Wasted $80 on a fancy digital angle finder that couldn't handle sawdust

Bought a high-end digital angle finder from the big box store thinking it would speed up my miter cuts. First day on a job in Raleigh, the sensor got clogged with dust and started giving me readings off by 3 degrees. Took me an hour to figure out why my crown moulding joints were gaping. Cleaned it out with compressed air but it kept glitching. Anyone else found a reliable way to keep electronics clean on site or do you just stick with a bevel gauge?

2 comments

2 Comments

logan70523d ago

Nah, I gotta disagree. Sounds like you got a dud more than anything. I've run a digital finder for years on all kinds of dusty jobs and never had that issue. A quick blast of air before you store it is all it takes.

sam1723d ago

Hold up though, you're missing something about the dust on those older style finders versus the newer digital ones. The older units have actual physical switches and buttons that can trap dirt in a way the sealed membrane keypads don't. A blast of air works fine on a modern sealed unit, but on an older one with actual crevices, that dust can get jammed up inside the switch mechanism itself over time. I think it's more about the specific design of the finder than just saying one is a dud. Some of those older digital models were just built differently and are finicky with grit.