Cheap digital spirit level accuracy

[vintagengineer]

<li class=”bsp-quote-title”>On vintagengineer Said:

As they contain no spirit, surely the are digital inclinometers?😉

Do digital vernier calipers have a vernier scale? 😉

There are digital precision levels used for setting machinery dead level etc, not for measuring angles like these digital inclinometers.

 

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, maybe they should be called a spirit and digital level.

Regards Nick.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

As I said previously, a lot of precision electronic levels still use a bubble. It’s sensed electronically, corrected and displayed.

Robert.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, well I Goggled them digital spirit level. and the answer I got was that the bubble isn’t measured, so is Goggle wrong?

Regards Nick.

[Mick BaileyParticipant @mickbailey28509]

Many combine traditional bubble vials with digital functions. I’m only interested though in setting relative angles. Today I’ve been squinting through a loupe to set my vernier protractor (or perhaps more correctly a bevel – Moore and Wright 994). I doubt it’s any less accurate than a Chinese digital unit, and in many ways less useful when setting up work for milling angles.

[Nicholas Farr]

On Nicholas Farr Said:

Hi, well I Goggled them digital spirit level. and the answer I got was that the bubble isn’t measured, so is Goggle wrong?

Regards Nick.

It’s wrong. Certainly for the AI summary to state that they only use MEMs is nonsense. Yes MEMs are used in some modern ones but it’s “smoke and mirrors” on accuracy. Typically to get haigh accuracy each one has to be corrected in software.

Bubbles and pendulums are still used. See:

MEMS and Digital Spirit Levels

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Well done, Robert … you have outwitted the AI

ChatGPT, in common with Google, denies the existence actual physical bubbles in these devices … and then provides a link to this !

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SELN-121BM (Wireless 2-axis type digital spirit level) (JAPAN version)

.

.

MichaelG.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Robert, OK, but I don’t think they are in the same cheap category as Mick Bailey was asking about.

Regards Nick.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

If you read up about the Newbould Indexer you can make one….even 3D print it.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I have had various musings about making a track recorder for our 5″g track. as the max gradient is supposed to be 1:80 (0.7 degrees) and the superelevation is similar I would need 0.01 degrees resolution. Current thoughts are to have a pendulum say 10″ long with a link from the bottom to another lever 1″ long on which the Wixey would be mounted. Copper blade on the long one with magnet to give eddy current damping so it’s not swinging all over the place. All I need is a Wixey with a digital output and the motivation to get on with it. It isn’t high on my priority list!

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Easy options here, Duncan

Smart Angle Gauge with Bluetooth connectivity to WixeyTalk App for Remote Display and Audio

…how much is your time worth ?

MichaelG.

[Kiwi Bloke]

On Kiwi Bloke Said:

How do the digital gizmos work?

I don’t know how the Wixey type work but (astonishingly) smartphones use an accelerometer that measures the change in gravity to determine the level and for other purpose such as measuring the G you’re pulling when cornering you super car.

[Michael Gilligan]

On Michael Gilligan Said:

Easy options here, Duncan

Smart Angle Gauge with Bluetooth connectivity to WixeyTalk App for Remote Display and Audio

…how much is your time worth ?

MichaelG.

It’s still only good to 0.1 degrees, and I  need to connect with a data logger.  No doubt someone cleverer than me can use a phone as a data logger.

I believe Wixey has a pendulum hanging off a rotary encoder.

[duncan webster 1]

On duncan webster 1 Said

It’s still only good to 0.1 degrees […]

Sorry … I misunderstood your ‘specification’

I hit on the word Wixey and didn’t notice that you want 0.01 degree resolution.

MichaelG.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Found this today on the wixey us site

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

 

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

@ Bernard, Thanks for the Wixey info. It confirms what I said earlier, a digital encoder on a pendulum. It uses capacitive sensing which I didn’t mention but how you measure the passing of the scale is not relevant to the basic operation.

I suspect some of the cheaper devices use MEMS accelerometers of the type used in smart phones. These work by sensing gravitational forces on tiny structures manufactured using semiconductor techniques. If the force is 1 with it “level” it will be zero at 90 degrees. In between the force, and thus the signal, is the cosine of the angle.  Microprocessors make it easy to do the calculations to linearise this and provide a readout in degrees. Better units use two orthogonal sensors and perform statistics on the results to reduce errors and noise.

Robert.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

For those interested in the capacitative scales … see my post # 266406 from 2016

cheap digital vernier calipers.

MichaelG.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, the argument as to whether calipers should be called digital vernier calipers or just digital calipers, will probably go on and on. To my mind, a vernier scale on a caliper is what you have to read and interpret the result, whereas, with a digital caliper, you only need to read the result, without having to interpret what the result is.

Regards Nick.

 

 

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