www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

I'm glad I've chosen Stabila. Seems they have a fabulous reputation here !

never seen one of those before j&K they look mad. ill look into em. my 78 incher needs replacing at some point. some plasterer used it as a straight edge recently and left it mingin dirty haha. but anyway it doesnt read level so if i use it i have to put my other level ontop to get a reading. it reads fine for plumb though...

so i have a 2 footer that reads out of plumb now after i dropped it.

a 78 inch that reads plumb but doesnt read level...

and a 1000mm stabilla that reads spot on for everything.

time for some new stuff i think haha

fin wrote:
so i have a 2 footer that reads out of plumb now after i dropped it.

a 78 inch that reads plumb but doesnt read level...

and a 1000mm stabilla that reads spot on for everything.

time for some new stuff i think haha

They all tell lies anyway.

I couldn't count how many times I've plumbed up a door liner only to put the bubble on the other edge of a stile and it's a couple of mm out.

"Good enough for a country job", or "close enough for jazz" is my usual motto in the circumstances, (it's nothing a big hammer won't solve later).

hahaha know what ya mean there like.

mind its massively easier i find with a 78 inch level for door liners than using a 72 inch.

hemdale wrote:I'm glad I've chosen Stabila. Seems they have a fabulous reputation here !

Well probably about half the chippies I see on site have Stabilas, more especially the older guys who are probably on their 3rd or 4th set. I have to say, though, that quite a few people favour the Stanley Fat Max XLs, too

actually those R type levels arent that bad a price. comparable to the equivalent girder level in price for a 24 inch.

I've seen adverts for DIGITAL spirit levels - they quote an accuracy of 0.2 degree which is far better than I could do (probably) with a wide marking pencil so does anyone have experience of these?

Since they actually indicate the angle all the time and can do offsets/zeroing etc they 'should' offer advantages over the basic models

here's one I found on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-Level ... 20dd0f8d45 you also get the standard spirit level guages too....

kellys_eye wrote:I've seen adverts for DIGITAL spirit levels - they quote an accuracy of 0.2 degree which is far better than I could do (probably) with a wide marking pencil so does anyone have experience of these?

It's maybe worth making a couple of points about how spirit levels are used in the real world by chippies (and other trades, for that matter). First off the base length of a level is significant - you actually want the maximum length of level you can for the item you are fixing because you are not just checking for plumb/level, but often you are also checking for straightness by looking for gaps. The most obvious example I can think of of this dual use is setting door casings where you need TWO different spirit levels to do the job right. The second is the issue of durability; just how durable are these digital levels? If they are anything like smart phone screens then they will be impossibly fragile for use in the real world IMHO

When looking at levels I think you need to consider not just the accuracy, but also the durability of something you'll use (as a tradesman in any case) day-in and day-out for maybe 10 or more years, so a $20 level probably has poor quality vials and isn't that robust (weak extrusion, etc). I will admit a little bias here in how I view things

Hi chaps,

Just received the 196-2 which is a serious piece of kit !
And guess what, some shelves are unlevel...but the 61 cm is perfect size for me for indoor mesures.

Thanks again for all your input !

Nice level. Just want to add that if anyone else is looking for a high quality level, Stanley FatMax also do a very nice selection, at about half the price of Stabila levels.

I have a bunch of FatMax stuff and love the lot, so don't have a reason to not trust their levels. I only have their torpedo level (has an angle finder, very happy with it).

Strangely enough, related to my post about catenary wire ropes, today I bought a laser line level so that I could set a datum line
to measure the heights of the anchors for the wire rope. This I believe is the same way kitchen fitters set up a datum and measure
to and from it as a fixed reference. Of course mine is only required for one job, so I couldn't spend a fortune, but this one cost me
£20.00 in Screwfix and it comes with a tripod, leveling screw and spirit level and case. Absolute bargain, even if thats all I ever use
it for. It's VERY basic but my training at building college came back to me, after working out which way round the batteries went in (DUHHH)
I had to level the thing up. Set it up in the same way a surveyor sets up a dumpy level, set the sight to 0degrees, center the bubble using
the thumbs in thumbs out method of adjusting the screws, turn through 90 degrees and do the same. then back
to 0 degrees to check all is in order. Took literally minutes....

Lovely Jubbly

ayjay wrote:

fin wrote:
so i have a 2 footer that reads out of plumb now after i dropped it.

a 78 inch that reads plumb but doesnt read level...

and a 1000mm stabilla that reads spot on for everything.

time for some new stuff i think haha

They all tell lies anyway.

I couldn't count how many times I've plumbed up a door liner only to put the bubble on the other edge of a stile and it's a couple of mm out.

"Good enough for a country job", or "close enough for jazz" is my usual motto in the circumstances, (it's nothing a big hammer won't solve later).

Best method I have seen was a carpenter on a job I ran years back......................

plumb bob fixed to head. Measure from line to leg of frame and keep putting the fixings in. Then measure across for the other leg.

royaloakcarpentry wrote:
Best method I have seen was a carpenter on a job I ran years back......................

plumb bob fixed to head. Measure from line to leg of frame and keep putting the fixings in. Then measure across for the other leg.

In another world of almost 50 years ago I used to use a straightedge with a plumb-bob fixed in a central slot for door liners - it's just too slow now, nobody is prepared to pay for that any more.

To help put that thought into context, there was no such thing then as a cordless drill/electric planer/SDS drill - just another world.

I'd love to go back to the old days when all that was required as an end product was a decent job - something that you know is finished and no-one has to go back to for any reason.