digital levels: use and application

||I got myself a Stabila digital level and have not used it much yet. ||How do they stand up to abuse generally? Has anyone experienced ||overaccuracy syndrome? Most of the time I am using it for steel frames and ||structures. ||Prints often give angles to two or yes... even five decimal places.We always ||laugh when we see this on CAD prints but now we are able to call a tenth of ||a degree and I get the feeling we are consuming too much time fussing. Any ||input on the tool and level of accuracy? || I am starting to call my angles plus or minus a tenth of a degree for ||now.

I can't answer your question, but I'd love to have one of these for race car alignments. I have not heard of that brand. What did yours cost? Texas Parts Guy

Three of us at work decided to bite the bullet. We are told it will be around 200 dollars Canadian off our paycheck. I have used one several years ago. This one has bubbles to confirm your vertical and level. It is helpful to have the bubbles because you get confused reading the numbers. This unit also flips the display if you turn the unit upside down. That way you are always reading the numbers right side up. I need a tape measure like that. Randy

I'd be far more interested in if anyone tested them against a high precicion standard level. Just because it has 5 digits does not make it accurate. Frankly, I'm skeptical (and I'm a computer guy !)

Hi scott, This digital is plus or minus 0.1 degree accuracy. One sixteenth in twelve inches bevel is around 0.3 degrees. Normally in strucural steel getting to plus or minus 1/16 in twelve is good enough. It is by no means a precision level but better than just a construction level bubble unless you are really fussy. The trick with welded structures is not to get too picky or you waste the whole day worrying about nothing. After all holes are at least 1/16 oversize for the bolts. Baseplate holes are often 1/8th oversize. Randy

Hmm ... how about "resolution" instead of accuracy, as we don't know what it truly measures when it is level. But it *can* show a

Agreed. It is good for 0.0209 inch/foot. A lot less than a Starrett master precision level. That is 0.0005 inch/foot. That calculates out to 0.0024 degrees.

Agreed -- accuracy should be appropriate to the task. If you need more precision than that in a welded structure, it should have a way to adjust the final level after everything is welded together and in position.

With something which is going to warp anyway as a result of the physics of the joining technique, it is wasted precision. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

The point I was making is that an instrument that is showing you five digits, and not actually getting anywhere near that precision, is an annoyance. Why does it have that many digits ? Because digital is cool ?

We just got into this very subject yesterday, when a railing we intended to install was off by about an inch in 6 ft. The idea was that my boss bought 2 "identical" digital levels, on for himself and the other for the contractor who did the ironwork. I think there is a problem when one says "0.1 degree accuracy". I think that simply means that its minimum increment is 0.1 degree. The sensor that tells the readout mechanism when to increment may have other ideas. By the way, on these 2 levels, the 0.1 min. increment only applies from -1 to +1- degree. Beyond that, it goes in 0.5 degree increments. If high accuracy is required, I suggest you set up your own level on a good level surface and test it by shimming with known shims, checking calibration often and even looking for changes associated with temperature, etc. Check to see how much you have to tilt it before the readout changes. If anybody knows what the various mfrs say about "accuracy" vs. "readout resolution", repeatibility and compliance between 2 or more of the same model, I'd sure like to know about it. We may go back to bubble levels.

Pete Stanaitis

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Randy Zimmerman wrote:

There's a *big* difference between 0.1 degree accuracy and 0.1 degree resolution. This is an ancient issue with all sorts of measuring devices.