Digital Angle (Bevel) Gauge

[Charley]

bought one of these about a month ago when Lee Valley sent me an e-mail flyer on it. I usually don't buy new tools without seeing, touching, and feeling them first to be able to determine how good they really are, but my trust in Lee Valley, combined with the very reasonable price, made me jump at the chance to have one.

I'm amazed how handy this new tool has become, and I keep finding new uses for it. Today I used it to accurately set a 26.5 degree angle on my mitre gauge. Last week I used it to determine the exact angle of a wall corner (96 degrees) so that I could easily cut moulding to fit around it on the first try (when you own an old house you have a lot of odd wall angles). I couldn't have gotten either fit as close without this little gauge, which has significantly improved the accuracy of my angular woodworking. It's a bit larger than my old bevel gauge, but when it's size has posed a problem I've just used it to set or measure the angle of my old bevel gauge, which then easily fits in the smaller spaces. Thanks Rob. You've done it again.

Charley

[BobS]

From their site:

"Due to overwhelming response to our 30th Anniversary special offer for March, this digital angle finder has sold out. We apologize for any disappointment or inconvenience. We have ordered additional stock, which is due to arrive by the end of June. Once stock is received, we will make this offer available again."

Bob S.

[Leon]

It is a neat tool, I ordered on 3 or 4 weeks ago. The only down fall I have seen so far is that the display is blocked on low angle measurements. The window in the arm is better than nothing but still gets in the way. Actually I wanted a better and or replacement for a cheapo t-bevel that I have. It fills that bill splendidly.

[Swingman]

Ditto ... I bought one trying to keep up with Leon [on the small stuff, can't compete of the Festool level :) ] and find this gadget real handy, although a bit bigger than I anticipated.

Sure makes dialing those 22 1/2 degree corner projects easy to dial in, with precision.

[Pat Barber]

The "King" of that sort of tool is probably this critter:

saw this tool at a show put on my Bosch and I was amazed at what it could do.

Of course it's a "wee" bit more than the Lee Valley tool.

Le> It is a neat tool, I ordered on 3 or 4 weeks ago. The only down fall I have

[Pat Barber]

Uhhhh...sorry that a was bum link...

Here is the real page:

[Leon]

Yeah, I'm happy with the $19.95 that I paid for mine. ;~)

[Frank Boettcher]

Boy, wish I had one of those last week. Friend is building several railroad trestle bridges for his model train set (20' x 20' room, multiple layers), required hundreds of small wooden pieces cut at very small angles. Set up the bandsaw tilting the table with a fence block stop, cutting off five to ten at a time, but the hardest part was reading the bevel gage witness marks. Magnifying glass and several sets of ancient eyes finally got it done.....

Frank

[blueman]

>>>>> Yeah, I'm happy with the $19.95 that I paid for mine. ;~)

How does the 19.95 Lee Valley version compare with the ~40-50 Rockler ones?

[Chris Friesen]

I measured my 30/60/90 drafting triangle with my LV one and got within

0.05 degrees of the expected value. Results are repeatable. Close enough for me.

Chris

[Searcher7]

Has anyone tried one of these?

Harris Staten Island, New York.

[Lew Hodgett]

RE: Subject

Mine isn't digital, and doesn't have a rosewood handle with brass inlays.

Does have a blued steel blade, a molded plastic handle, was hanging on the wall at Home Depot, sold for about $5.00, and best of all, it's accurate when used to make angular measurements to duplicate on another piece.

BTW, IMHO, trying to do a layout using angular measurements, is asking for trouble.

Do a few trig calculations, use a compass, lay out the linear measurements to get the angle.

Lew

[Ed Bailen]

Bear in mind that none of these gauges is going to do you any good if your saw blade is tapered from the hub to the root of the teeth.. (My Freud glue-line rip blade falls in that category.)

Regards, Ed

** Posted from **

[Morris Dovey]

BTDT, then bought the Lee Valley gizmo. Actually, I bought three of 'em

- gave the first to my BIL, then panic'd and bought two more (one for myself and one as a gift for a friend who has helped beyond the call of duty on a number of projects).

Last week, I needed to cut some tubing (you can see the application at the link in my sig) at *exactly* 67.5 degrees so I set the gauge and marked a 5" wide plywood scrap that I used to set the fence-to-blade angle in a horizontal band saw. Duck soup - it was dead on the first time!

I'm pretty sure that I could have done it another way, but that was an awful lot of "quick, easy, and deadly accurate" for $20 - and I didn't waste any material in the process.

I like it!

[Morris Dovey]

I raise my blade and slap a 1/8" aluminum plate against the blade - then use the gauge between the table and the plate. It works for me.

[Morris Dovey]

Oops! Bad link - corrected below.