That $50 level I bought off Amazon is already out of whack

Bought a 48 inch aluminum level from some no-name brand on Amazon three months ago for 50 bucks. Checked it against my old Starrett last week and it's off by nearly 1/16th over the length. Dropped it once on a job site but not hard enough to justify that kind of drift. Now I'm rechecking every cabinet door I hung with it and finding a few are just slightly off level. Anyone else have luck straightening a bent level or should I just eat the cost and get a proper one?

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wadeowens3mo ago

Gotta disagree with @the_logan though, most decent levels stay true through a drop and that sounds like cheap metal from day one.

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the_logan3mo ago

I mean, I gotta push back a little here. That 1/16th over 48 inches is about 0.13 degrees, which is honestly within the tolerance for a lot of cheaper levels. You dropped it once, even if it didn't seem hard, that can totally knock a box-store level out of true. I don't think you can straighten a bent aluminum level either, the metal is just too soft and once it's tweaked it's done. My guess is the drop did it, not the quality out of the box. Idk, maybe it's just me but I'd just grab a new one and be more careful with it, a fifty dollar loss beats redoing cabinets.

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