Digital inclinometer/spirit level..great piece of equipment

[johnnyjetski]

After unsuccessfully searching Bunnings etc. for a digital inclinometer to help with setup and levelling of my SCT, I took a punt on purchasing one on ebay. $41 delivered to my door from UK.
Arrived this week and what a quality piece of engineering 600mm length, digital readout 0.1 degree accuracy.

Couldnt be happier!

John

[Astro_Bot]

I have one myself - 40cm long, same accuracy - great piece of kit! :thumbsup:

I was similarly unimpressed with the offerings at the hardware store.

[Hotdog]

How about this electronic (but not digital) level, spotted in the metrology lab of the Australian Astronomical Observatory? I suspect it's older than many of the people on these forums but still going strong and in active use.

[I.C.D]

G'Day John,
Five years ago bunnings sold them as a one off never got them back in again .I had a friend who got one , and when I went to get one they were all sold out within a fortnight
Ian

[clive milne]

I use these daily in my job at an engineering works and have learned their usefulness and limitations. The accuracy is stated is 0.1 degree with a resolution of 0.1 degrees. In practice the error is typically seldom better than 5mm over a metre when checked against the laser. That is still probably good enough for what you are using it for but I would advise caution if you ever intended to use it as a reference in making something of size where accuracy is required.
2c

Oh, and that 0.1 degree is zero error at plum.... there is often a further 0.1 degree of linearity run out so it will reliably get you to within 0.3 degrees (which is 5mm per m) but I wouldn't trust it beyond that if my life depended on it.

[johnnyjetski]

Anthony,

Great picture of the older inclinometer. I would not have known such a beast existed. Would be interested to know its cost new all those years ago.

[kinetic]

John, Clive,

do you guys have a link?
Is this similar to what you describe?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital-Level-Inclinometer-Angle-Finder-4-x-90-0-360-Quadrants-Spirit-Level-/181322215544?pt=AU_HandTools&hash=item2a37a57078

40cm long, 0.1 degree resolution.
I'm doing some dome renovations and I wanted to project laser lines
on the inside of my dome with fairly accurate angular accuracy.
I was thinking of strapping one of my dot lasers to one of them.
I was thinking of using the OTA but with a GEM it would be offset from
the dome centreline.
Linear accuracy not that important, just angular if you know what I
mean.

Steve

[johnnyjetski]

Steve,

Thats the one Steve. Very handy item and definately as accurate as most will ever need. I re-levelled the adaptor plate on my pier, use it to set 'home' position on my LX-90. Just handy little item steve for not many $$.

John

[Hans Tucker]

Aldi has sold these or something nearly identical for $19 on a couple occasions...I am waiting for a reappearance in their catalogue as I missed out

[lazjen]

Yes, that's where I got mine from. Works good enough! :)

[Barrykgerdes]

Like most I also searched Bunnings with no luck. Not being a regular at Aldi I missed their version. However a search on ebay showed many varieties in the $25 bracket from Hong Kong. I settled on the one shown, arrived in 3 days at a total cost of about $32.

It works great with a .1 degree resolution and sits nicely on the dovetail holder of my mount. It has an accuracy of about 10 x the mount altitude scale.

Barry

[johnnyjetski]

Barry....very good.

But really it should be inbuilt these days you would think, considering the price of say a polar wedge and the small cost involved

john

[Larryp]

I have the same one, Barry. Like you say, it works great!:)