A Toy For The Hobby Shop

[chips and more]

I rolled my eyes the first time I saw one of these. Then I found one cheap and used it...WOW! This digital readout angle gauge is a great addition to my hobby shop!

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[34_40]

Does it say how accurate it might be?  I have one but I am always a bit suspect on the performance.

[Piggiron]

It would be interesting to see a test comparison between the digital gauge and a precision Sine Bar just to see how it compares.

[TerryWerm]

I thought the same thing the first time I saw one, but then I bought one, and yes, it is very handy to have!

Just for grins and giggles I tested mine against a digital protractor and it matched to a tee. I have not yet taken the time to do a more accurate test against a sine bar or anything like that. But, I did check the angles measured by rotating the tool 90° and checking to see if the display changed by exactly 90° and it did. I also checked it by spinning it horizontally 180° to see if I got the inverse angle reading, and I did. I also took a known good draftsman's triangle and placed it on a known level surface, then checked the 45° side both ways with the digital angle gauge. Once again, everything checked out perfectly. I could not find one measurement that was off. 

[jocat54]

I use mine on a pretty regular basis, nice to have.

[PJ]

Ive always wondered do these measure "level to the earth" if thats the right term?  In other words do you zero it out at whatever inclination its at initially and then get a relative angle from that point as its moved.
Not sure if im making sense or not LOL

[chips and more]

You would want to say, "perpendicular to gravity". When you push the zero button, it zeros itself to that position. It's not like a spirit level, it cannot seek level or perpendicular to gravity directly.

[4GSR]

I believe the accuracy is specified as +/-0.2 of an degree.

I have one and have done some very accurate angle cuts using it that checked to be nuts on. So that tells me they can be much more accurate than they claim to be.