WoodRiver Fractional Dial Caliper

[Ryan Harrington]

Does anyone know anything about this unit? Looks like a decent deal, but I don't know about the quality...

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2004440/8405/WoodRiver-Fractional-Dial-Caliper.aspx

[Richard Wolf]

I just received one yesterday so I have not used it yet. My first impressions; I would have liked 1/16 markings on it, after all, if you are using a caliper you are looking to read closer than 1/8. That's not a deal breaker, the markings are very clear. I also felt it was a little stiff, but that may work out.

It seems like a great buy, I really like using fractional Dial calipers as opposed to digital or decimal calipers, but they are sometimes a little difficult to find.


Richard

[Frederick Rowe]

I haven't used the Woodriver Dial Caliper, but I have found the General Tools fractional/decimal dial caliper to be a great value. Its face has an inner and outer dial display which shows measurements in fractional (in 1/64" increments) and decimal (.10" increments) at the same time. This is handy when making the conversion between the two.

The caliper is made in Switzerland, of fiberglass reinforced plastic. I prefer that as it won't dent wood or scratch metal. It has proved to be a very tough with smooth movement and very little backlash. It is sold in my area by both Lowes and Home Depot for about $25.

I have a Starrett fractional dial caliper, but the General is the one I find myself using most of the time. Unlike my Starrett (which is a beautifully crafted precision tool), I don't worry about keeping the General in a tool box.

Although you aren't considering it, to those who are, I'd advise to skip the digital display calipers. A dial caliper is easy to ready and unlike the digital, is intuitively read unlike a digital display where you'd have to do some quick math to find out if 29/32" is bigger than 7/8". Plus, at a glance I can see that .20" is for my purposes equal to 13/64".

[Tom Esh]

...The caliper is made in Switzerland, of fiberglass reinforced plastic...

The top one here must be it's granddaddy;) (Brookstone, circa 1970). It's still the one I grab most.
165200

The digitals are great for relative measurments, but the cheap ones suffer the same problem as practically all cheap electronics - high batt drain memory circuitry. A Mitutoyu has a batt life of years, yet my digital planer guage, tilt meter, scale, etc. chew up their batts in 3 months. What a waste.

[glenn bradley]

I bought one from Woodcraft several years ago that looks identical. It has served me well almost every time I'm in the shop. It is easier to read for me than the two tone ones although I believe the yellow or green bands are supposed to help, they don't help me. I have a few fractional digitals as well but this one is my go-to.

[Brad Patch]

I'm at a loss as to why a fractional caliper is not inferior to one graduated in Thousands (.000) A graduated dial even graduated in 1/16" still leaves a lot of interpolation. Decimal equivalents of fractions can be quickly learned. A 430.00 Machinist caliper will serve you well. Its the one layout tool that I can't do without.

Brad

[Brad Patch]

I'm at a loss as to why a fractional caliper is not inferior to one graduated in Thousands (.000) A graduated dial even graduated in 1/16" still leaves a lot of interpolation. Decimal equivalents of fractions can be quickly learned. A $30.00 Machinist caliper will serve you well. Its the one layout tool that I can't do without.

Brad

[Mike Harrison]

I got this unit from HF 3 or 4 years ago for 17 dollars, now 20 bucks. Graduated in 1/64" increments and thousandths.

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/thumbnail/370x370/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_2494.jpg

[Tom Esh]

I got this unit from HF 3 or 4 years ago for 17 dollars, now 20 bucks. Graduated in 1/64" increments and thousandths.


I've made that mistake too:o
Look again. It's hundredths (.01). For thousandths (.001) you'd need a really big dial or more revolutions per inch. However 1 rev per inch is more than adequate for woodworking. Multi-revs are nice for tooling setups, but more complicated to read. That's where digital really shines.

[Steve Griffin]

I'm at a loss as to why a fractional caliper is not inferior to one graduated in Thousands (.000) A graduated dial even graduated in 1/16" still leaves a lot of interpolation. Decimal equivalents of fractions can be quickly learned. A $30.00 Machinist caliper will serve you well. Its the one layout tool that I can't do without.

Brad

+1

Going digital has many advantages, as I recently posted in the best tricks thread.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost.php?p=1541625&postcount=71

That said, while I no longer want a fractional caliper anywhere near my shop, I love having my old one at my house addition project. They are great for sizing lag bolts, plumbing pipes, trim reveals, drill bits you forgot what size they were etc.etc

-Steve

[Peter Quinn]

I have a fractional caliper I got from wood craft some years back, but I have since learned to work in decimals and I find the fractional caliper quite annoying at this point, It almost never leaves its case. I think the caliper I use is in the $20 range, not sure the brand, its more than accurate enough for wood working. I have a chart on the wall to help remember the less often used decimal equivalents when needed, but mostly I just think in decimals completely and I find it quite liberating. Its much easier for taking actual measurements rather than forcing your work to conform to some random number.

Often I'll mill slots with my horizontal mortiser for instance, and using a 1/2" cutter they might be an actual .525" due to runout or something, So when I want to mill loose tenon stock to match, and I want the tenons .010" under the slot size for glue space, I certainly don't want to be thinking, "Hey, they ought to be about 33/64". I'd prefer the metric system frankly to that. All the measurement systems are pretty much random, so I prefer using one with base ten precise to three places that I can keep straight in my head.

"Was that 33/64" or 35/64"? Who cares, it was .527, and thats the number I'm using.

[John Coloccia]

I'm with Peter. I gave up on fractions. The history of fractions is interesting and rooted in number theory, but for real work it's for the birds. That said, I never knew they made fractional calipers. Neat.

[James Baker SD]

I have a fractional vernier caliper from Lee Valley. It measures to 1/128. It's what I use most often, plus it does not drain batteries the way my digital electronic unit does.

James

[Frederick Rowe]

I'm with Peter. I gave up on fractions.
I'm at a loss as to why a fractional caliper is not inferior to one graduated in Thousands For anyone who is not a machinist, and is looking for a dial caliper, if you get one that reads both fractions and decimal increments, you'll have the best of both. It's like having the fraction to decimal conversion table on your caliper, plus you'll see where your measurement lays in relation to both.

In woodworking, we are tethered to a lot of fractional measurements. Our chisels, drill and router bits, as well as most plans are in fractions.

If you are cutting a 3/8" tenon (because that is the width of the chisel or mortising bit you used to make the mortise), and you measure with a dial caliper, you aren't trying to determine the thickness of the tenon you just cut - you just want to know relative to 3/8".

Do a quick check with your dial caliper and hopefully, it's just a bit strong of the 3/8" mark and you take a couple of swipes with a plane on each tenon cheek, then check again. If you are using a decimal only caliper, you'd have to know that 3/8" is .375" - which is fine, except you have to look it up if you don't have the conversion table memorized. On several of the fractional calipers mentioned in this thread, they are both on the display - if, that is, the decimal caliper is graduated to .001".

There are times when it's easier to measure using decimals, there are times when it easier to use fractions. Having one of the dial calipers which display both makes the transitions easy.

Good thing no one brought up the metric system.

[Tom Hammond]

Good thing no one brought up the metric system.

The metric system. UHOH!!

---

Actually, any caliper that goes to 1/128" fractionally or .005" decimally is plenty sufficient in accuracy for almost any woodworking project. The only time I require higher accuracy than that is when I am doing sliding dovetails... which can be confounding. Cut them too tight, then slice off an additional .001", and they practically fall apart. ARGH!!!

The REAL issue is the consistency of the caliper itself.

I'm not sure why people have trouble with fractions... has always come natural to me I guess, so I rarely deal with decimals.

[Peter Quinn]

For anyone who is not a machinist, and is looking for a dial caliper, if you get one that reads both fractions and decimal increments, you'll have the best of both. It's like having the fraction to decimal conversion table on your caliper, plus you'll see where your measurement lays in relation to both.

In woodworking, we are tethered to a lot of fractional measurements. Our chisels, drill and router bits, as well as most plans are in fractions.

If you are cutting a 3/8" tenon (because that is the width of the chisel or mortising bit you used to make the mortise), and you measure with a dial caliper, you aren't trying to determine the thickness of the tenon you just cut - you just want to know relative to 3/8".

Do a quick check with your dial caliper and hopefully, it's just a bit strong of the 3/8" mark and you take a couple of swipes with a plane on each tenon cheek, then check again. If you are using a decimal only caliper, you'd have to know that 3/8" is .375" - which is fine, except you have to look it up if you don't have the conversion table memorized. On several of the fractional calipers mentioned in this thread, they are both on the display - if, that is, the decimal caliper is graduated to .001".

There are times when it's easier to measure using decimals, there are times when it easier to use fractions. Having one of the dial calipers which display both makes the transitions easy.

Good thing no one brought up the metric system.

My fractional caliper reads in thousands, but the scale is so small I can hardly see it let alone use it. I too have to work in fractions quite often, but the major ones have quickly become instinct. .750, .375, .125. .875., .1875, .. 5625, .5....I can 'see' most of the common fractions in 1/16" increments , but that took a little practice. And the fractions in between, well I don't care to work in 32's, 64's or 128's of an inch. Thats where the thousands take over and make things much simpler for me.

For chisels, most of mine are metric, so the fractions are coarse approximations, the thousands are much more accurate, but with these things I fit to feel, so neither system plays much of a role there. Recently I have done a number of jobs whose plans arrived in metric, and converting to fractions is problematic, converting to decimals is much simpler, and all the major cutting tools in the shop have both scales, so its a hybrid approach there of metric and decimals for me.

[glenn bradley]

Interesting discussion on the varying preferences ;-)