gritomatic angle cube or other brand?

[rpfarris]

do you have any issues with the buttons on the side? i have an iphone and wasnt sure if the volume buttons would affect the angle. also where do you place your phone or angle cube? i never had a kme before so this all new to me

The buttons have no effect. Well, no effective effect, relative to other wobbles in the system. The placement of the phone (and the angle cube) is to set it on top of the wooden part of the stone holder. The phone is place on its long side, in the case of an iPhone, the side that has volume buttons (I guess you could use the other side but I'd worry about putting the iPhone to sleep). Once you set this up and look at the angles involved you will see that the tiny amount of difference in the angles made by the buttons on the iPhone are insignificant. This is also one of the reasons I like using my phone; I have a case on my phone that is a little grippy and you will find that it is difficult to keep the stone holder in place while you're zeroing the angle measuring device and then trying to keep the angle measuring device from sliding off of the stone holder is a lot easier if you have something grippy.
Some people afix a metal plate on top of the wooden piece so that the angle cube can magnetically attach. If I didn't like my phone so much I'd do something like that.

There's nothing like having a real tool to do the job. A phone is not a real tool. It usually has a case on it, which is not flat. It has buttons. It's a $400+ device. You don't want to use it in a less than clean environment (like on sharpening stones, or near metal filings). I don't understand the reasoning behind buying a dedicated tool and then not using it. Unless that tool is faulty?

I'll admit that I worry abit about the screen on my (more like $1,400) iPhone while I'm handling grits and diamond pastes. They can't be good on the screen of my phone. But to me, the best tool is the one that gets used. I got 'em all...

 

[rpfarris]

Oh, and there is one other thing! If we were measuring precise things it would be different. Then I would want a real tool. But we're measuring the angle of the KME stone holder with respect to the KME knife holder. A tenth of a degree is as good as it gets in this system. There is no good in trying to measure to a closer precision because it will change constantly. There is no more accuracy to achieve.