Review: Calculated Industries Construction Master Plus EZ
General Information
Company: Calculated
Industries
Type: Construction
Memory: 1 independent
memory register
Battery: 1 CR2025
battery
Years: 2014 - present
Original Cost: retail price is currently $59.95
Operating System: AOS, Immediate Execution
Model Number: 4067
Bonus: The calculator
(when sold from retail or online stores other than action sites) comes encased
in a navy blue Armadillo Gear® case, a very nice case indeed!
Features
The main feature and selling point is the calculator’s
prompts for many common construction problems.
The display is two lines. The top
line is solely for prompts and messages. The bottom line has a 4 character space that
allows for continuation prompts and message on the left, and numerical results
on the right hand of the bottom line. The
display is crisp, readable, and of high quality.
Calculations
The calculations that the Construction Master Plus EZ handle
are (not an all-inclusive list):
* Geometry: Square Up
(diagonals of rectangles), Volumes, Areas
* Roofs: Common,
Hip/Valley, and Irregular Rafters, Plumb Angle, Level Angle
* Stairs: Number of
risers (stairs), Riser Height, Tread Width, Stringer Length, Incline, Minimum
Head Room
* Tiles: Number of
Tiles Needed given room dimensions, factoring in grout
* Material calculations also include Drywalls, Fencing, and
Pavers
* Circle Calculations:
Perimeter, Area
* Arc Calculations: Radius, Chord Height, Arc Length, Arc
Angle
* Rake Walls: Rake Wall studs given base height, and run
* Baluster and Open Baluster
* Conversions between Degrees and Degrees-Minutes-Seconds;
pounds-kilograms; board feet-cubic feet
* Extras include Polygons areas and angles, Crown Molding (miter
and bevel angle), Compound Angles (miter and blade angle), Spacing (space elements
on walls and ceilings), Elliptical Arch
As with all construction calculators from Calculated
Industries, you can do arithmetic with yards, feet, inches, and fractions of
inches. (and other units).
Example: 4 ft 3 1/2
in + 6 ft 8 in
Keystrokes: 4 [ Feet ] 3 [Inch] 1 [ / ] 2 [ + ] 6 [ Feet ] 8
[ Inch ] [ = ]
Total: 10 ft 11 1/2
in (display reads: 10 FEET – 11 INCH 1/2)
Keyboard
The keyboard is really good.
The keys have a tough and rugged feel to them. This is also common for all the calculators
from Calculated Industries, the keyboards are designed for use in the field.
Manual
The calculator (in the retail package) has a pocket guide
and quick reference guide sticker. The
user’s guide can be downloaded, which is a very handy guide because it has all
the diagrams. Other user manuals that I
recommend looking at for additional examples are the Construction Master 5 User
Guide and Construction Master Pro. All
the manuals can be found on the Construction Industries website (see link
above).
Construction Industries has a YouTube page which includes a
set of tutorials.
Verdict
The Construction master Plus EZ absolutely gets my
recommendation. I like the way the
worksheets guide you through each calculation.
The keyboard is very pleasant to use.
Eddie
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