Hi all,
I have an old electronic 0-6 inch harbor freight caliper that worked OK but was certainly cheap. I have some micrometers that are fine, but am probably looking for a good dial caliper in the <$50 range that is accurate and durable. Open to suggestions!
I've been happy with one made by iGaging that can be purchased from Amazon or Highland Woodworking for about $30. It measures both fractional and decimal with the fractions marked in 1/64th increments which works fine for me. I also have a digital one that I seldom use because it measures in 128th inch increments and it always seems to end up with one of those fractions which forces me to pause and think through what would be the closest 1/64th. I generally use the digital one only for millimeters or thousands of an inch when needed.
Ditto what Oliver said about the totally digital one. It's quite accurate, but it does often end up on 1/128 readings. I'm going to buy the one in his picture.
My go to caliper in the shop is the 6" fractional one from Lee Valley. Had it for years now. There is no need for one that reads to high precision since you have to transfer that measurement to some other tool like table saw fence, blade or router bit height and they don't have precise scales to read the caliper one onto. Imperial/Metric Vernier Calipers - Lee Valley Tools
In my opinion the dials and digitals are much harder to use because you have to try and translate what it says onto an analog measure. If you use an analog fractional type like I do you can look at it and estimate how close it is to a 1/2" for example and then go set your saw fence by a similar difference. In woodworking that's usually close enough.
I have two of the el cheapo battery powered Harbor Freight models. For woodworking, they're plenty accurate. If I were doing metalworking then I'd get a lot better quality caliper. But I'm not doing metalworking, so will stick with what works well for me, Harbor Freight calipers.
The Mitutoyo (center with green button) is the industry standard for metal work to .001".
It's outta your price range, but good for metal, wood & plastic. I would agree, for wood, the cheaper mechanical caliper is acceptable.
Notwithstanding, wood is hard to measure. Flatness & thickness to .001" is rare, (a routine caliper measurement). Moreover, saw & router fuzz will obfuscate the measurement.
And, to be sure, because you have precision metrology tools, that is not the whole answer.
You have to know how to use them, (just as important). Metro tools are delicate and squeezing the hell out of them will yield variable results.
A lady's touch is called for.
Agree with that for the most part. I have a $180 Starrett digital that for the most part stays in a drawer. I needed it for a job where I had to make quick and accurate measurements and haven't needed to since. I also have an 8" mechanical in 1000ths that gets used for metal working. Since woodworking is either in mm or fractions that one isn't very useful for that purpose. I've also used the plastic ones that can be had 6 for less than $10 at times on sale and they are a great tool box caliper and not a bad woodworking caliper.
I noticed recently that a few of the calipers that used to use the flat cells, now take AAA sized batteries. The flat cells are ALWAYS dead when I try to use the digital calipers, so for many uses, I prefer the dial. I am just annoyed at having to replace all those digital devices (4 as I recall).
I wasn't aware they made calipers that used aaa cells . Dang I just bought another calliper and it uses those stupid flat cells again .
And the reason I bought a new one is , my other one went dead and when I went to put the battery door back on it went missing . So off to the dumpster
Yea I use my old RCBS reloading digital caliper which works except for those button batteries going dead too often. I just keep a card of batteries in a drawer close. They are cheap off Amazon.
Keith I don't like the electronic type caliper so I have the dial type and I have had it for years. It didn't cost very much but it's always done what I need it to do and there is no battery worry. A lot of people don't like the dial type because they have trouble reading them. I think knowing how to read them is a good thing to know. I use mine more for telling the difference in something. To explain myself better. If I have a shaft that measures .498 and a new shaft measures .500 I know there is .002 difference. It really doesn't matter what your calibers measures if you are just wanting to know how much your wear is. I hope I explained that so you can understand.
I don't have any precision measuring equipment that takes batteries, if I was able to able to work in the industry making dies and molds to .00005" tolerances without digital read out, then I don't need it now.
my two cents worth.
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