What's wrong with this tape measure....pic

[Dennis Peacock]

So.....a friend of mine bought a new tape measure from Wal-Mart. Says on the back that it's made in China and marketed by Wal-Mart. Now....I'm NOT stirring up a thread with foreign made products nor am I stirring the pot about Wal-Mart............Just wanted to show you that you NEED to check your tapes measures from time to time when you are buying a new one. :D

Hint: Look between the 2" and 3" markings.

[Chuck Wintle]

The 1/4 and 1/2 inch lines are in the wrong place

[Jim O'Dell]

Thats pretty unique. Must be from a country that does metric!:eek: :D The first time through, something caught my eye there, so I went back and counted 8ths, but counted thr right amount. Just didn't see the half " mark until I went back and read your tip. What brand is the tape measure? Jim.

ps, on further inspection, the 1/4 mark is at the 1/8 position, 1/2 mark is at the 3/8 position, and there are 2 1/8 marks together.

[Mark Engel]

2-3/8" <> 2-1/2"

[Todd Jensen]

Stanley or nothing for me. I know craftsman, etc, et al, may make decent stuff, but my 25' fat max is my favorite. It is consistent(helpful when you've got 4 tapes kicking around) and will last a long, long time indoors. I save walmart for toiletries and fishing gear.:)

[glenn bradley]

It would really be a trick if when you closed it and opened it again the improper hash mark was somewhere else ;-)

[Steve Rowe]

Hey - since it came from Wally World, I am sure it was a low price. Usually, you just get what you pay for.
Steve

[Bruce Page]

Aw, what’s a measly 1/8 of an inch compared to cheap prices and a world market place! :p
Quit being so finicky.

[Zahid Naqvi]

doesn't it make that tape measure a collectible :eek:

[skip coyne]

doesn't it make that tape measure a collectible :eek:
when 47 million where made and sold at .99 then not likely to be much of a collectible market ;)

[Michael Gibbons]

At least the inch marks are where they are supposed to be.

[Jason Roehl]

With those crinkles in the tape, it probably doesn't matter where the markings are!

[John Schreiber]

I think I might pick up some of those and give them as "gifts" to some people. Snicker snicker, evil laugh.

[Dan Drager]

Simple solution. Design all your work to lay out at the full inch marks.

[Gary Keedwell]

Use the tape as a "story pole" :D
Gary K.

[Bart Leetch]

Simple solution. Design all your work to lay out at the full inch marks.

The whole tape is already 1/8" out before you get to 3". So anything you lay out over 2" will be off unless you burn up to 3" & what other mistakes did they make?

[Steve Clardy]

Looks like a framers tape to me.;)

Its already screwed up, so the framer doesn't have to screw up on purpose :rolleyes: :D

[Marc Prudhomme]

Hey I have that tape measure...AHHHHH No wonder... LOL

[Bruce Benjamin]

I'm NOT stirring up a thread with foreign made products nor am I stirring the pot about Wal-Mart

But of course this is what the thread is turning into anyway.:rolleyes: Really, the tape is still just as useful as it was before, (if I looked at the pic correctly). There's still 1" of space between 2" and 3". The 1/8" marks are in the right spots. Just scratch off themisplacedd 1/4" and 1/2" marks and lengthen the correct marks with a pen or awl. Or...just get your money back.

Bruce

[Charles McKinley]

This is worse than the new fractional dial calipers. All but the Starrett only mark down to eighths and all the hash marks are the same LENGTH! The Starrett is marked down to 1/16 I think. I'll spend the extra $ for the Starrett even though it to is made in China like the others. :(

[fRED mCnEILL]

If its from China its probably made with that melamine contaminate wheat glutin in the pet food that is killing all the dogs and cats in North America.

[Reg Mitchell]

Ya know I wasn't going to reply to this but everyone seems to keep turning their head on this subject and jokeing about it. If you rember a few weeks ago we got a lot of posin pet food from over seas. I visit other fourms and they complain about the quality of steel comming out of that country. What's next.......
Buy something Made in America and help keep a job in this country
Reg

[Keith Weber]

I've got to go buy a few of those to give to my woodworking buddies. Now how can I buy them a tape measure without them thinking that I'm up to something?

Keith

[Rod Sheridan]

Of course it doesn't matter that the tape is incorrect, if you always use that tape.

Too bad the metric side wasn't on the top, then you'd have a "real" tape!

[Howard Rosenberg]

Say you're building a book case 36" wide.
Or 48" for that matter.
It's only 1/8" inch, for pity's sake.

What's an eighth of an inch over that length?
Nothing!

Don't worry about it!
Just use the darned thing!

Howard

[Bruce Benjamin]

Why would there be any error? Unless I'm going blind the tape has the correct number of marks. It just that a some of them are incorrectly marked to the wrong length. Count the 1/8" marks. That being said, if there was an 1/8" error in a 36" wide bookcase I would think it would show up in the form of a gap somewhere. I don't see this being a problem with this tape but I think we're getting awfully interested in a tape that cost a few bucks at most.

Bruce



Say you're building a book case 36" wide.
Or 48" for that matter.
It's only 1/8" inch, for pity's sake.

What's an eighth of an inch over that length?
Nothing!

Don't worry about it!
Just use the darned thing!

Howard

[Eddie Darby]

Just be thankful that the markings are not in Chinese Inches instead of Imperial Inches.

[John Schreiber]

If you want to look at the big picture on this, the folks who made it do get some of the blame. But the person who is really at fault is whoever wrote the specifications and accepted that this product met those specifications. The other person who gets a share of the blame is the consumer who accepts such poor quality.

The same is true whether you are talking tape measures, steel, power tools, or jet aircraft.

[Brian Penning]

Say you're building a book case 36" wide.
Or 48" for that matter.
It's only 1/8" inch, for pity's sake.

What's an eighth of an inch over that length?
Nothing!

Don't worry about it!
Just use the darned thing!

Howard

I usually have a couple of tapes hanging around. I can see myself measuring the top and bottom with 1 tape and the shelves with the other...