Spent 3 hours on a rafter layout because I trusted my digital angle finder over my speed square

I was framing a shed roof at a job site in Tucson and the digital tool said 32.4 degrees but the birds mouth didn't sit flush until I pulled out the old square and found it was actually 33 degrees off the line, has anyone else had a digital tool straight up lie to them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

lane.cameron3d ago

Buddy of mine had his digital level tell him a pipe was dead level when it was actually sloping right back at the main line.

lane.eric3d ago

That "dead level" phrase gets me every time. I had a buddy who used one of those digital torpedo levels to set up a deck ledger board. Said it was perfectly level. Then he hung the whole deck off it and realized the bubble level on his 4ft level showed a different story. Turns out the digital one needed calibration. Now I always double check with a good old fashioned bubble level first. You ever get burned by a tool that was supposed to make things easier but just made a bigger mess?

jesse9942d ago

That "needed calibration" part is the REAL problem, nobody ever thinks to check those before trusting them.