I got frusrated one day trying to measure out some holes on a curved body panel. What follows is what I came up with. Go to your local Ikea and grab a handful of the paper measuring tape they give away at different kiosks throughout the store. They rule, they're 100" long and are metric on the other side. It's hard to see the lines in the photo but they look like this: Lay it out on a piece of glass or clean bench and run packing tape over it, like so: Now tape it on to whatever curved surface you're trying to work with. As you can see on the water jug in this example, Red hole #1 is exactly 10" away from Red hole #2. There are a thousand different uses for this stupid little trick. You dont have to tape the whole thing down, just the sides if it's a quick measurement, but if you need to mark a bunch of holes they're great, just drill right through em. If you don't have an IKEA near you, a tailors tape ruler will work, but you have to keep peeling tape off of it. Rock on. dreddybear
I use the plastic/nylon version of these that you can buy at any fabric supply or craft store. They arnt free, but being that they are a thin flexible nylon impregnated fabric type material, they will last a very long time. Taylors use them for measuring your waste and such. You need one of these for doing bdy modifications, so that both sides come out exactly the same.
Yep, those work too. What I like about the paper ones is you can lay em out all over the place and leave em. I use to use a marked string under packing tape, but then I saw this stuff. I walked out of ikea with probably two hundred of them
the fabric store tape works great! the company i contract for has small tapes they give away at machine shows and they work great, 1.5" square and fit in your pocket. the free ikea tape looks interesting
I used to have a tailor's tape that I punched 1/8th inch holes in at 1/4 inch increments, then I could mark nominal holes through the tape, but disposable paper ones look much easier to use...
The Jalopy Journal
