Plumb bob levels

[Pitchy]

We made some levels of the plumb bob style, the big one in the middle we made today.

[J Miller]

Neat!

Old school technology, no batteries to die, no electronics to fizzle out, nothing to go wrong.
You could build a house with those.

Joe

[EdinCT]

Nice Pitchy! I remember building a two story building with my Grandfather and he always used a large lead plum bob to plumb his walls. It's dead accurate. Also watched a man I worked for clamp a set of peep sights on a 6 foot level and he marked all the batter boards to level the deck for a home. I have heard that the human eye is capable of 1 min of angle accuracy at 100 yards so why not.

[KirkD]

Very nice! With all those amazing projects you have made, you could start up a museum. The only problem would be all the people coming would be hard on the peace and quiet!

[piller]

Fancy as those are, shouldn't they be Plumb Roberts?

[Pitchy]

Thanks guys, the upright one on the right i guess dates back to building the Pyramid days.

[OldWin]

Good job buddy. We still use plumb bobs a fair amount around here.

[marlinman93]

I personally prefer these:



They don't just give me perfectly plumb, but also tell me how many degrees off I am. Good when you want to set angles beyond plumb.
Of course not nearly as cool looking as Pitchy's.

[Bill in Oregon]

You sure get a lot of great ideas, Lenn!

[Alan in Vermont]

Something that not many people outside of the iron working trades have ever seen, much less used is the "Bazooka Bob". https://bazookabob.com/

It is a plumb bob inside a telescoping tube, it locates on the side of the tube on points at either end. Magnets in the attaching points hold the tube in place when plumbing steel.

The actual plumb bob is suspended inside the tube and is visible through a cutout in the tube. There is some wizardry inside the tube that extends the line as the tube is extended, allowing the bob to remain visible in the view opening. Being shrouded in the tube the bob is unaffected by wind, something that plagues a conventional plumb bob.

I now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.

[Pitchy]

Thanks fellers.

[OldWin]

I personally prefer these:



They don't just give me perfectly plumb, but also tell me how many degrees off I am. Good when you want to set angles beyond plumb.
Of course not nearly as cool looking as Pitchy's.

I have one of those! But I mostly use it to set pinion angles on my Jeep after suspension mods.

[marlinman93]

I personally prefer these:



They don't just give me perfectly plumb, but also tell me how many degrees off I am. Good when you want to set angles beyond plumb.
Of course not nearly as cool looking as Pitchy's.

I have one of those! But I mostly use it to set pinion angles on my Jeep after suspension mods.

I have several and use them for all sorts of fabrication work on hotrods, or just whatever fab work I do. I also set pinion angles, driveline angles, kingpin angles, crossmembers, etc. I have several just so when I'm setting something up and need to check angles in 2-3 places I don't have to keep moving them around. They're cheap enough that it saves time to own several.

[M. M. Wright]

I personally prefer these:



They don't just give me perfectly plumb, but also tell me how many degrees off I am. Good when you want to set angles beyond plumb.
Of course not nearly as cool looking as Pitchy's.

I have one of those! But I mostly use it to set pinion angles on my Jeep after suspension mods.

I have several and use them for all sorts of fabrication work on hotrods, or just whatever fab work I do. I also set pinion angles, driveline angles, kingpin angles, crossmembers, etc. I have several just so when I'm setting something up and need to check angles in 2-3 places I don't have to keep moving them around. They're cheap enough that it saves time to own several.

I use mine when screwing barrels in, like new barrel in my Garand. I'll bet I could use one of Pitchy's just as well though. Just have to clamp it instead of using the magnet.

[Grizz]

Pitchy, if you invert the instrument so that the bob hangs from the wood and the line passes the protracter, and sight a star along the wood edge, you have a navigation instrument that can give you latitude from Polaris or the Sun with tables to correct the sun's diameter.

I have my some of my Grandfather's plumbs and used them in Alaska setting piling under the house, and lining up foundation parts. It was a fresh smile every time Gramp's plumb spotted the piling location on the mud sill. Thanks for showing yours.

[Pitchy]

Thanks Grizz
Have ya seen that instrument that ya line up with the north star to tell time, i forget what its called i made one and they work good.

[OldWin]

That's cool, Lenn. Never saw one of those.
Install a band and it's an antique wrist watch.

[marlinman93]

I use mine when screwing barrels in, like new barrel in my Garand. I'll bet I could use one of Pitchy's just as well though. Just have to clamp it instead of using the magnet.

I use a torpedo level when installing barrels. A lot more accurate than my angle finder.

[Grizz]

Have ya seen that instrument that ya line up with the north star to tell time, i forget what its called i made one and they work good.

Thanks Pitchy,

I had not seen those. Time and longitude are functions of one another. Finding or knowing Zulu time where you are, or the difference, or the angle between the meridian I'm on and the Zero meridian, tells you the exact meridian we're standing on, a great circle that goes through both poles. Slick stuff. No way that arrangement evolved from nothing. See Ya . . .

[Grizz]

I use a torpedo level when installing barrels. A lot more accurate than my angle finder.

those bubbles are astonishing aren't they? how could they possibly know what dead level is?

I've wound up with lots of levels over the years. I guess fishermen are suckers for shiny new stuff.

[piller]

Grizz, it is not only fishermen who like shiny new stuff. Although, suckers are related to carp and rarely go for shiny things. Trout and bass are more like us in going fot shiny things.

[marlinman93]

I use a torpedo level when installing barrels. A lot more accurate than my angle finder.

those bubbles are astonishing aren't they? how could they possibly know what dead level is?

I've wound up with lots of levels over the years. I guess fishermen are suckers for shiny new stuff.

For how simple they are, they work better than just about anything. Of course the new fangled digital torpedo levels are even more accurate, but I don't do anything that requires that type of accuracy. The torpedo level works for me, and is much more accurate for barrel installation than the angle finder. Looking at the pointer on the angle finder is tough to get as exacting as looking at that bubble between the lines.

[piller]

Back when biplanes and triplanes ruled, they used bubbles to help the pilot tell if he was climbing or descending, tilted left or right. In clouds or poor visibility, knowing that was a life saver. Levels and plumb bobs are incredibly useful.