Well, standing upright is one of the problems, but I had assumed you had intended to use it hand-held anyway.
The flaws are mainly related to the consistency of measurement you will acheive by clamping pieces with a single nut, and by having the pivot so far away from the wheel. I don't think you can measure negative camber either with the parts as pictured.
I reckon you have at least one plate and one pivot more than you need to fulfil the design criteria. In fact, I have a tool that will measure three different camber angles and a range of ride heights with no moving parts at all!
Standing upright is not a problem in all but one direction: If it gets hit from the rear it easily falls forward. Maybe V2 needs a small 3D printed foot, pointing to both directions instead of just one.
The clamping doesn't seem to change the reading when tightening. I used an RPM Camber gauge from a fellow racer 2 weeks back to set up my car. The readings are the same, so for my use I consider it accurate enough. I understand your concerns, but it can easily be solved by adding a screw with a spacer that holds the plates at a fixed distance all the time, so the gauge's construction can't become so loose that it loses it's accuracy. Plus, you can ask yourself how accurate it needs to be. The most accurate reading would be without wheels, or with setup wheels. It's not practical though, so using the actual wheels and tires on the car for racing seems sensible. The most accurate measurement would still be done when the wheelm not the tire, is measured (As a tire is a rather flexible to measure from)
However, many wheels don't have a flat dish though, so you can't actually measure from the wheel on every car. So in the end, many camber gauges measure from the tire, mine is no exception to that. The tire easily gives 0.5 degree inaccuracy I think, and I haven't suffered from bigger inaccuracies when I was using a set of calipers to measure the distance between adjusters (which can be very inaccurate)!
The thing currently holding back the accuracy is the ability to read the gauge clearly and quickly. Due to the thickness of the plates (3mm) you can only get accurate readings when you're looking exactly from the front. Using a different construction allows readings from far wider angles. Also, the space between the scaling and the reading bar should be reduced, or brought together in one piece.
The construction currently can only be read from one side - that, to me, is a real disadvantage (especially on the camber, the ride height can still be read with mirrored letters). You need to turn around your car or walk around your car to use it all the time.
I am very happy with the ride height gauge. Steps of 1mm seem to me like they are small enough if you're working on your setup, and it's easy to use. It would be even easier though if the whole gauge would be smaller (so it fits in your hand easier) and if the gauge would also be stable (stand on it's own) in this position.
About the amount of parts... Sure I could use less parts, but I like the sophistication of moving parts... It's just a matter of preference really, though if I start thinking about it, I kind of like the idea of having the important parts of the product in the same spot every time (to adjust, to give the reading, etc). Still, it's prominently preference
PS: I'll post pictures soon, so everyone can see how it exactly works, and to show that it works
