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First thought was none, but I hang quite a few doors each week and to know that say... if the level reads: -.o5 will give me a door that is out of plumb by 1/8 top to bottom each time it might come in handy.
Stair treads can slope up to 2 degrees when installed .... Most of our stairs are 41-42 degrees and that level could give the number for miter saw cuts for rails, balusters, trim boards ....though I don't think it would save any time.
It would be be a really cool tool to spend some extra money on only for your helper to kick it off the landing and break.
We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are
Talmud
Edited 7/8/2007 11:23 pm ET by TrimCarpenter
If that thing can give you pitches and/or angles it might take a lot of guess/cipher work out of remodeling projects.
E. G. slap it up on the underside of a rafter and BAM! it's a 5.62 pitch... or whatever.
A customer gave me one as a gift a year ago. I haven't used it yet
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
How much do you want for it. Been using them for over 15 years, everyone looks at a bubble differently, but 0.0 is the same in any language. Better yet, get out the book and give it a try. After following your posts over the years I would believe that you will find this very useful. If not send it along.
That is what I used to plumb tapered organ pipes, you can set the amount of taper on "reset" and then when ya plumb something with that amount of taper, it'll read plumb, when it is.
No head scratching or math.
If it beeps, or lights up, when level, it could make working in dimly lighted areas easier.
Like closets.
All of our sidewalk and driveway entrance specifications from the City are in % slope. Building inspector has one and all he does is drop it, yes drop it, on the drive to make sure we are within min and max slopes.
I have the 24" Macklanburg Duncan version and like it a lot. It has a hold button so you can stick it up to what you are checking and hit it and pull it back to read. Also has audio to signify level or plumb. Nice to be able to read in deg, % or inch/ft.
Checked roof pitch, stairs, floor drains, pipe fall, many uses.
Seems like it reads to .1 deg, the Craftsman version appears to be the same device but cheaper and with laser. I am sure the Stabila is much more $. If I could get as good a deal on it as I did the 48" and 16" regular ones on Amazon I would jump on it.
Edit, at $179 for 48" it is not bad, I paid $99 for the M-D 24" about 5 yrs ago.
Bob
Edited 7/9/2007 10:13 am ET by rasconc
i'll give ya 20 bucks for it...m
I better wait 'til I finish his job so he doesn't get offended. Maybe by then I'll find a use for it.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
maybe you could use it to prove the Piffagorean Theorem- whatever that might be....
I think the digital level is a good idea when each person on the crew has a slightly different opinion of what is plumb or level with a bubble between the lines. With a digital level, everyone will have the same idea of level, which is when the level reads zero. Cut's out some margin for errors with the less experienced crew members.
I don't like tools that are smarter than I am.
So do you just work with your bare hands?Bwahaha!!;-)
No, I work with Republicans.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Ya know when ya turn a level over on itself to check it, What happens if it reads different numbers????
"Ya know when ya turn a level over on itself to check it, What happens if it reads different numbers????"
If it happens to you, either go back and read the manual on how to use the calibration feature, or if you want, just throw the damn thing away. You really didn't want an electronic one anyhow.
Read about it here: http://www.stabila.com/res/pdfs/TECH-Manual.pdf
i did not kmow you could reset it, i still use my mason levels but like my stabila ones more and more, being as i work by myself i think one of those might come in handy.
I have one of the "smart levels", I bought for fifty percent off when they were closing one of the places in Vegas that got run out by Home Desperate.
The audible alarm for level and plumb is nice if you're working alone. You can strap it on with a couple of velcro straps, move things until it beeps, and then fasten things down tight. It keeps beeping when it is level or plumb so you know whether your right.
You can cheat it into thinking a slope is level by setting it on something at the slope you want, and then hitting the calibrate button twice. Which comes in handy for doing waste lines, or setting back of sidewalk forms off the curb, or inclined concrete forms for retaining walls.
And the fact that it reads slope ratios, and percent grades comes in really handy.
Gene,
I owned the original "Smart Level " , bought it back in about 1989.
This is the same level but with Stabilia's name on it.
Traded it for a 6' Stabilia vial level and have never regretted it.
"Poor is not the person who has too little, but the person who craves more."...Seneca
Edited 7/13/2007 10:36 pm by dovetail97128
I am not flacking for these, nor do I own one. Just fishin' for info.
Guy I know, a very talented and successful timberframer, makes excellent use of one for making precisely square end cuts when working with irregular logs. It is a technique involving a unique cutting fixture, a chainsaw outfitted with a special bar, and the smart level is used to set the fixture, after taking a read on the log. He couldn't do it without the level.
Probably like the PLS5 x-y-z laserdot tool, or something like Hilti's laser distance measure tool, you need to be really imaginative to flesh out all the uses you can put these things to, really save time and gain accuracy.
Gene,
I didn't mean to sound all that negative, it was my own experience.. I used mine but never got to where I trusted it.
Recalibrating it and checking it was too large a PIA for me. Others may not mind that at all. I never encountered the type of work that you described while I owned it , so have no comparison."Poor is not the person who has too little, but the person who craves more."...Seneca