Square corners made easy

[up1950s]

When I am going to build a box load or trailer for a circus the fist PIA is the square-ness before the glue job . I started searching the other day and ordered these plastic 1 CM plastic counting blocks . I roughed up a face on 2 blocks and Krazy Glued them together . Can't break them apart now , and that's good . They are nice and square with sharp edges . They are solid , drill and tap very well .
I like to think of them as cubic bones . You could add and laminate them to make a custom size , then face them with whatever you want the outside to be . They are small enough and square to be the bones of many things N Scale .

 http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Centimeter-Cubes-1000/dp/B000F8VB4G/ref=pd_sim_21_4/179-8171222-7755437?
ie=UTF8&dpID=51q1fWENAHL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0V3R26N609MAGXJ56YKH

[nkalanaga]

Legos also work quite well, and can do double duty as forms for casting bridge piers.

[djconway]

Be careful using injection molded parts for square -- Most if not all have a small amount of release angel on the sides so that they can be extracted from the mold.

[up1950s]

Be careful using injection molded parts for square -- Most if not all have a small amount of release angel on the sides so that they can be extracted from the mold.

Great point

readings in mm
9.96
10.04
10.02
9.98
10.01
10.00
10.02
10.03

Good point . Here are all eight sides of one cube measured along their edges . Not perfect but not bad at all . Long extensions from a single cube require extra care . But I still foresee these as a huge help for me boxing out stuff .

[Lemosteam]

Great point

readings in mm
9.96
10.04
10.02
9.98
10.01
10.00
10.02
10.03

Good point . Here are all eight sides of one cube measured along their edges . Not perfect but not bad at all . Long extensions from a single cube require extra care . But I still foresee these as a huge help for me boxing out stuff .

Measurements between faces cannot be consrtued as and indicator of perpendicularity to any other pair of sides,

A better measure may be across all four opposite corners (without crushing the material) and comparing how equal they are.

[up1950s]

Measurements between faces cannot be consrtued as and indicator of perpendicularity to any other pair of sides,

A better measure may be across all four opposite corners (without crushing the material) and comparing how equal they are.

14.01
14.01
13.87
13.89

[muktown128]

Measurements between faces cannot be consrtued as and indicator of perpendicularity to any other pair of sides,

A better measure may be across all four opposite corners (without crushing the material) and comparing how equal they are.

When I worked for a land surveying company staking our houses for new construction, that is how we used to confirm a house was square after we staked it out.  If the diagonals weren't the same, then the house wasn't square (or rectangular).

Scott

[up1950s]

Well if my corners were as square as these blocks I wouldn't be looking for these . It is still easier to build out from something than to build a square with nothing inside IMO .

[peteski]

14.01
14.01
13.87
13.89

Close enough for N scale model work! 

[davefoxx]

Close enough for N scale model work! 

Man, I would think so.  Less than 0.15 millimeters out of square.

[eja]

Yea, but he only measured one cube.  Now if he did the whole jar, we determine the standard deviation and thus be sure that his sample cube was within the 2 sigma range.

 

[Kisatchie]

Yea, but he only measured one cube....

Hmm... I take two cubes
in my coffee, and I never
felt the need to measure
them...

[mmyers]

How about a game of RISK?

[PAL_Houston]

Well if my corners were as square as these blocks I wouldn't be looking for these . It is still easier to build out from something than to build a square with nothing inside IMO .

+1.
I think the idea is to get better without getting anal.
Near as I can tell the cross-corner measurement is square to 1%.
For what I do I am lucky to be within 40%, and that mostly has resulted in good decisions.
But then I don't do construction or model for living.
Fortunate for me, wot? 😆

[muktown128]

How about a game of RISK?

Let's play Twister, let's play Risk...