Tools 01–06
Tools
Six planning calculators, specified and tested before they are styled. Each takes a real measurement, returns a defensible plan, and shows its working — inputs, constants, rounding rules and a worked example.
| ID | Tool | Signature |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Find a starting bench height for the way you work, from a measured elbow height or an estimate from stature. Returns a height band per work style — planing, joinery, power-tool or detail work — with a starting point to mock up. | stature mm → band mm |
| 02 | Match a drill to a dowel, peg or axle you have actually measured, for a glued, removable or rotating fit. Works in a metric and imperial drill table and reports the clearance of every candidate, not just the pick. | dia mm → drill mm / in |
| 03 | Estimate a grit progression and how many discs to buy before the job starts, from panel sizes or a total area. Carries HSE-sourced dust-control notes; it deliberately never sizes extraction from generic assumptions. | area m² → grits × discs |
| 04 | Fill a Lionel FasTrack gap with the fewest straight sections, solved in 1/8-inch steps from 1 3/8 in to 100 in. Combinations are computed independently and shown with their working; section lengths are credited to the LCCA. | target in → sections × n |
| 05 | Turn one board into a nest-box cutting list: panel sizes, roof angle, strip layout and the board length to buy. Material guidance is the RSPB’s, with references; hole-size species choices stay yours. | internal mm → cutting list mm |
| 06 | Answer four questions — cut, material, quantity, tooling — and get a straight recommendation for which saw to use. Every recommendation states its reasoning; tooth counts are labelled as typical published ranges, not test data. | task × power → saw |
The interactive calculators are in build and each row becomes a full-row link as its page ships. The specifications above are already fixed: every constant, rounding rule and worked example is written down and covered by tests before the first page renders, so what ships is what is specified. Planning aids, not certification — every tool will say so on its own page.