24 in. Measure Mate - English/Metric Graduations 1/16 and mm

A Little Gimmicky But Useful I'm a serious amateur woodworker and so when I saw this product I was excited by a few of the features. Most notably I liked the idea of having a center finding ruler and the ability to set markers at arbitrary spacings to directly transfer measurements. Some of the plastic pieces on the ruler seem especially flimsy. The ones that bother me most are the movable markers. They don't have enough friction to stay firmly in place so you have to be really careful not to knock them out of place, defeating the entire purpose of the tool. So what is this good for? It's pretty darn good for hanging pictures, especially when you're using keyhole screws on the wall or z-clips and have multiple screws to set. The spacing measurement and the level bubble help ensure everything is level and lined up. Will this find a place in my tool chest? Maybe. But I'll probably relegate it to a drawer somewhere and only pull it out for hanging a few tricky wall pieces.

BACKGROUND: I use rulers and levels for different things around the house and shop. The opportunity to evaluate the Kapro 24" Measure Mate was too good to pass up. FIT, FINISH, & FEATURES: The ruler has a nice feel to it. The extruded aluminum body is light yet rigid. The markings are clear and legible. The sliding markers move easily and the detents for marking and cutting are easy to see. Unfortunately for me the sliding markers are so loose the don't hold their place if you move the while preparing to make locator marks. This means you have to hold both markers in position if you are transferring measurements from an object to a wall or other surface. I checked the level and plumb against a known good level and found the vials in the Measure Mate close enough for general household projects. The ruler marking are registered against the end of the aluminum body, not the plastic end caps. I like this because the end caps protect the reference end. The screw gauge is handy but is in metric only. Not that useful in America. The nail and screw holder (starter) is nice, but I doubt I'll use it. OPERATION: I did a couple of test operations to see if the ruler met my expectations. - First I used the cutting guide for a quick slice down a piece of paper. The guide held the box cutter blade against the edge and the guide slid easily down the ruler. The result was a nice straight cut. This is hand for me because I sometimes "loose the edge" of the ruler when making cuts and end up with something much less straight. - Next I used the centering ruler to find the middle of the test paper and make marks equally spaced from the center. This operation is similar to hanging a wide or heavy picture/painting where the mounting holes must hold at a specific center position. With the build in level this operation would be easy to mark for drilling or driving screws or nails at the proper spacing and level. - I used the level to check several items I previously hung using a commercial level and the Measure Mate also registered plumb and level. This reassured me this tool will be good for in-house hanging projects. SUMMARY: Overall I am very pleased with this tool. It will make a good addition to my in-the-house tool bag.

This tool is designed to be a handy all in one style tool. It is designed to help make things level, measure distances, provide a cutting guide, find the center of something, hold nails while hammering, and measure drill bit sizes. It provides a 24” triangular rule marked in sixteenths of an inch and a 60 cm rule marked in mm. It succeeds in achieving some of these features but not all of them. The sliding knife guides are plastic pieces that slide along one of the 3 sides of the rule. There are slots in the sides of the plastic pieces into which one can insert the blade end of a work knife. The idea is that as you cut some material the plastic guide moves along the rule holding the blade against the edge of the rule. The problem is that the plastic part does not move smoothly along the rule and the blade rides up over the plastic. The spirit levels are OK, and probably accurate enough for hanging pictures. The nail holder works well. The drill bit size guide is for metric drill bits only. Transferring measurement from one item to another is done by sliding the two cutting guides to align with the two points that are being measured and then moving the rule to wherever one wishes to transfer the distance. If one of the sliders moves, you will transfer an incorrect measurement. The way to do this properly is to use the scale to measure the actual distance and then apply that measurement to wherever it is needed. This is how things have been measured for centuries and works well. Since the the pair of cutting guides are attached to one of the three sides of the rule, they get in the way of using that side and two of the three edges of the rule. I decided to discard them but could not pull them off.

This tool makes for the easiest and quickest hanging of pictures yet! -Just measure the brackets and determine if there is any height difference between the two. Then transfer this right to the wall and make your marks with a pencil or guide holes with a nail tip while holding the tool tight against the surface and making sure it's perfectly level. If you feel you need the nail guide, you can use that as well. It really comes in handy for those tiny little finish nails and is a drill width indicator as well (mm). This tool has graduations in inches (1/16ths) and centimeters (mm). The guides are interchangeable depending on which side you need them on. The rails double as a nice place to hold onto the tool and prevent it from slipping and falling out of your hands. Now, the maximum width you can have your brackets apart would be 21 3/4" but you would have to account for this and move left (-) to make a new zero. Keeping the same zero however, you can still go 10 1/2" both ways, which makes 21" maximum spacing. If the brackets are way out of place, then you might as well simply realign them using this tool. Since there is a plumb dial in this tool as well, you should theoretically be able to put the hangar on a string or smooth stick. However, you would have to have the guides/indicators on both sides or both off. If they are both on one side it will drastically throw off your plumb. I was able to go through our whole house and check all the pictures for level and readjust as needed, all within the timeframe of a few minutes.

This review is for the Kapro 24 in. Measure Mate - English/Metric Graduations 1/16 and mm Model # 313-24 . I was granted an opportunity to check out a Kapro Measure Mate and as a DIY’er and amateur photographer I decided to give the gadget a try. This thing is simplicity itself in design and operation – but it does exactly what it claims to do. Two things about hanging photos bug me since I make my own prints at home and sometimes have non-standard items to hang: finding the center point, and finding the exact location on the wall for the hangers on the back of a frame. Most of the time finding the center point just requires a quick measurement and a “divide by two”, but if the total width of the space is a fraction of an inch it takes a bit longer to figure out. With the Kapro, it’s a snap. All you do is place the Measure Mate on the item (or wall) and move it until the measures on each side of the Zero Point are equal, and you’re done. Very nice, and it’s harder to explain than to do. For transferring the hanging points from the back of a frame to the wall it gets even better. Simply arrange the two sliders over the two hanging points and then move the Measure Mate to the wall and mark. The only caveat is that the sliders move easily, so you want to have a steady hand when moving from the frame to the wall. The sliders are designed so that they cannot come out of the Measure Mate accidentally, and can be used to guide a trimmer knife. The Measure Mate comes with built in levels (one for vertical, one for horizontal) so that you can work with one hand while marking with the other and still have things come out straight. Note that this thing is not, I think, designed to take the place of a professional grade, dedicated level for wall construction or laying tile floors, etc. But for picture hanging or a quick reference to check to see if things are square it’s excellent. It also offers a slide out (see photos) to use as a nail gripper and a drill bit measurement. I’ve not found the drill bit measurement all that great because the holes are measured “1”, “2”, “3”, etc. instead of the common U.S. twist drill sizes of 1/8, 3/16, etc. The slide out tool also doubles as a hanger for the Measure Mate. There is not much chance of the Measure Mate falling away unintentionally from the hanger – there’s a thumb release that needs to be pressed and even then it’s a tight fit. There are videos on the Home Depot website, along with other websites, that show the Kapro in use and I’d recommend taking a look at one. Quality of the markings is excellent as are the fit and finish and it comes with a 1 year warranty. Given the quality of the tool, the market price, and the fact that it does what it is designed (and advertised) to do, I think it rates a full five stars. HTH Regards, Jim

Sliders broke after ine use. Ruler is 23.5" missing the 24" marking.

Level is easy to read & handle. Haven’t used it yet but can see much potential in my handyman bus.

Makes life easier for hanging frames and marking even centers for circles on speaker boxes.

Second one ,Bought for daughter mine works so well didn’t want to part with it.

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