MAG-ic Probe Digital Thickness Gauge

[gtd]

Came across this in my internet rambles

http://www.magicprobe.net/mag-ic-probe-ble-thickness-caliper/

Has anyone had experience using one of these? Thoughts?

[David Burgess]

4 hours ago, gtd said:

Came across this in my internet rambles

http://www.magicprobe.net/mag-ic-probe-ble-thickness-caliper/

Has anyone had experience using one of these? Thoughts?

I tried an earlier version several years ago and thought it worked well, although it could vary a little from caliper measurements when the wood thickness got up around 10 mm. From a post I made in 2014:

"We did quite a bit of dinking around with it (at the Oberlin Workshop) and didn't come across any problems. The two handiest features are that it's much faster than using a Hacklinger, and that you can transfer the measurements easily to an image of an instrument on your computer screen with a mouse click, and save the image with the measurements superimposed. Position the probe at the spot on the instrument where you want to measure, position your cursor at the same spot on the screen image, and click to record the measurement. The consensus was that accuracy was at least as good as a Hacklinger."

[J Corry]

Yep. Mine works great - and it consistently matched a dial caliper measurement on a free plate when I was testing it. 

[mfeng]

Mine works well.  Software can be buggy at times but Liam is pretty responsive via email and has dealt with all of the issues I've encountered.  Reasonably accurate, much easier to map plates once you have a template set up (I can take 80-100 measurements on a plate in ~5 min).  The contour is useful to quickly see any high or low spots.

[Stephen Churchill]

Hi Guys,

  I've made an replacement iPhone app for the MAG-ic Probe to help with using it without a computer.  Thanks to Liam at MAG-ic Tech for his assistance.  You can view the screen shots and list of features here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/magic-caliper/id1505243118?ls=1 

 

[Michael K.]

14 hours ago, Stephen Churchill said:

Hi Guys,

  I've made an replacement iPhone app for the MAG-ic Probe to help with using it without a computer.  Thanks to Liam at MAG-ic Tech for his assistance.  You can view the screen shots and list of features here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/magic-caliper/id1505243118?ls=1 

 

Thank you so much. I was waiting for this a long time

[catnip]

Hi Stephen,  Can you easily port it to an android phone?

[catnip]

On 2/20/2020 at 11:08 AM, mfeng said:

Mine works well.  Software can be buggy at times but Liam is pretty responsive via email and has dealt with all of the issues I've encountered.  Reasonably accurate, much easier to map plates once you have a template set up (I can take 80-100 measurements on a plate in ~5 min).  The contour is useful to quickly see any high or low spots.

Can you describe your method in more detail.  I have not used mine in a while since I am mostly making violins.  I have used it in the past to make a copy (replacement) of an existing top... long story.

[Stephen Churchill]

On 4/10/2020 at 11:07 AM, catnip said:

Hi Stephen,  Can you easily port it to an android phone?

Hi Catnip

  Unfortunately there is no way to directly port from iOS to android. However, I’m working on implementing the functionality in android.  Hopefully this will be available on a month or two. 

Thanks

Stephen

[mfeng]

On 4/10/2020 at 2:10 PM, catnip said:

Can you describe your method in more detail.  I have not used mine in a while since I am mostly making violins.  I have used it in the past to make a copy (replacement) of an existing top... long story.

You can take a picture of the top or use a generic image - I just use a generic image these days. See attached for what a map looks like (cello top).  You have to create the template first - put down mapping locations using the tool and point layers.  You should use a separate layer to generate the outline (set at a fixed thickness for the contour - doesn't really matter what that thickness is but you need to put a finite value in).  The template has a number of points in order that you just move the probe in place, click, and the measurement gets recorded.  Move to the next spot, click again, repeat.  Pro version of the software creates a contour.  Hope that helps.

 

[catnip]

Thanks mfeng,

It has been a while since I have used the software.  I wrote down my method and wanted to compare it with what others do. Yes, I have an master image file of the both the top and bottom with dot locations.   I also have a full size print out done on tracing paper  with the same exact map locations.  I tape the tracing paper to the top of the violin.  It will have an off-set of ~0.05 mm.   I turn on PREMAP mode and MAP LOCATIONS button and follow the sequence on the tracing paper .  Then I EXPORT the measurements and name this as my MASTER TOP file and it will always be used in conjunction with my master image file.

Then, in future, I can load my master image file , turn on PREMAP mode then IMPORT MEASUREMENTS and from the previous MASTER file.  Now I click MAP VALUES and all my LOCATIONS should be instantly visible again.  After I have completed all my measurements I save the workspace and rename the file so that I do not overwrite my original  MASTER files.

[Stephen Churchill]

Hi, to complement the iOS version I made last year, I've just finished the Android version for those interested in an App they can use on their phones:  

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stephenchurchill.magic_caliper