Not sure if this fall into the mod category but a fun project none the less. My friend and I decided to split on a Loos Gauge to make sure our rigs are up to spec. We both bought boats last year, he bought a Tanzer 22 and I got my Hunter 260. I was a little dissapointed when it showed up in a cardboard box and no hard shell box to store it in. Being a calibrated instument, I wanted to make sure that it is protected because it will be going back and forth between boats and because it won't be a heavily used item, it should be protected while in storrage. Being a machinist, I have access to numerous boxes, as just about every measuring tool comes in a box of some sort. I could not find a box that the gauge would fit in. Either too big , too small or mostly too narrow. I finally found one that would work and I found it with my woodworking tools. It housed a small drum sanding kit that I purchased a few years back. The first pics show the original box. With a knife I cut out the bottom section of the box. I found that the closing locks did not work as well with the bottom cut out of the box as it was designed as support/stucture for the box. So I added a piece of laminate and glued it into the bottom. I had some foam that fit perfectly into the bottom of the box so I just had to cut it so the gauge would fit into it and also cut the shape of the box into the foam. For this precise fit to the bottom ouside of the box, I took some measurements and drew up the shape in a drawing program (Aspire). I took the guage and scanned it, then took that image and inserted it into the bottom cut out shape in the Aspire drawing program. With the drawing done, I simply sent it off to the lazer and did some test cuts with paper. Did a dry fit to the box and to the gauge, made a few edits in the software and until I was happy with the fit. I then put the foam into the laser and it very accurately cut out the foam to the proper shape. The foam is 1" thick. I also cut the same shape of the gauge in some 3/8" foam which perfectly fits into the 1" foam like a puzzle piece. I glued it into place in the bottom of the box and I have a perfectly fitted foam home for the guage. I also wanted to keep the instructions so in the top half I cut an opening, glued in a piece of laminate and now the instructions stay with the gauge. When I closed up the box I could see that the old lettering of the drum sanding kit were on the outside of the box. I didn't like that, so I sanded off the letters and made a couple name plates to fit where the old lettering was removed. I engraved our boat names and logos into a 1/8" thick pice of poplar with our CNC router and in the other, I put the types of boats. Stained, clear coated and mounted them as shown. Looks good and the gauge is now protected. :dance:
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