How to pick a pair of calipers

[peetle]

Hi there,

I am looking to purchase a pair of 6" calipers. I will be using these calipers to aid in making parts and calibrating components of my JGRO CNC router.

Can you explain the wide price difference in calipers? What are the significant parameters that determine the price?

Also, Digital or Dial readout? What's the advantage of either type?

What are your favorite brands? I'm a student on a budget. What's the best value for calipers out there?

Thanks in advance,
Peter

[MFassler]

Well first of all,get a decent name brand such as Mitutoyo or brown and sharpe,I've always preferred the brown and sharpe calipers because for one they are swiss made and they are super smooth and relatively inexpensive for the quality,I also have one of the newer Mit calipers they arent bad just not my favorite. I always make sure too get ones that are shock proof,I also like too get them with a black face and orange needle,just easier for me too read.Digital or dial is personal preferance really.I like dials just because im old school like that,and dont wanna waste money on some batteries when my dial will work no matter what.Also depends on what kind of tolerances you are looking too measure.If your routinely measuring tolerance + or - .005 or bigger any caliper will do really,but i'd stay away from the cheapy all plastic ones,that way it will last longer.Id prolly say that Mitutoyo or SPI are prolly the best value for decent calipers.

[Astonlee]

I just added these comment to another forum: Not going digit is just plain stupid in my opinion, especially when you can switch it between imperial & metric mode, and get an instant conversion! Good quality is the trick, not cheap Chinese ones that the batteries run flat in days. Only buy them from top quality brand leaders and you will wonder how you ever manage to do any work without it! Brands I would consider are Mitutoyo, Mahr, Sylvac, Tesa.

[BobWarfield]

I have both cheap imports and Mitutoyos. The batteries last longer on the Mitutoyos, but the cheap caliper batteries take a lot longer than "days" to go dead too.

I can find no difference in accuracy. The feel of the Mitutoyos is better, but you can compensate somewhat by adjusting the gib screw.

I prefer the Mitutoyos, but don't object to the cheap ones if that's what happens to be closer when I need one.

[PEU]

I would not be offended if you call me cheap, but for hobby any $20 big digits digital caliper is more than enough, heck, I purchased a couple more (@$15 ) not a month ago just to keep them around.
Batteries? the 10 batteries strip is about $4 at a local battery specialized store, I don't see it as a problem, and they last a month (usually far more)

BUT, if you use calipers for your business you need dependability, there I agree, major brands are the way to go.


Pablo

[dertsap]

I just added these comment to another forum: Not going digit is just plain stupid in my opinion, especially when you can switch it between imperial & metric mode, .

to say its stupid when it comes to personal preference would be a bit ignorant wouldn't you think

Ive always had both because each serves its purpose well
I dont use metric so ive got no use for that and the resolution on the digitals are .0005 where as with a dial a guy can actually eyeball it pretty close to the nearest tenth on a quality pair of dial calipers ,especially with the swiss models

if its for hobby then i would say buy a cheap pair of chinese calipers , Ive got a pair of chinese 12 in digitals in my work box that work great , i change the battery once every 12-18 months , it would be pointless to spend any more for calipers that your using to buiold an mdf machine

if you want quality buy swiss , mitutoyo sucks since they've began making stuff in brazil

[mc-motorsports]

Get a set of 8", you'll never buy 6" again. That extra 2" comes in handy quite often.

[Astonlee]

Re: to say its stupid when it comes to personal preference would be a bit ignorant wouldn't you think.
Sorry if my comment upset you, but they are based on 30 years of being in the tooling industry and the feed-back from 1000’s of users who have purchased calipers from the companies I worked for.
I also carry out specialist technical training of tooling engineers, for the UK tooling industry, and have spend years learning about tooling.
I also no longer sell tooling so I am not interest in trying to promote any brands, or companies
1) My comment refer to the cheap caliper that have been flooding into ebay/supermarket, as the good quality units have built in power save, so if you forget to switch them off, your batteries will last a lot longer!
2) Cheaper version if open to quickly will cause them to lose position on scale, the industrial ones don’t.
3) They are more prone to ingression of dirt & coolants etc.
4) Amazingly not everyone only needs imperial, and in the UK we need both!
5) I you buy either a dial/vernier caliper you cannot cover metric/imperial with the one tool, and at some point you will glad you had dual reading.
5) Dial vernier can suffer with being misread and from parallax error, and the rack/gears do suffer badly from dirt contamination.
6) With Vernier calipers, to minimise parallax-error your first choice should be “Flat Scale”, then “Radius Edge”, and finally the cheapest version “Chamfer Edge”.
7) We have a saying in the UK “that you get what you pay for” do you want to risk scraping sometime you could have spent weeks working on, for the sake of buying the best universal-measuring tool you will carry around in your toolbox!

[dertsap]

your comment didnt upset me by any means ,i just thought that was a stupid comment within itself and i honestly mean no offense by saying that
to each his own
i don't think your saying is just a UK saying ,we all say it but if every single thing i owned was top of the line then i would be to broke to enjoy it


i dont base my judgement from feedback from others or training seminars , i speak as a professional with hands on experience ,

1) I carry out specialist technical training of tooling engineers---- i use tools and i know what i like and dont like ,
2) Cheaper version if open to quickly , -----never had that problem
3)They are more prone to ingression of dirt & coolants --- --- aren't they all
4)UK we need both ----------- as i pointed out . i don't and it makes no difference to me what someone needs in the UK , and actually they do sell dials with both
5) you cannot cover metric/imperial with the one tool------- once again don't care

one that you forgot was the floating zero which is quite handy but quite dangerous just the same

In all due respect i'm not trying to create a nasty arguement but we all have our preference and if it gets the job done then so be it
i can agree that for professional work , quality tooling is of importance , though the cheap stuff has its place
but for a hobby guy on a budget who is building an MDF (wood) machine , what would be the benefit to shelling out the big bucks ?

[Astonlee]

Sorry I should of explain, that I am time served engineer (Toolmaker), and have been at the sharp end of the industry, and it only been in the last 3/4years have I user my hand-on experience to train other!

1) I know what I like and don’t like----- I am quite happy you express your opinion, has do I
2) Cheaper version if open to quickly---- your comment reflects your limit experience of only being your own use, which is fine.
3) They are more prone to ingression of dirt & coolants---not if you use IP67 they even give protection for immersion in water/coolant.
4) Metric/Imperial, it makes no difference to me, again fine, but apart from US, the rest of the world do fine it useful, as it only cost a few cents to add the function to the caliper. Can you also supply with the make & model of dual scale caliper you mentions, has I really hate to make any mistake in my training sessions?
5) I forgot was the floating zero---or you mean “zero setting function” and you quite right that I did not mention it or the absolute zeroing which means you only have to zero the caliper when you change the battery. RS232C or Digimatic output, IP65 or IP67, Solar power, the automatic switch off after 20minutes, versions with Carbide or Ceramic jaws, and the fact that you can also buy Left-Handed, and even Plastic version for food industry etc, etc.
6) In all due respect---Your comment are fair, but this is THE one multifunctional length measurement tool that is really worth someone shelling out good money for!

[dertsap]

6) In all due respect---Your comment are fair, but this is THE one multifunctional length measurement tool that is really worth someone shelling out good money for!

the guy is building a machine from a $20 chunk of mdf

[wendtmk]

the guy is building a machine from a $20 chunk of mdf

Measure with a micrometer, mark with a crayon and cut with an axe... ;-)

Mark