never pay that much for a caculator. You also mention the HP50G and I had to look it up..... $130! With all the cheap electrictronics from China how can anybody justify the cost of these? Doesn't Walmart sell a graphing calculator for $15? I wouldn't mind having a foot-inch calc, but even at the $50 price tag they are beyond what I want to spend.

[Jim German]

The US graphing calculator market is dominated by what the math teachers are pushing, and TI has dominated that for years. The math teachers like having all the kids use the same calculator, and they don't want that calculator to be something too advanced. Thats why the 20 year old TI83/84 dominate the market. The Nspire line is basically non-existant in the US.

Engineers don't really ever buy a new graphing calculator, they'll either just use the one they've had since school, or use a PC program like Mathcad.

In the shop I always just use my phone, it does everything I'd want and has a bigger screen.

[Chris Padilla]

I can't live without my trusty HP48SX. I bought it new when I entered undergrad in 1991 and it has been running strong ever since.

It developed some turn on/off problem and I sent it to www.fixthatcalc.com and the guy fixed it all up for me good as new except that he wiped out my Tetris game! LOL

[Rod Sheridan]

I had to google RPN, now we know how old you guys are! :)

I had a Ti-85 from college that I loved. It did unit conversions easier than any other calculator out there. It died, so I've tried a lot of them.

Thanks Steve.........LOL.

I've owned 3 RPN calculators, one in high school that I lost, an HP 33E that got me through post secondary, and my HP 11C that replaced it.

The 11C is still going strong, I expect it to take me into retirement in 3 years.......................HP made incredible calculators...........Rod.

[John Stankus]

The US graphing calculator market is dominated by what the math teachers are pushing, and TI has dominated that for years. The math teachers like having all the kids use the same calculator, and they don't want that calculator to be something too advanced. Thats why the 20 year old TI83/84 dominate the market. .

And TI is evil for it. Students no longer are able to do simple calculations like multiply by 1 (or even 0!) without resorting to a calculator. I have sometimes told them in class, in my best Dragnet voice, "Step away from the calculator"

In chemistry we don't allow them to use the graphing calculators, since you can program them to balance equations and do stoichiometry.

I am also mad at TI for making the EE button (for scientific notation) a second function. This is something my students are always using. They even have a calculator that scientific notation does not work correctly on (TI-34 with a x 10x button) I would love to find an old TI-30 (the original one with the red LED display that is working.

We spec out TI-30XII-S calculators in the syllabus since the key sequence is similar to the TI graphing calculators.

In the shop, I just use a piece of paper and do the calculation long-hand. (my students think I am a freak of nature since I can estimate numbers at the board...They can't do fractions :( )

John (sorry to rant, but calculators are pretty dang annoying anymore)

[Jim German]

I've got a TI-30XIIS sitting in front of me right now actually. Its a nice enough calculator, although it could use a higher resolution display. Having a solar powered calculator is great. And one that is cheap enough that it doesn't walk off is also nice.

It doesn't work with fractions though, so it wouldn't be very useful in a shop that uses fractional units.