"Point-2-Point
Ever since I bought a biscuit jointer, I've been an enthusiastic user, but to space the biscuits equally across a board tests my elementary school standards of numeracy. The good news for numerically challenged woodworkers like myself is that the Point-2-Point will do this reasonably accurately in about five seconds flat.
Equal divisions
The tool is made of eight stainless?steel strips connected together with aluminum arms which are joined with pivots to allow the distance between the strips to expand and contract whilst keeping them parallel and equidistant. With it you can divide a board into equal spaces for drilling holes for dowels, biscuits or nailing. The maximum number of points is eight and the maximum distance is 24" (610mm). The downside is that if you want to divide a larger panel you have to subdivide it first with a rule.
The Point-2-Point works best over larger distances due to a small amount of play in the joints. To help alleviate this problem, the instructions state that the mechanism should be stretched out to its maximum width and then shrunk down to size, but using it to mark out small high tolerance joints is not recommended, as the accuracy isn't quite good enough.
In use
To use it, spread the points across the work and when it has been set to the required size lock the points into place by tightening a couple of screws. Once the points are locked into place the tool can be moved to other boards to transfer the dimensions. For example, when marking biscuit slots on two planks that are to be joined along their edges. In every case, the tool should be placed onto the board with the right-angled cutout at the top of the pins facing towards the hand you're marking out with (i.e. they face right for a right-handed person). The pencil lines are then drawn along the edge of the cut out which is in the centre of the stainless strip.
Verdict
Although it has limitations in terms of accuracy, the Point-2-Point is very useful for sub-dividing large boards into equally spaced parts. Stop press: M.POWER say that they are producing an updated version with increased rigidity for more accurate results.
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