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/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=309&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.

[John Donhowe]

Let me go contrarian, and say open your tape meassure, if for no other reason than to see how it works inside. You might find an easy fix, and at worst (assuming nothing flies out and hits you in the eye!) you've lost a little time. But who hasn't wasted time in the workshop- isn't that what it's all about? ;)

[jack duren]

I have several craftsman tapes around that I would like to repair. It is getting harder to get well made tapes these days. Best I ever used was Servicestar from true value in the day but no longer available. Craftsman and Irwin are really the only good tapes i will use but there pretty much extinct.

So... pitch the tape.. As of now looking at Home Depot several months ago Milwaukee was the only "REAL" tape I found other than HDX. Both tapes are better for shock resistance but I'm unsure of the HDX internals.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Irwin-26-8M-Tape-Measure-1-blade-7-5-standout-1789113-/141466985615?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20f016e48f

[David Ragan]

Looks like its time to pitch it.

Thanks.

[Jerome Stanek]

send it back they are guaranteed for life

[David Ragan]

Too much trouble-phone call to find out where, taking it to UPS store, etc, etc.

"Uncle"

[cody michael]

Most of mine are harbor frieght 25ft. They give out coupons to get them for free all the time, I have never verified how accurate they are, but I'm sure they are more accurate then I am. They work better then some 15-20$ tapes I have had, and I have probably 20+ floating around, every time I go there even if it is to buy a 1$ item I get free tape measure

[David C. Roseman]

Most of mine are harbor frieght 25ft. They give out coupons to get them for free all the time, I have never verified how accurate they are, but I'm sure they are more accurate then I am. They work better then some 15-20$ tapes I have had, and I have probably 20+ floating around, every time I go there even if it is to buy a 1$ item I get free tape measure

Yep, I'm with Cody and Mel on the HF 25' freebies. :) I've picked up a bunch of them over the years, and seem to have one in every corner of the shop, every vehicle and every tool box. Every one I've checked is as accurate as my Stanleys and Lufkins, for what that's worth. They're a little bulkier due to the rubberized shock-protected casing. As another member said, I try to stay with whatever measure I pick up when working on a particular project, name brand or not.

[Tom M King]

I remember in the '70s my old school building supply (closed in '92) used to keep springs and replacement tapes hanging on a peg in the tool section for Stanley tape measures. I replaced a spring in one back then, but after the first one, decided that it was too much trouble. I expect almost everyone else came to the same conclusion, and that's the reason you don't see them any more. I have countless 25' Powerlocks, and pick one up every time I see them on sale somewhere for 8 bucks.

[John Coloccia]

I consider tape measures to be disposable, like razor blades.

[Lee Schierer]

If the spring is inside a plastic housing do not attempt to open that housing. Those springs are extremely dangerous when released from their housing. I was involved with a machine that put those spring assemblies together and you wouldn't believe how fast those spring can unwind in free air and the damage they can inflict.

[Mike Schuch]

My first tape measure, a Stanley Leverlock, when I was 10 year old was one that my father found that someone had pitched at his work. He spent 10 minutes getting it working again and then I spent another 20 minutes pulling the tape all the way out and cleaning the tape with window cleaner. I had the tape measure for many years. I guess things were more worth fixing back then.

Eventually my father became head of product engineering at Stanley and we had more tapes as well as other Stanley and Proto tools than we knew what to do with.

[Judson Green]

Seen the new Milwaukee's? Pretty cool. That'll be my next tape measure when I need one.

[Pat Barry]

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.
This is simply the best reason I have ever heard of to go metric. LOL

[Jim Andrew]

Sears used to replace their Craftsman tapes when they broke. And some stores would replace Stanley tape measures. Has anyone tried getting one replaced recently? I gave up trying to rewind tape measures 30 years ago. They used to have replacement cartridges you could put in the case years ago, which were a little cheaper than a new tape, but haven't seen any for years. Now I just buy new tapes on sales, and have them available when I need a new one.