Tool Digital protractor or digital level?

[ColinB]

Which do people find more useful around the metal work shop? Is there such a thing as a digital protractor that also functions as a level? I do welding, and use a lathe, drill press, brake and h/v bandsaw. I hope to have a small knee mill in the next year or two.

 

[jorogi]

Not trying to be obtuse but if they're digital aren't they more or less than same ?

 

[DavidR8]

I have an angle measuring block thing and it works fantastic for all angle measuring I need to do.

 

[Ironman]

One example of the usefulness of a digital level:
Ever tried to line up a rod and piston for a 6ft stroke hydraulic cylinder? And it just won't go in.
A digital level will tell you the cylinder is at -12 degrees and the ram is at +5degrees, so lower the rod til it reads -12 and it slides in like someone designed it to.

 

[Susquatch]

I have both.

Hard to find a high quality digital protractor. They might exist but my igaging one is the next best thing to junk.

I prefer to use a sine bar for accurate angle measurements.

I use a digital level regularly. Pretty good technology and fairly high quality is readily available. They will never equal a good machinists level but at least they serve their purpose reasonably well.

 

[ColinB]

Not trying to be obtuse but if they're digital aren't they more or less than same ?

The "level" indicates the angle around the X or Y axes only and can be zeroed at any point. It wouldn't help set the Z angle of a compound slide. Most I see are a box shape.
The "protractor" indicates the angle between two arms.

 

[ColinB]

I have both.

Hard to find a high quality digital protractor. They might exist but my igaging one is the next best thing to junk.

I prefer to use a sine bar for accurate angle measurements.

I use a digital level regularly. Pretty good technology and fairly high quality is readily available. They will never equal a good machinists level but at least they serve their purpose reasonably well.

[looks up sine bars]

 

[Susquatch]

[looks up sine bars]

To be fair, what I like is to use trigonometry to measure and/or set angles. This may or may not involve using an actual sine bar.

Scales and protractors are a relatively poor way to set angles IMO, but do serve a purpose in the world of "Close Enough".

 

[mbond]

The key point about using a bar + trig is that you can use the larger size to improve your accuracy. And you can make the bar very long if you want versus the small dimension within the rotating part of a protractor (maybe 1" max?, but a bar could be feet long)

 

[Susquatch]

you can use the larger size to improve your accuracy.

With a decent caliper or dial indicator, one can also measure to 3 decimal places which also helps calculate/measure angles more accurately.

 

[jorogi]

The "level" indicates the angle around the X or Y axes only and can be zeroed at any point. It wouldn't help set the Z angle of a compound slide. Most I see are a box shape.
The "protractor" indicates the angle between two arms.

Sorry Colin, I forgot what the digital protractors are. I spotted mine in the shop yesterday and thought doh !
Mine is probably 20 years old now and I have never been able to use it effectively. Arms are too wide and the battery is always dead.
I've had a 4 foot "Smart Level" for even longer and I have always liked it but don't use it too much anymore.
I got a cube level six months back and like it too and find it easy to use and versatile.

 

[mbond]

I chopped off that part of my post. Making a linear measurement is the easiest and most accurate kind available. And 3 decimals at 3 inches versus 3 decimals at 3 feet imply a lot less acuracy

 

[Susquatch]

Sorry Colin, I forgot what the digital protractors are. I spotted mine in the shop yesterday and thought doh !
Mine is probably 20 years old now and I have never been able to use it effectively. Arms are too wide and the battery is always dead.
I've had a 4 foot "Smart Level" for even longer and I have always liked it but don't use it too much anymore.
I got a cube level six months back and like it too and find it easy to use and versatile.

^^^ ditto here. I keep batteries in one of my tool drawers now....... The Cube is pretty cool - surprising really.

 

[Dabbler]

The very early digital level 'boxes' were terrible (i threw out 2 in the early days), but now they seem to be very good. I have a digital protractor as well, that I use fro some other things, but just acquired a vernier protractor from @gerritv that I will use more often.

For most things, though, a machinist's protractor has been good enough. with a loupe it can easily be read to 1/4 of a degree.

 

[Susquatch]

For most things, though, a machinist's protractor has been good enough. with a loupe it can easily be read to 1/4 of a degree.

Another subject we forgot about while you were here......

 

[Dan Dubeau]

IMO they're handy for carpentry, woodwork, and fabrication. I have all three, and while I don't use them a lot, they have their uses. The protractor being the most used for fabrication duties, but I can see the box level getting more use as I get back into woodworking more for setting blade angles on the table saw. That was pretty much the only reason I bought it. The digital level, I think I've owned for about 15 years, and can probably count on one hand how many times it's been out of the bag.....It's a canadian tire special I might have paid $15-20 for, so wasn't a big fancy purchase that needs to justify it's existance. The other ones were around the same price too. Not a lot of money for special tools, that come in handy every once in a while.

I wouldn't trust any of them for angular machining needs.

 

[Dabbler]

I wouldn't trust any of them for angular machining needs.

That is why I jumped on the Starret vernier protractor.