Hey Clay,
Speaking of the Angle cube…
You mentioned having the claibration procedure for the angle cube at one point some time back. Do you still have it.
I ran accross it one time and actually did it… now I can’t find it. If you do have it, could I get a copy?
Please.
Phil
[quote quote=“wickededge” post=6854]A couple things to note about the Angle Cubes:
[ul]
[li]They have an error percentage of +/- .2 degrees.[/li]
[li]They vary in their readings within that range routinely and need to be properly ‘settled’ which does take finesse.[/li]
[li]They’re sensitive to being perpendicular to the zero plane from at least one side; in our case, the front and back of the box need to be perpendicular to the plane. If you rotate the cube on the stone so that the numbers are facing somewhat up or down, you’ll see a significant difference in angle. I shoot for having the stone right in line with the vise jaws and the edge of the bevel of the cube aligned to the edge of the stone. If I’m being really OCD about it, I’ll use a square against the back plate of the cube to be sure.[/li]
[/ul][/quote]
Good point Phil about the values being within the tolerance. My 2 cents: there no point worrying about the angle any more than to the nearest 0.5 degrees. Smaller than that and you are getting close to the 0.2 working accuracy.
Getting down to brass tax: IF the cube was accurate to 0.000001 degrees, could you tell one side was off by 0.1? Based on how the edge bevel is? I think not?
I have noticed the phenomena about the cube, sometimes you just have to take it off, turn it a bit and put it back on to get a good measurement.
Good article, but no.
I just shot a note off to iGaging asking for the procedure. Lets see what I get back, if anything.
If I get the procedure I will scan it and post it.
[quote quote=“PhilipPasteur” post=6880]Good article, but no.
I just shot a note off to iGaging asking for the procedure. Lets see what I get back, if anything.
If I get the procedure I will scan it and post it.
Phil[/quote]
They’re usually pretty responsive there. I also sent an email to them this morning.
Re-calibrating your digital angle gauge.I got the recalibration instructions back from iGaging. Here they are: There is a permanent link to the file on the Downloads page, accessible from the Resources tab.
Thanks Clay.
I just could not remember the button sequences to get it into calibration mode. Now I have that.
Of course the requirement to have soemthing level to 0.02 degrees is a problem.
I used a metal plate that I had leveled with another device that claims 0.1 degree accuracy..
Who knows, but I have no granite surface plate available to me anymore…
My cube will show exactly 90 degrees on either side after zeroing it. Probably as good as it gets.
Thanks for posting that. I have still not heard back from the good folks at iGaging.
I’ve been using the Wixey Digital Angle Gauge, which is very similar to the iGaging Angle Cube. On paper, the Wixey is supposed to have an overall accuracy of 0.1 degrees, and a repeatability of 0.1 degrees. It has a resolution of 0.1 degrees. http://www.wixey.com/anglegauge/index.html#wr300
I have a small granite surface plate, and a sine bar, so I may try to test its accuracy.
There are very high accuracy digital inclinometers, but they are expensive. The one below only measures a limited range of +/- 20 degrees, but has very high accuracy (0.003 degrees). http://www.digipas.com/DWL-3500.php
Alternatively, you might be able to rig something up with a machinist’s spirit level (also called an engineer’s level) which is basically a very precise bubble-level with liquid. You would need something like a sine bar, gauge blocks, or angle gauge-blocks, and/or a micrometer. You can buy non-digital engineer inclinometers which are already rigged up this way, but they’re very expensive (several hundreds of dollars). Of course, at this point, you’re probably insane. Have I thought about this? Yes. I got quite curious about general metrology, and have been reading up on it and looking at company websites that sell metrology products.
In terms of cutting performance, I probably wouldn’t notice a +/-1 degree difference.
Have I thought about this? Yes.