Digital Calipers

[Gerry]

The knurled wheel isn't found on all calipers, even my sylvac pros doesn't have one and they are premium calipers.
https://www.machine-dro.co.uk/sylva...l-caliper-range-150mm-resolution-0-001mm-ip67

 

[Richard_C]

I have both manual and digital calipers. Inexpensive, Toolstation or Screwfix don't remember which. For Woodworking 3rd decimal place accuracy is irrelevant so even inexpensive ones should be fine as long as zero means zero. Digital ones you zero each time anyway.

Plus and minus: Digital, need to pop the battery out if you are not going to use it for a while. I wonder if people who say the battery lasts keep the box in a still safe place but if you move it about it triggers the display? No such faff with manual. I'm 70+ and wear varifocal glasses, digital is much easier and quicker to read especially in artificial light. Peering at the vernier scale is increasingly difficult. If you put digital in imperial mode it gives inches and decimal points of inches, if you work and think in sixteenths of an inch you need mental gymnastics. Manual ones, most, not all, read in 16ths with 64ths or 128ths on the vernier bit. I have seen some that read in 10ths of an inch which might suit some users.

So, I tend to use digital if I need to know the numbers, manual if I am just setting them to get 2 things to fit. With perfect eyesight I might not use digital.

 

[Distinterior]

I dont tend to use mine for wood working, as such!
The last time I needed to use one of them, I was making a couple of riving knives out of an old table saw blade and wanted to ensure the thickness was the same as the original riving knife. The digital vernier was the ideal tool!....

 

[Bingy man]

Digital callipers are so straightforward to use that I guess most of us don't bother to read the instructions, which often call for a 1.55V silver oxide cell to be used - not a 1.5V one. I suspect that the short battery life that many mention is due to using 1.5V alkaline or zinc manganese cells rather than silver oxide. Under 'troubleshooting' the instructions will generally say:

Quote:

8-<
Power Source: One silver oxide 1.55V LR44, capacity 180 mAh. Current <20uA

'Troubleshooting': Digits flash randomly or all five digits flash simultaneously: Battery Voltage below 1.45V.

Unquote.
8-<

Not only do alkaline/zinc chloride cells have a lower voltage of 5V when new, they have a a lower capacity, and quite a different discharge curve. If you look at the attached discharge graph of a 1.5V LR44 zinc manganese cell, you will see that it doesn't take long for the voltage to fall below 1.45V. Conversely if you look at the discharge curve of the SR44 silver oxide cell, you will see that the voltage remains stable at well above 1.5V until it expiries and the voltage falls off a cliff. Hence, it doesn't 'run down' - it dies when its distance has run.

I always use silver oxide, in my callipers and they last at least a year.

It's easy to make a mistake when buying them, even though it does usually state either alkaline 1.5V or Silver Oxide 1.55V on the package.

EG, these are both Energizer brand, both LR44, and both packages look almost identical except for the small print:

1.5V Alkaline:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Energizer-L...GXNDMMD3ETRRJ1

1.55V Silver Oxide:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Energizer-S.../dp/B000IX2GXI

People often say 'I can buy a sheet full of LR44 cells from Poundland. Well yes you can, but what you see isn't always what you get.

As to the title of this thread, the terms 'cheap' & 'expensive' are subjective.

To my mind, £20 is more than enough to pay - a lot of them are fairly generic, whatever the brand. I think the 100% plastic ones are best avoided - all the rest are stainless steel. I sometimes use mine for measuring fine wire gauges, (0.03mm - 0.1mm) and all three of my callipers measure the same. +/- 1% and 2 decimal places is quite adequate for my needs. I'm an old guy in a garden shed - I'm not putting rockets into space.

Just my thoughts.

Very interesting info on the batteries

 

[Fergie 307]

The knurled wheel isn't found on all calipers, even my sylvac pros doesn't have one and they are premium calipers.
https://www.machine-dro.co.uk/sylva...l-caliper-range-150mm-resolution-0-001mm-ip67

I am guessing the reason is that the premium ones are generally pretty stiff, and you have to try quite hard to alter the reading appreciably by thumb pressure. Cheap ones are often made of plastic and bend easily, the knurled wheel is pretty useful on these.

 

[Vulcan]

I bought my Mitutoyo calipers over 30 years ago. They’re good but for accurate measurements I use a 25mm or 50mm Micrometer. Obviously if the item is over 50mm I have to use the calipers.

 

[Not-Entirely-Useless]

How accurate are digital calipers? Cheap vs expensive? Those of you who use them frequently and need an accurate reading which make would you use? Do not buy cheap ones?

Your advice welcome.

Cheap ones can be pretty accurate, but quality control is such that it's a matter of luck whether you get the good ones. Their big drawback is that the batteries don't last because they don't fully power off, even when switched off - that's why people often remove the battery when they're not in use. My cheapo Screwfix ones drained a battery every few weeks, even when not used.

The better brands don;t have the problem. Igaging are good, I like M-Sure (UK company, although manufactured in China) and I have their 300mm model. I splashed out on a Mitutoyo 150mm model a few months back - love it, even though it's probably more than I need.

 

[Sideways]

The knurled wheel isn't found on all calipers, even my sylvac pros doesn't have one and they are premium calipers.
https://www.machine-dro.co.uk/sylva...l-caliper-range-150mm-resolution-0-001mm-ip67

These old but decent ones don't have a wheel either.

 

[Mikegtr]

Thanks again--great info from everybody.

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

Personally I use dial Calipers. Less to go wrong, no battery to go flat and easier to read than the verniers. Axminster do a pretty decent one for around £45

 

[starfish]

You decide the accuracy you need and then use the tools that can meet that requirement, for precision then you would use a micrometer but for most of us a digital vernier is more than adequate for our day to day task and I use Mitutoyo but there are others like Igaging and Moore and wright but don't go bargain basement .

Totally - I use Mitutoyo also. I tried cheaper digitial ones but the difference is light and day

 

[steve355]

I have the dasqua brand digital calipers from Chronos. They are good enough quality and accurate to < 0.001” if clean and carefully zeroed. They have the inch fractional readout which can be marginally useful for woodworking.

The depth gauge is pretty useless, but good enough for woodworking. Actually the thing I use it for most is for setting my veritas marking gauge accurately.

I also have a set of manual vernier micrometers I use for precision metalwork - rough down on the metal lathe using the digital caliper and use the manual micrometer to get to the final number. Plus height gauges and other things for precision work.

All depends what you are doing with it. The reality is, you’ll generally get a parallax error with calipers you won’t get with a proper micrometer. Also proper micrometers have the tension facility to make sure you don’t get an error by under or over tightening it. But if you are doing woodworking, you really dont need to worry about that.

 

[Oddbod]

What I worry about with too-frequent battery removal is the plastic clips on the battery compartment lid failing.

That's what small strips of duct tap are for.

 

[kinverkid]

I have two cheap plastic sets, £5 each from Temu. One is a year old or more the other only a few months old. They do me for some of the 3D print designing and most woodwork. Never had to replace the batteries. It costs a fiver to replace if I drop them once too often (still not much feeling in my fingertips so dropping things is common). I also use a nameless stainless steel set which I was given a few years ago and has a locking screw which I've had to start using. I only remember replacing the battery once. When I want high accuracy I have non-digital micrometers.

 

[Trextr7monkey]

I have both manual and digital calipers. Inexpensive, Toolstation or Screwfix don't remember which. For Woodworking 3rd decimal place accuracy is irrelevant so even inexpensive ones should be fine as long as zero means zero. Digital ones you zero each time anyway.

Plus and minus: Digital, need to pop the battery out if you are not going to use it for a while. I wonder if people who say the battery lasts keep the box in a still safe place but if you move it about it triggers the display? No such faff with manual. I'm 70+ and wear varifocal glasses, digital is much easier and quicker to read especially in artificial light. Peering at the vernier scale is increasingly difficult. If you put digital in imperial mode it gives inches and decimal points of inches, if you work and think in sixteenths of an inch you need mental gymnastics. Manual ones, most, not all, read in 16ths with 64ths or 128ths on the vernier bit. I have seen some that read in 10ths of an inch which might suit some users.

So, I tend to use digital if I need to know the numbers, manual if I am just setting them to get 2 things to fit. With perfect eyesight I might not use digital.

I have a set of Dasqa digital callipers that I bought from RDG Tools they are well made and feel nice to use but as well as mm or inches measurements can be changed to imperial fractions at the press of a button.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Cheap Lidl sourced digital callipers. 10 years old and I don't recall ever changing a battery.

Whether it is accurate to 3 decimal places I don't know - but it does provide consistent measurement.
For serious engineering it would probably fail the "confidence" test but for general woodworking - thicknessing, turning etc - it seems more than adequate.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I had a Lidl one which I didn't use very often. I don't recall ever using it without putting a new battery in.

 

[Jacob]

I,m wating for the “ digital verniers have no place in the woodworking enviroment post .

That'll be me then!
I've had the same Draper Vernier callipers for about 40 years. Still only £10 or so.
Simple, more than accurate enough for woodwork , durable in the workshop environment - no prob if drop them, stand on them, let them go rusty, etc.
Metric and Imperial
I really can't see the point of digital at all.

 

[ey_tony]

I bought my digital calipers from LIDL and have found them to be excellent with regard to accuracy.
I have a couple of good quality traditional micrometers and the accuracy of the digital micrometer when compared with the traditional micrometers was more than adequate enough for me.
At the time I bought it, the digital caliper cost either £7.99 or £9.99, I can't recall which but it's my go to piece of gear when I want accurate measurements.
I've had them a few years now, I've used them many times and I've rarely replaced the batteries but even if I have to put a new one in, those batteries cost pennies these days so replacing a battery is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned..

 

[Richard_C]

I really can't see the point of digital at all.

When you are older and you need glasses you will. Old eyes need more light and are less able to change focus quickly. Verniers can be difficult to read.