Starrett 199

[michaelantipode]

I have a Starrett 199 which I bought in good, but used, condition.
A friend also has one. A couple of weeks ago, just for curiosity, we inked up our granite surface plates and checked the 199's. Both levels are bowed in the middle; there is only contact at the ends. I know of one other person who has had four of the 199 levels and all of them needed scraping to get them true. Has anyone else encountered this problem with the Starrett levels?

Michael

[Your Old Dog]

The chance of anything you are going to level being absolutly flat is not all that great. If the level were absolutly flat, how would you be able to level anything else that was not? Putting some arch in the level allows it to rest on the ends allowing you to to check level on less then flat surfaces. If you wanted to level something that was flatter then p1ss in a pan then the level would still work fine. These levels come in several different lengths.

I don't think of "level" as an absolute term that we an measure. At some point you gotta say, that's good enough.

[Carld]

It don't surprise me my Starrett 98 base was off diagonally so I just lapped it in and readjusted the vial. As long as the base is parallel to the vial so it reads true it will work.

I must say I prefer the base to be flat. The 98's have a rounded groove in the center of the base running from end to end and it is in no way usable. It is not parallel to the level length ways and is out up and down. I just use the flats anyway.

[Mike of the North]

I worked with a guy who made levels, he would put the level on a surface plate and push on the ends, the level must not spin about its center.

[Fasttrack]

I worked with a guy who made levels, he would put the level on a surface plate and push on the ends, the level must not spin about its center.

Yes! Convex is much much worse than concave.

Michael - I will check my level over the weekend. That has been on my to-do list since I recieved the level. I figured that, even if I had to invest quite a bit of time scraping the base, it was still a better option than paying the $700 for a new one since I won't use it very often and I have no immediate need.



I just checked. Mine is also not flat. It is concave as YOD describes and I will not be scraping it back in. The factory scraping marks are clearly evident (quite a pretty sight, actually) and I suspect that a slight concavity is intentional.