Dial calipers

[Jacob]

And I've never needed to de-rust mine, as they are made from stainless.

Well there you go - not a total waste of money!

 

[recipio]

I don't understand comments that infer 'a near miss ' is good enough for woodworking. A caliper should be accurate or it's not worth using. A caliper should easily read the difference between a 4 mm and a 4.2 drill bit for instance. Having gone through half a dozen cheap Chinese calipers I finally plumped for a Mitutoyo digital. The difference in quality is obvious. It is now a year old and absolutely accurate. I prefer digital to dial calipers as the eyesight isn't what it used to be.

 

[Stevekane]

Well I thought I would be the only person using the cheap pressed steel Draper, it was bought in B&Q about 30 yrs ago it hangs on a nail and is in regular use, Im not expecting it to be accurate but it will tell me the size of a drill, or if some old imperial bit is a little bigger and because its not precious Its always just there and ready to use. My posh ones hardly see the light of day! My understanding of wood is that you could plane it to a fraction of a mm and it would likly change the moment you stopped messing around with it?

 

[Bod]

Dial every time, clear easy to read, no batteries.
I have a Mitutoyo dial, wouldn't be without it. (Bought 2nd hand from a local auction, paid peanuts!)
Would buy any clear to read dial, plastic or metal.

Bod

 

[Ollie78]

I prefer a dial over the digital, my battery will always go flat just when I need it and I find the display hard to read and reflective.

I have a Draper expert set which are fine and have lasted well. They are clearly not as nice as Mitutoyo or Starret but were cheap.
For woodwork you don't need stuff like coolant resistant or anything , though some shock resistance is good. So you could probably afford Mitutoyo or Starrett.

Ollie

 

[Fergie 307]

Well I thought I would be the only person using the cheap pressed steel Draper, it was bought in B&Q about 30 yrs ago it hangs on a nail and is in regular use, Im not expecting it to be accurate but it will tell me the size of a drill, or if some old imperial bit is a little bigger and because its not precious Its always just there and ready to use. My posh ones hardly see the light of day! My understanding of wood is that you could plane it to a fraction of a mm and it would likly change the moment you stopped messing around with it?

Me too with the old pressed steel.job. Have metric and Imperial ones. Very handy. Also have a really good quality vernier inherited from dad, along with other similar stuff, all either Starret or Moore and Wright, I think the vernier is M&W lovely tool. Do have a Mitutoyo, and it is used regularly when I need something more accurate, but don't like getting it covered in muck. Recently bought a cheapo Parkside Digital one from Lidl. Seems accurate enough, but a nasty gritty feel sliding it up and down compared to the silky smooth Mitutoyo. But guess that's why one costs £200, and the other is a fiver! Used it quite a bit already and it is ok so far.

 

[Fergie 307]

I don't understand comments that infer 'a near miss ' is good enough for woodworking. A caliper should be accurate or it's not worth using. A caliper should easily read the difference between a 4 mm and a 4.2 drill bit for instance. Having gone through half a dozen cheap Chinese calipers I finally plumped for a Mitutoyo digital. The difference in quality is obvious. It is now a year old and absolutely accurate. I prefer digital to dial calipers as the eyesight isn't what it used to be.

I think it's just a question of degrees of accuracy. Wood is awkward badly behaved stuff that expands and contracts, bends etc etc. So trying to make something in wood to a tolerance of less than maybe a tenth of a mm is a waste of time, and even that is going to be some very high end work in a nice stable hard wood. In metalworking on the other hand that sort of tolerance is a yawning casm. Metal also moves about, but to a far lesser extent, and rather more predictably. So an accurate caliper is useful, but even then you wouldn't use any caliper for measuring something where the final size is critical. If the difference between acceptable and not might be 0.00 something of a mm, then it's time to get out the micrometer
And I'm with you all the way on digital displays. If I had to use the vernier scale on my old calipers, or a micrometer it's out with the specs and cue an impersonation of Mr Magoo. The only reason I haven't got digital micrometers is that decent ones are just too expensive. Getting older is, I find, generally a bit of a bummer

 

[ey_tony]

I've been using cheap digital calipers for the past 8 years and having checked them for accuracy against my precision micrometers over those years they are as accurate as I need them. If I was using the digital calipers daily for serious engineering projects then I'd probably invest in a more expensive bit of kit but I've never had any battery or inconsistency issues with the ones I own and I trust them implicitly for accuracy as they have never let me down.

I love using good quality tools and some tools you just can't skimp on but not all cheap tools are bad. The digital calipers and digital angle finder I own are more than accurate enough for me.

 

[gcusick]

I've been using cheap digital calipers for the past 8 years and having checked them for accuracy against my precision micrometers over those years they are as accurate as I need them. If I was using the digital calipers daily for serious engineering projects then I'd probably invest in a more expensive bit of kit but I've never had any battery or inconsistency issues with the ones I own and I trust them implicitly for accuracy as they have never let me down.

I love using good quality tools and some tools you just can't skimp on but not all cheap tools are bad. The digital calipers and digital angle finder I own are more than accurate enough for me.

My experience too. I’ve got a variety of cheap digital calipers, from about a fiver up. They all check to within +/- 1 least-significant digit on a medium grade gauge block. What my experience does suggest, though, is that the types that use a lithium cell (CR2032 or similar) have a much better battery life than the ones that use one or two alkaline cells.

The technology used in these digital calipers - etched scales very similar to electronic printed circuits - is intrinsically suited to low-cost mass production, as it does not depend on accurate machining. The only moving part in a digital caliper is the sliding head, so no backlash in threads or gears etc.

 

[ey_tony]

My experience too. I’ve got a variety of cheap digital calipers, from about a fiver up. They all check to within +/- 1 least-significant digit on a medium grade gauge block. What my experience does suggest, though, is that the types that use a lithium cell (CR2032 or similar) have a much better battery life than the ones that use one or two alkaline cells.

The technology used in these digital calipers - etched scales very similar to electronic printed circuits - is intrinsically suited to low-cost mass production, as it does not depend on accurate machining. The only moving part in a digital caliper is the sliding head, so no backlash in threads or gears etc.

Exactly my thoughts.
I don't skimp on tools but I bought my digi calipers from either LIDL or ALDI just out of curiosity and I find them very accurate and a go to tool when I need them. They're very consistent when zeroed and hold zero very well...at least mine do!
I think they cost about £7.99 or 9.99 8 years ago or some ridiculously low price like that. Batteries however are a different issue.
Some button type batteries are ridiculously cheap and can be either good or bad.
If it's for such as the calipers I'll buy a branded battery as they're still cheap and tend to have a longer life but for less important uses then the cheap varieties will suffice.

 

[spiritburner]

And I've never needed to de-rust mine, as they are made from stainless.

or demagnetise the buggers!!

 

[Ttrees]

Here's another caliper which many might have already...
or perhaps it's just simply a height gauge, coz I don't have a digital readout?