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- Jan 25, 2015
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- 2,558
Ah, I see. This is the one I was thinking of:
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Machinist Level To Level Lathe
- Thread starter great white
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
- Messages
- 9,601
Machinists levels typically have sensitivities of .0005 to .001"/ft. In order to practically get that resolution from a plumb bob, you will need a pendulum measured in tens of feet. Then you have to provide a a stable and reproducible support for it and a means of visually locating the point of the bob. I like plumb bobs; I use them frequently for carpentry and masonry projects. They built the pyramids, after all. But there is a practical limitation. If you are looking for 1/16th inch resolution, use one, if you are looking for thousandths, find another way.
IMO the same holds true for a water level. Reading a meniscus to four thousandths is impossible and that doesn't take into consideration variations in tube diameter, small bubbles in the tube, etc.
One suggestion that may work depending on your situation would be a laser. Some of the bore alignment lasers used by gunsmiths are fairly inexpensive and should have a more focused beam than the typical laser level. If you can focus on a far wall some thirty or forty feet away, you may have a chance.
I had also seen a homemade precision level made from a piece of precision glass bore (old lab syringe). The glass was sealed with epoxy and had a fill port on one end. The fill liquid used was liquid butane due to its low surface tension. A mount was made for the glass with a rounded fulcrum in the center of the view window and adjustment screws located on either end to bias the tube to put a very slight curvature in the tube. Mount it on a good flat base and you have a level. It would be preferable to mount an ordinary vial for a cross level and use a sub base with three point adjustment screws as well. I have one designed but am waiting to find that used syringe barrel. One would want an i.d. of about 3/16", I would think.
IMO the same holds true for a water level. Reading a meniscus to four thousandths is impossible and that doesn't take into consideration variations in tube diameter, small bubbles in the tube, etc.
One suggestion that may work depending on your situation would be a laser. Some of the bore alignment lasers used by gunsmiths are fairly inexpensive and should have a more focused beam than the typical laser level. If you can focus on a far wall some thirty or forty feet away, you may have a chance.
I had also seen a homemade precision level made from a piece of precision glass bore (old lab syringe). The glass was sealed with epoxy and had a fill port on one end. The fill liquid used was liquid butane due to its low surface tension. A mount was made for the glass with a rounded fulcrum in the center of the view window and adjustment screws located on either end to bias the tube to put a very slight curvature in the tube. Mount it on a good flat base and you have a level. It would be preferable to mount an ordinary vial for a cross level and use a sub base with three point adjustment screws as well. I have one designed but am waiting to find that used syringe barrel. One would want an i.d. of about 3/16", I would think.