These programs, (More than 45), were designed for Shop and Field use, primarily for the Custom Sheet Metal Trade; however they can be used by most trades like the Welding Trades, Plumbing Trades, Carpenter Trades, Insulators Trade, Machine Shops Etc. I consider this “Program/Calculator” combination a very useful TOOL rather than a computer because its portable and you can take it anywhere, on any job and use it on the spot for roof pitches, angles, finding large radius’s, Layouts etc. If you’re not very good at shop layout and don't know the math, with this tool you will be able to compete with a good shop layout person that is not using this tool, if you are a good Layout person this TOOL will cut your Layout Time by more than half, and without waisting material. REMEMBER YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW THE MATH. You can be a real asset to your company. You can apply these programs to more than they were intended for, just use your imagination. As you will see, the Manual is a “VISUAL” type manual that can be used like a computer monitor for location & direction if needed. The programs in the manual all have samples you can run through with your calculator in hand to make them very easy to understand. It is VERY IMPORTANT to read ALL the “NOTES”, they help you to understand and will make things clear. The basic tools for shop layout are a 4 ft. minimum steel ruler, a set of trammel points, small dividers/compass, a large divider/compass, a scribe/pencil, and a scratch-all, just your basic layout tools. You won’t have to drag a sheet of material out and waste it and your time laying out plan views, elevation views, or do any triangulation; the calculator does this for you based on the Input it asked you for. It then gives you all the DIMENSIONS & SPACINGS you need to develop a dead accurate pattern in the correct order by transfering the dimensions from your calculator to the material, you just have to add for seams & laps Etc., in fact all the layouts in the manual were Layed-Out to Scale in AutoCad using these programs. The Utilites will give you Tapping Drill sizes, Pulley Diameters, V-Belt sizes, RPM’s of driven and Driver, Percentage of opening of perforated sheets, Weights of Steel and Aluminum shapes, Cubic Yards of Concrete/Sand/Gravel Etc., Stair Tread Layouts, Metric Conversions and much more.
These programs were written for the CASIO 9860G series calculators with the new LARGE black & white screen. The CASIO calculator with these programs is very user friendly. Even if it looks intimidating, you only use the most basic of functions, mostly just inputing what it asks you for. I found the Texas Instruments Calculators not as user friendly for the average person and this is why I chose the CASIO Graphic series calculators to program. All of the programs will give you the DECIMAL form of readout first, hit EXE and then reads in the fractional form second, to the closest 32nd of an inch, plus or minus a 64th, (Default), This makes it easier for the average person to read the fractions if he/she doesn’t know how to read the decimals. You could look at decimals as a percentage of an inch, I.E. 9/16” = .5625 or 56% of a inch when reading a tape and this will get you in the ball-park. You can change the default fraction to the closest 64th, 32nd, 16th, 8th, 4th, or even a ½” as the default if you wish, by double clicking the subroutine “FRAC” in the FA-123/124 program list, and bringing up the program code. You just make a simple change in the program Code. See page 30 in the manual to do this. If you are dimensioning equal spacing from an edge or from a Zero point you should use the "CONSTANT" program, using the dead-on "decimal value" and NOT the fractional value. The Fractional Value will accumulate Plus or Minus. The "CONSTANT" Program prevents this from happining. You will always be within Plus or Minus 1/64th of an inch from each dead-on "Decimal" readout when reading the Fractional Value.
