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View Full Version : Digital protractors/angle measurement - worth buying or not?



irving2008
15-05-2010, 02:23 PM
There seems to be two sorts..
- a square box with a spirit level that can measure +/-180deg (claimed 2minutes accuracy on the level, 0.1deg on the digital portion) retailing at £23-odd on ebay
- a longer +/-360deg version without the spirit level with 0.2deg accuracy retailing at £30-odd.

Are these worth buying and who has one?

John S
15-05-2010, 04:28 PM
Got one of the Wixley ones from Machine - DRO at the show, £22 or £23 not sure now, 30mm x 30mm x 25mm ?

Reads to 0.1 but no spirit level.
Seems very good, checked it on some known angles and it seems accurate.

BillTodd
15-05-2010, 07:26 PM
I bought a cheap Digital angle finder (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bill_todd/DAF/daf.html)(£25) a while ago. I checked mine against a sine bar and it appears to be well within the 0.05 degree spec.

It's handy for setting tool grinding angles etc but is a bit big and awkward for use on the mill. Its biggest problem however, is it eats batteries (3v lithium cell) even while 'off' (since off just blanks the display).

I'm tempted to saw the box down to make it smaller and easier to use, and fit it a pair of AA cells with a proper power switch.

See inside one here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bill_todd/DAF/daf.html (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bill_todd/DAF/daf.html)

Bill