Digital inclinometers

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Please forgive my pedantry, George [*]

" is the symbol for seconds of arc

' is the symbol for minutes of arc

MichaelG.

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[*]

I prefer to think of it as 'attention to detail' but others will, no doubt, disagree.

I have one of these. I think it's easy to get seduced by the apparent authority of a digital readout.

Mine reads to 0.1 degree or 6 minutes, there has to be some error on top of that.

This is plenty for most work, like setting out holes or even teeth on a gear. To get a perspective, the moon is 0.5 degrees across so this is the level of accuracy needed to point 'more or less' at the middle of the moon. It's a lot less than you need to hit the bull of a rifle shooting match target

There is third type of electronic angle sensor that uses a liquid bubble. These use capacitive or resistive sensing of a buble of one fluid in another fluid of difffering electrical properties. This could be a bubble of mercury in oil or air in a conductive solution. They use differential / ratiometric sensing so changes in bubble size with temperature do not affect accuracy. Personally I have a long base (200mm) electronic level (Craftsman from Sears in the USA), a vintage "engineers" sprit level and a Hilger & Watts pendulum inclinometer which are used depending on requirements. I could see a place for a Wixey in my collection though

Robert G8RPI.

Where's that light-bulb emoji when you need one. Thanks Jason
DaveD

Am I right in thinking that 'inclinometer' should more correctly be 'clinometer'?

Pedants of the world unite (assuming that I'm correct of course).

Brian

... it rather depends on your 'clination, Brian

MichaelG.

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P.S. There is a subtle distinction, but like with many words, it has become eroded.

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Edit: according to wikidiff.com ...

Inclinometer is a synonym of clinometer.

As nouns the difference between inclinometer and clinometer

 is that inclinometer is an instrument that displays the angle of an aircraft relative to the horizon while clinometer is an apparatus for measuring a vertical angle, a slope, or the height of a large object (eg a tree).

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But would you trust anyone who doesn't understand the meaning of 'synonym' 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 18/08/2019 18:10:25