# High Tech Winding Sticks with laser display board.



## Dave D (7 Jun 2009)

As I get older, the range over which I can focus my eyes is getting shorter. 
This is not too serious because with glasses I can see perfectly for driving, and with reading glasses I do not have to hold everything at arms length. 

I am sure that many forum members are in the same predicament so how do you manage with winding sticks? 

I find that no combination of glasses can enable me to focus on the near and far winding sticks at the same time. 

Now I thought. If I had a couple of winding sticks several metres long I could angle them towards each other so that they touched and it would be very easy to see if the ends were at the same height which would mean a non twisted workpiece. 

Clearly a several metre long winding stick is not practical, but how about a pair of short sticks with lasers attached which would be effectively as long as the distance to the workshop wall? 

Here is the result in use. the lasers ( Cheap keyring laser pointers) are adjusted to give spots on the wall very close together and at the same height when the winding sticks are together on a flat surface. They are then positioned at each end of the wood and again turned until the spots nearly touch and any height difference means twist. 

With a large enough workshop the sensitivity will be much better than conventional sticks and the dots can be clearly seen from many metres away (If you wear the right glasses) 






Here is a close up of the construction. The two screws hold the laser in place and in doing so squeeze the on button for the laser. The circuit is interrupted though by a tilt switch seen to the right of the inner screw, so that when the sticks are upright as shown the laser is on and when they are laid down on the bench the laser is off. This is an easy way to conserve battery life as I think that just fitting a switch would mean that it would be too often left on. 





The particular laser I used also had an led torch which would also be switched on by squeezing the keyring against the wood with the screw so I just drilled a hole over the torch button to relive the pressure at that point. 




I hope that this idea will be of use to others with ageing eyesight and perhaps even to younger members who want accuracy which is better than that of your average winding sticks.


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## Woodmagnet (7 Jun 2009)

Nice jig Dave. 8) Luckily my eyes are perfect for distance 
but i need reading specs for close work.


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## Racers (7 Jun 2009)

Hi, Dave

I did a simular thing a while ago





Its the close stuff that gets me as well.


Pete


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## Dave D (7 Jun 2009)

Hi Pete
That looks like a nice piece of optical kit. It is great to be able to recycle stuff like that.
I assume that you would use it as a telescope to sight a far end winding stick from the near end. That would give you a useful magnification effect as well.


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## Woodmagnet (8 Jun 2009)

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Dave D (8 Jun 2009)

oops! I really fell for that one didn't I?


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## JeremyM (16 Jun 2009)

A much simpler solution to Dave's problem is to make use of the depth of field one obtains by looking through a pinhole(as in a pinhole camera). I have a drilled line of 10 1mm holes about 2mm between centres across the width piece of 0.7mm thick veneer about 60mm*120mm. If you then hold this card up to the eye and sight through these holes the winding sticks both will both be in focus. 

Jeremy


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## PeterBassett (20 Jun 2009)

JeremyM":3shpsdje said:


> A much simpler solution to Dave's problem is to make use of the depth of field one obtains by looking through a pinhole(as in a pinhole camera). I have a drilled line of 10 1mm holes about 2mm between centres across the width piece of 0.7mm thick veneer about 60mm*120mm. If you then hold this card up to the eye and sight through these holes the winding sticks both will both be in focus.
> 
> Jeremy



Now that is clever...

Pete


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## ivan (4 Aug 2009)

_Lots_ of light helps too; the eye shuts down it's aperture and increases the depth of focus*. And occupational varifocals which work over a range of about 10" to 4' are a real boon in the workshop. The reduced range over normal varifocals (from reading to horizon) makes it possible to get a good view of both winding sticks, if you're under the double fluorescent.


* For eg. I can read easily outdoors, even small print, but it's glasses indoors.


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## Dave D (6 Aug 2009)

At last I have got around to trying Jeremy's idea of using pinholes to aid focus.
With lots of light I can focus much better but I will continue using the lasers because of the magnification factor.

Even in my small workshop a 0.1mm error on an 8cm wide piece of wood translates to a 4mm movement of the spot which I can easily see across the workshop without glasses while still standing up. For the doors of my sideboard replacement I will need to do face sides on 63 such pieces of maple so I want the process to be as quick and comfortable as possible

I do have a problem with battery life using the keyring laser pointers so I am about to add an AA battery pack to replace the button batteries supplied.


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