id: lt title: Leveling Tool previous: writing next: tw date: 2021-06-28 ---

## Leveling Tool

So I know that I have not posted in a while, to be honest priorities have shifted and so unfortunately writing has been put on the back burner. However this week I came up with something and wanted to share it.

I have been working on making an interlock patio in my parents back yard. Once the hole was dug and filled with GA and stone dust we had to level. This past Thursday after being outside in the heat and sun for days I was just not feeling crawling around on my knees with a long level scraping and pushing stone dust around to not only get the surface level but graded properly away from the buildings. I was also distracted by a totally separate idea for something computer and website related.

I gave myself 15 minutes to come up with something that could help and if I didn’t I would go back to doing it the old fashioned way. There were a few problems that I was looking to solve. I wanted something that did not require me to hold my shorter level onto a piece of wood while I was scraping, I wanted a system that did not require having my weight on it (on my knees reaching forward with the level and scraping backwards), and something that I could do while standing up.

I was initially thinking of some sort of track that gets pre-leveled and I just slide a board across, but that seemed too complicated and precise to throw together quickly. While looking at what scrap wood was around I found an old finished but more importantly straight piece of a bed frame and a broken shovel handle.

Drilled a few holes in the piece of wood to tie the level to the top of it and cut off the shovel handle at an angle and screwed it to the board. The result was this.

Version 0.1 Leveling Tool

It worked very well all things considered. It allowed me to hold it at a slight angle to get the grade while I was drawing it over the stone dust. I could vary the pressure to have it scrape off various amounts and I could reach much farther then I could from my knees with just the level. This version is obviously rough but it made the job much faster and easier. The handle should be longer and at a bit less of an angle. It would also be nice to work the level into the scraping edge itself. A regular level can be looked at from the front or the top, but there are some angles that with this particular tool it is hard to see. Having the entire top open to be seen at any angle and possibly a lens to make the actual bubble look bigger would make watching it easier while pulling the device across the stone dust.

I find that I am often slowed down by trying to make things I create perfect but recently I have been just getting something that works. Having something to work with makes other design changes and improvements jump out at you. It is way easier to iterate off of something as opposed to trying to make it perfect in theory before making anything. You end up with a better product and much quicker. Don’t wait to make something perfect. Just make it and it will be far easier to improve once you start using it.

Thanks for reading.