Tips for Accurate Measuring and Machining

[Pat Fairbank]

Like Anand said, you can get pretty good precision with hand measuring tools. A surprising number of parts/features on our robots (brackets, angled cuts, etc.) are made this way.

My favorite set of low-tech tools for laying out holes and lines consists of a combination square, a blue marker, a scribe, and a center punch. When marking a hole, for instance, you can set the combination square to the X and Y distances to the hole from the edges of the workpiece, and scribe two lines to establish the point (use the blue marker to provide some contrast before scribing). Then mark the hole with a center punch, and drill with a center drill before the actual size you want, as twist drills tend to walk.