Anyone have digital protractor to review??

reible · Post by **reible** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:28 pm

It would appear I may need something like this and would be interested in any owners comments.

Ed

markap · Post by **markap** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:24 am

I have this one:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx ... at=1,43513

Works well and costs only $25. I like it.

calver · Post by **calver** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:35 am

Curious as to what specific uses you would use it for as opposed to using wixey for blade angle etc.

Dave C.

8iowa · Post by **8iowa** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:13 pm

I have this one. More traditional perhaps - but extremely accurate.

http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?P ... ilyID=4438

reible · Post by **reible** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:31 pm

Thanks! The price sure looks better then a lot of them I have been looking at. That will go on the list to pick from on cost alone, plus have always been happy with stuff from lee valley.

Ed

markap wrote:I have this one:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=58801&cat=1,43513

Works well and costs only $25. I like it.

reible · Post by **reible** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:37 pm

Hi,

Good question. What I need it for is in the horizontal rather then vertical mode. Since the tool is mounted in this position the axis has to be this direction. Does that make since? Well, if not let me know and I can post some pictures of what I need it to do.

Ed

calver wrote:Curious as to what specific uses you would use it for as opposed to using wixey for blade angle etc.

Dave C.

reible · Post by **reible** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:47 pm

That is a really nice looking tool!

It is not clear how close it can read and I fear it may not read down to 1/10 degrees which seems to be what I will need. It is interesting a few years ago something that would read to a 1/2 degree was more then you needed and now we look for more.... I guess it is truly the digital age.

Anyway thanks for point this one out I'm sure it is a keeper for most projects.... yea I have a soft spot for any cool tools and well almost any tool.

Ed

8iowa wrote:I have this one. More traditional perhaps - but extremely accurate.

http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?ProductID=143964&FamilyID=4438

8iowa · Post by **8iowa** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:15 pm

reible:

The machinist's protractor has a vernier gauge under the magnifying glass with 5 minute graduations. That's 5/60 (.083) of an degree. I used it when I made a sled to cut bowl segments as a Christmas present for my son-in-law. the sled has four fences, one each for six, eight, ten, and twelve sided segments. If there is any application where angles have to be accurate down to a knats hair, this is it.

I really like this tool. It's made of stainless steel and comes in a foam padded plastic case. Better yet - no batteries! I bought mine at Woodcraft, but I see that Highland Woodworking has one very similar for $29.95

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/inde ... rodID=4963

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:37 pm

I have the unit from Lee Valley. While at my daughters house I needed to install a new door frame and discovered my level had become damaged. It was Christmas eve about 11 PM and my temper was was a short as my energy level. I used it as a level and to check squarness as I was shimming the frame. This ended up being the simplest door frame I ever installed. A really neat little tool. fjimp:)

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:34 pm

I think the digital protractor can be more or equal the accurate than a manual protractor but I think there is a real danger here.

With a manual protractor you have to rely on eye sight to read the measurement, when you do that you tend to double check to insure your blades are laying perfectly flat on the two surfaces to be measured.

I had an experience with a digital protractor. It kept producing a reading that was not right. I finally traced it back to user error. The protractor was not firmly into the apex so when the blade was pressed against the "to be measured" surface it was only touching at the very top. There was a gap between the blade which produced about a 2-3 degree error. Interestingly I found the error using an old machinist protractor.

When I was forced to get down and sight the measurement I saw the sliver of light and realized where the error was coming from.

Sometimes we expect technology to replace craftsmanship and it simply won't all the time.