scidude Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Hey people, my maths teacher has given us an assignment to build a clinometer. For people who doesn't know what a clinometer is, it is a instrument for measuring angles of slope and i just want to ask if there any ideas on making one. i'm looking for a easy wat to make, but very accurate. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfiniteNow Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 My first thought was a pendulum hanging over a ruler... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turtle Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 My first thought was a pendulum hanging over a ruler... Plumb-bob & a protractor. The larger the protractor, the more accurate the measure. :hihi: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfiniteNow Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Plumb-bob & a protractor. The larger the protractor...Listen Turtle, I don't care what you do in your own home, but that's downright offensive in a public forum... and, what'd you call me? :cup: Scidude, you could add a laser pointer to the end of the "plumb-bob." For a low price, you make it look really cool... :hihi: Or, make your string a chalk line instead and snap it to the protractor... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turtle Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Listen Turtle, I don't care what you do in your own home, but that's downright offensive in a public forum... and, what'd you call me? :zip: Scidude, you could add a laser pointer to the end of the "plumb-bob." For a low price, you make it look really cool... :hihi: Or, make your string a chalk line instead and snap it to the protractor... I built one to measure how high my kite flies; as they say, it's not the measure of the rule, but the skill of the tool...user...tool user.:cup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erKa Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Hey people, my maths teacher has given us an assignment to build a clinometer. For people who doesn't know what a clinometer is, it is a instrument for measuring angles of slope and i just want to ask if there any ideas on making one. i'm looking for a easy wat to make, but very accurate. ThanksI have done my own biaxial capacitive ratiometric clinometer with an accuracy greater than 0.01 Dec deg or. I can discriminate 1 mm in flexibility at the end of a 5 mt. length cantilever. Dielecric air, conductor Hg. I can send you home a lot of useful material in a DVD-ROM about "Lazzaro experiment" I have personally done during 2003 during a probe test on an evaluable ancient roman monument called " Tempio di Minerva Medica" here, in Rome. I have found a fracture hidden underground in the deep structure only with the aid of a couple of clinos. A great job and I am proud of the result! Only a problem: all the material was written in Italian and my poor english translation might produce heavy damages to the theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scidude Posted October 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 thanks for the ideas, but what do you mean by adding the chalk line? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigD Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 As a kid (in the 1970s), I had a very usable clinometer intended for use in measuring the altitude of model rockets. It was sold as a kit by the Estes model rocket company, but wouldn’t be to hard to make from scratch. It was made of wood, a few easy-to-find screws, a metal rod, a loop of flexible aquarium tubing, half-filled with water (optionally died an easy-to-see color), and a glue-on paper protractor. To use it, you “zeroed” it by sighting the rocket on its pad, clamping the tubing (which prevents the water from moving in the tubing), and turning the protractor wheel to align the water lever with the zero on the protractor. You then released the clamp, launch the rocket, sight the puff of smoke from its parachute ejection, clamp the tubing again, then read the water level with the protractor. Later, Estes sold a molded plastic clinometer with a pendulum, molded-in protractor, and a mechanical, trigger-type locking mechanism. I think the liquid-filled kind would be easier to build – the main challenge is making or finding a precisely circular wooden disk, and a correctly graduated paper gauge to make it into a protractor. I’ve seen a few clear plastic sheet protractors that might work better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleeth Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 I was thinking... what about a clear container ...preferably square... with water in it. First - You would find the middle of the container (horizontally). Eg. | . | The dot being the middle. Second - You would glue a protractor to the side so that it is parallel with the ground and centred. Third - You would fill the container with water until the water level reaches the base line of the protractor. Fourth - Place the clinometer on the slope and measure the reading that the water level lies on. Eg. || 70 degrees Unfortunately this could only be used on hill etc. It could not be used on ...say... how high you kite flies. [EDIT] I drew a diagram of what I mean, incase you can't visualise it. InfiniteNow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfiniteNow Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 what do you mean by adding the chalk line?In construction, often a "chalk line," which is a rope with powdered chalk all within, is stretched across a surface and snapped to allow a visual of where the line was hung. This helps in times when you need exact cuts and other applications in construction. My idea was that if you hung your plumbbob using a chalk line, you could snap the line against your protractor and get an exact measurement without having to look at the protractor while the line is hanging. I'm not an engineer though, so sorry I've struggled so much to describe what I was visualizing. Cheers. :cup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scidude Posted October 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 thanks for the ideas people, its been a great help!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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