Thread: Digital vernier calipers

Guilty!

Bought the cheapies - I must be a slow learner as, over the years, I have bought 3 - thinking,

surely that must have improved

the "new" ones won't chew up the batteries as quickly as the old one

the "newer" ones surely will be more accurate

if I measure the same item in the same place twice, the measurement will be the same

each time I return the jaws to zero, the screen will show zero

I could go on but I think you get the picture.

The words cheap = nasty and a waste of time come to mind. Bite the bullet and buy once not 3 times and end up paying more than the better one.

Many years ago I was told that a dial vernier caliper would be the best.
Easy to read - Yes
No battery to go flat - Yes
Accurate - Yes

What did I buy - digital. Just as Bob said. I do not keep the battery in it.
Now I need to find where to buy a dial vernier caliper.

Originally Posted by Handyjack

Many years ago I was told that a dial vernier caliper would be the best.
Easy to read - Yes
No battery to go flat - Yes
Accurate - Yes

What did I buy - digital. Just as Bob said. I do not keep the battery in it.
Now I need to find where to buy a dial vernier caliper.

Are the dial ones easy to read? I have not tried a set of them.
I have an old school set with all the graduations and do not find them easy to read at all.
The digital ones appeal to me as the numbers are right there and easy to read. However they need a battery and the feedback so far has not been encouraging.

I'm also considering going digital as we've recently purchased a CNC at work and setting tool length/diameter with a vernier is getting a bit tiresome. I have quite a few Starrett measuring tools for machine setup and general layout (vernier, square, protractor, bevels, levels, etc) and I definitely think they're some of the best out there. Can't comment on Mitutoyo or M&S, but their reputations must be based on something.

As Bob mentioned, buy a decent one and you'll only have to buy it once.

Also, eBay is your friend. I paid about US$230 for brand new Starrett No.123 callipers (box and all), RRP was over US$600 (that was a few years ago, it's now over US$700).

EDIT: Had a quick search on Google and the majority of the metalwork/machining forums are saying Mitutoyo wins hands down.

Ive been using a twenty dollar set for about three years and haven't had any dramas.

In the last few years I've purchased 5 of the cheap ones and apart from one I've had a good run out of them

Here is what I said about them in another post.

Where accuracy may be needed is where multiple instruments are used e.g. I often have 2 or 3 callipers in use in any one project. I admit to treating 3 of my 4 callipers pretty roughly and all have been dropped multiple times, I even use one of them as a marking gauge , and like I said in a post above, one spent many weeks buried under a pile of oily swarf - not that I recommend doing this. To test my callipers (especially after they are dropped) I rack them up against the 1" standard length from my Mits micrometer set and I have never found them to be out by more than their reading uncertainty (0.01mm) which I rarely work to. When I bought my first set of budget callipers I borrowed a set of standard lengths from work and the micrometer was bang on across the range and 12 months later it was still bang on. This encouraged my to purchase more of these which I have done.

At work in our undergraduate labs we used to use Mits analog verier callipers and micrometers but, especially in the first year classes for students that only need to take one year of Physics, we found far too much (of an ever decreasing) lab time was taken up explaining how to use a vernier scale so we switched to budget level callipers. We ended up purchasing many many dozens of them as they are also included in the "Physics lab in a suitcase" kits that are sent out to external students, and despite some questionable handling by users, have performed admirably including battery performance. Given the numbers of units involved this is probably one of the few larger scale tests on these budget products that anyone on this site can report on and thought it may be useful to know how they performed.

I have a cheap digital I use it for quick rough sizing. For accuracy I use a Dial version.

Hi All,
A few years ago I bought " Suntox " ??, but my problem is to get the correct battery, as there are so many so close, but just not right.
I've put mine up against a set of Mitutoyo, whatever, & they came up trumps on accuracy.

Horses for courses, I think. I have a cheap set of digital calipers and my only complaint is the the universal one - it eats batteries. If I remove the battery between uses, they are fine, so there's obviously some circuit that maintains a small drain on the battery even when it's 'off'. Removing & replacing the battery is a pita (& I'm going to lose that tiny screw that holds the cap on for sure, some day soon!), so its main use (just about only use) is for rapid conversion from imperial to metric when I need reasonable accuracy for metalwork and the mental arithmetic "multiply the number of 16ths by 1.6" I use in woodwork isn't good enough. For actual measuring, I prefer dial calipers, which are quite accurate enough for the type of metalwork I do, are easy enough to read, and don't need batteries! Their only drawback as far as I'm concerned is that they are the most fragile of the 3 types, the dial face doesn't like meeting the floor, as I discovered with my first pair (), and the rack & pinion drive is fussy about eating dirt & fine metal particles, so they need even more care than simple verniers. So I stick with relative cheapies, which are more than accurate enough for what I do, where repeatability is more important than extreme precision.

Must admit, I have been eying the sales flyers from places like Hare & Forbes, lately, and seriously considering splashing out on a decent set of digitals, to see me out. Even dial calipers ain't as easy to read as they were 10 years ago! But I have this weird objection to simple tools that need batteries, and particularly non-rechargeable ones. Of course, I've had battery drills ever since they first became useable tools, & don't think I could function without one any more, so I'm nothing if not inconsistent!

Cheers,

Earlier this year I bought one of these from Lee Valley. 2 needles within the dial, it works great and was very reasonably priced.

It also can't run out of batteries.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/pag...513,43546&ap=1

I like those, Bob! Imperial/metric conversion at a glance & no batteries!

I have 3 Mitutoyo Vernier Calipers, 2 x 150 & 1 x 300, with 1 of the 150's reserved for sizing spinning lathe work. They are all accurate as far as my set up blocks allow in both metric and imperial. I do have 2 digital veriers, an el cheapo and a JBS brand. Both are kept with the batteries out, so unless I am working on something preplanned, the Mitutoyo's get grabbed as I'm efficient with my time(or lazy as far as my wife is concerned)

I also have depth gauges and angle gauges in digital, kept the same as the dig verniers . . . and analogue versions that get used more often then not. For some reason I cannot find an equivalent to the Mitutoyo 600mm Vernier Height gauge . . .


PS, Bob, you are evil, posting THAT site! My credit card starts having palpitations when I wonder, innocently, onto THAT site

Pat, you are welcome

Why should I be the only one

I have a strong reluctance to use anything with battery lol

I still use my vernier caliper which I won as a prize back in 5th form graphic and design class in 1994. Good ole days.