Because my wife's handbag is well overloaded I had to make this tapemeasure holder as small as possible. With the small tolerances required I selected a timber that was dry and wouldn't move much when finished.

I chose a piece of blackwood that was 60 X 60 square and 80mm long and turned it between centres to about 55mm diameter.

I then changed to my 4 jaw chuck and resorted to the tailstock to centre the cylinder, and faced the end. Because I am a slow turner I used a 35mm (1.3/8") Forstner style drill in the tailstock to drill a hole 23mm deep. Then I swapped to an 8mm (5/16") spur drill to go another 3mm deeper to accept the spindle end.

Next step was to turn a recess 3 mm wider (38 mm diam) and 6 mm deep at the start of the opening, to receive the closing spacer. Using a gouge and skew I reduced the outside diameter to 43 mm for a length of approx 45 mm and finished the outside. I parted the body off and set it to one side.

The next step was to make the spacer, so the end was again faced and the 8 mm spur drill utilised to drill a hole about 10 mm deep. The outside was turned down to make a nice snug fit into the recess in the body, and was parted off at 6 mm long.

Now for the cap. The end was again faced, and the 41 mm (1.5/8") Forstner style drill was used to go in 8 mm deep. A quick change to the 8 mm spur drill and a 3mm deep recess for the other end of the spindle was drilled. I then had to enlarge the main recess to 45 mm diameter and then turn the outside to 49 mm for a length of approx 20 mm and finish the surface. The cap was parted off at 15 mm long.

Because my 4 jaw chuck wouldn't close down small enough to chuck the body and cap on the inside, I had to change to my 3 jaw engineer's chuck to hold them while I faced and finished the other end of each of them.

Now for the spindle. For this, a piece of wood 16 mm X 16 mm square about 60 mm long was turned to a 12 mm diameter cylinder.

About 15 mm from the end a shoulder w Object1 as formed and a spigot slightly under 8 mm diam turned about 6 mm long. Then 16 mm from the first shoulder another shoulder was made and the rest of the spindle was turned to slightly under 8 mm diam, like the other end. The first spigot was part separated 2 mm from the shoulder. The spindle was parted off at a total length of 30 mm.

The time had come to dry assemble the pieces to make sure the spindle turned freely in the body but did not pop out of the recess in the bottom.

With a fine tenon saw I cut a slot in the side of the body at a tangent to the curve and parallel to the axis of the spindle. With a sharp chisel I pared the corner off the top edge of the slot on the inside to assist the retrieval of the tape. With the same saw I cut a longitudinal slot in the 12 mm diameter section of the spindle, 2 mm deep.

Being careful I cut the end of the tape square across and super-glued it into the slot in the spindle. When it was set I spread more SuperGlue on the spindle to fix the next few millimeters to strengthen the joint. I was extra careful to ensure that the tape left the spindle on the same tangent as the slot in the body.

Final assembly was now commenced. With the tape wound on the spindle and with the end protruding through the slot, the spindle was placed in it's position. A thin film of PVA glue was brushed into the recess in the body and onto the edge of the spacer and left to go tacky before assembly. (I didn't want any excess glue dripping onto the spindle or tape and making them a permanent fixture). When I judged this joint to be sufficiently hardened I added enough glue to the recess in the cap and to the end of the spindle to make this joint strong. When the glue was again tacky I turned the cap upside-down and made the final joint. (Again I didn't want any glue running where it wasn't wanted and I could see that the body and the cap were concentric.)

If my memory regarding measurements is correct anyone following these instructions and dimensions should have a smooth working, retractable tape measure that is attractive, functional and compact.

MY MATE MURPHY SAYS:

1. Before starting the body, wind your tape measure reasonably tightly onto a 12 mm diam dowel and check that it's outside diameter isn't more than 35 mm or else all diameters quoted will have to be altered to suit.

2. Make sure that the end of the tape is well glued onto the spindle because friends, enemies and children will try to pull it right out.

3. When you cut the end off the tape, bend the brass tag on the other end into a 5 to 10 degree boomerang, because the same people in 2 (above) will try to wind it right in to the body.

4. Make certain that the slot in the body and the direction that the tape winds onto the spindle are compatible.

5. If you don't do all these things Murphy says he will invoke his LAW - and you know what that means!!

Enjoy your hobby.

Bob Kinsey.