Melm, You and cleeds certainly are a judgmental pair. But also, your reading comprehension is not up to snuff. Where did I say that a SMARTractor cannot be as good as an arc protractor? The answer is: nowhere did I say or write that.
What I did say/write is that the SMARTractor is in a whole other league from the Turntable Basics, because the Smartie allows the user to locate the pivot in relation to the spindle very precisely. Whereas, you yourself have described the way in which one must add on to the TB in order to get even close to accurate location of P2S. And by the way also, the Smartie and the Feickert can be used for tonearm set-up, because they both permit precise measurement of P2S. The TB is useless in that process. I hate to drag poor Albert Einstein into this silly discussion, but he is reputed to have said that the solution to any problem should be as simple as possible, but not simpler. The TB is an example of a too simple solution. I admit, you cannot beat the price, but even for only $20, one would be better off downloading one of those free arc protractors designed for one’s particular tonearm.
In case you don’t know it, the SMARTractor was developed from the UNItractor. (I actually think the Smartie is easier to use than the UNI, and I wish I had waited for its introduction before buying the UNI.) Then I went on to say/write, for those who would rather not spend the big bucks for the Smartie or Feickert, that one can download a correct arc protractor for free using a program available on the internet. I have no beef with arc protractors. I was praising the Mint, in fact.
Now, you are free to disagree with my opinions, but please get my opinions right before you dump on them.
Helomech, In my one experience of trying to print a protractor, the problem was not in the file but in my computer and printer. I had to make sure to set the ratio to 1:1 using the printer's controls. I can't recall how I did it. The default ratio between the file and the copy put out by the printer was greater than 1:1, I believe. (Copy slightly smaller than original.)
