Dial Calipers

[jack dempsey]

Hello,
Looking for opinions on a first time purchase for a Dial Caliper. Just looking for accuracy and reliability. Any suggestions will be welcome.
Jack

[Lee Schierer]

Stay away from a dial caliper in your woodshop. The sawdust will eventually find its way into the rack and pinion and mess it up (DAMHIKT). Go for a digital type with a glass slide. If you are looking for Cheap, go to Harbor Freight. If you are looking for accuracy go to Mitutoyo or Starett but be prepared to pay considerably more..

[Adam Herman]

The cheap digitals eat batteries at about 4x the rate that the good digitals do, because the electronics are much cheaper.

I stick with dial, keep them in the case with the sleeve on it. no batteries to go dead. Same goes for all measurement tools, keep them cased and clean if you want them to stay accurate.

[Bruce Page]

If you’re looking a premium 6" dial caliper, my rec is for a Brown & Sharp. I have had them all over the last 40 years; B&S, Starrett, Mitutoyo, Fowler, Helios. IMO, the Brown & Sharp have by far the best “feel”, are very accurate & durable.
As to dust in the woodshop, I never leave them in a pile of sawdust but I have never had a problem with it. If they do get dirty a light dusting of the gear rack with a soft bristle brush like a toothbrush and a puff of air will take care of it.

[Mike Cutler]

I have Mitutoyo's, analog, not digital. The machinists at work have Starrett,s, and Brown and Sharp's.

What you're looking for is zero hysteresis. You want a caliper that does not have any "slop" at all. When opening and closing the caliper, it should always return to the "zero" you have set.
Any quality dial caliper will be more than accurate enough for wood working, (we'll leave the NIST discussion out of it. ;))

[Jamie Buxton]

Digital is better for those of us with less-than-perfect eyesight. My current one is a no-name from woodcraft. It cost less than $30, and it wants a new battery once a year or so.

[Rick Alexander]

I've got a wixey and I-guage - personally like the I-guage better for the readout plus it seems to match the planer and router lift better most of the time - usually within 1-2 thousandths.

[Jim Becker]

My dial calipers are from Lee Valley; one imperial and one metric. I've had no issues with dust.

[andy bessette]

Been using dial calipers in my woodshop for decades with zero problems. Mitutoyo, Starrett, Brown and Sharpe are top of line. But I also have an ancient import that is excellent, and a plastic one that is OK for many uses that don't require extreme precision. Get it in 0.001", not fractions. Also get a decimal equivalents chart until you learn to convert in your head.

[Keith Outten]

I own both a Mitutoyo digital caliper and one from Wixey. I use the Wixey caliper 98% of the time, its accurate and inexpensive so I don't have to worry about it being damaged. Get the link from my signature if your interested.

[Mike Manning]

I have both a Mitutoyo dial and digital caliper. I love them both. I don't think you can go wrong with Mitutoyo. I suspect Starrett is equally good.

[Mel Fulks]

I've got an old set of what I call indicating calipers. Gear driven with metal scale marked in 64th shown "magnified " to thirty seconds

[richard b miller]

i use an I-gauge. when i'm finished working with it, i pull out the battery, put it back in its case and store it in an upper cabinet.
i've had it for several years and replaced the battery once.

hth
rich

[Bruce Wrenn]

I have both digital and dial from HF. Like both of them, but use dial most often. Have a conversion chart attached to case of dial caliper. Remove battery from digital when finished. Right now, HF has a digital that reads imperial, metric and fractions for $9.99 with a coupon from current sales book.

[jack dempsey]

Thanks to everyone for the information. This is very helpful as this will be my first caliper. I will digest do a little more research and pull the trigger. Again, I appreciate everyone taking toime to give feedback. Jack

[Warren Lake]

have a mititouyou with over 30 years of hard use, lives in my tool belt and other places never in the case, . Its yellowed and looks like crap and still works perfectly. Left on batteries last long. ILl have no trouble replacing it same brand and almost had to once as it was lost, fell off the back of the bench found it in a tool box. . ITs lived in sawdust and could not care less, at times it didnt slide smoothly and I probably did things you should not do and it didnt care. I did buy a Lee Valley one that allows you to convert from one scale to another one has no wheel on it so fine adjust was a pain, poor design maybe improved.

One thing I did was scratch a line on the face so im always reading three digits, essentially separating the half thou. just makes it easier to read.

[matt stott]

Some suggestions:

If you plan on buying one tool for a lifetime, then Mitutoyo, Starrett or Brown and Sharpe (TESA) are all great (and expensive). I use Starrett at work, but in the home shop I cannot justify the expense. I use Mitutoyo vernier calipers at home- no rack gears, batteries, or calibration issues to deal with and just as accurate. But they can be a pain to read in the beginning, and my eyesight is not getting any better.

My recommendation for a good, cheap digital is the Aventor brand from Shars. They are REALLY nice for the price- I have two of them in regular rotation- one in my home shop, for when I don't want to get my "good" tools dirty, and one in a classroom-type of shop, where they are abused by students daily. Battery life is good, finish is good, accuracy is spot on, and half the price of the big three. I have the Harbor Freight calipers, too- they are not even in the same ballpark as the Shars version.

Good Luck,

Matt

[jack dempsey]

Thanks Matt for the advice. It is always helpful to get insight from someone with experience on the subject.

[Andy Bryant]

I have both digital and dial from HF. Like both of them, but use dial most often. Have a conversion chart attached to case of dial caliper. Remove battery from digital when finished. Right now, HF has a digital that reads imperial, metric and fractions for $9.99 with a coupon from current sales book.
Yes. It's as accurate as my buddies who paid $75 for his and if i step on it I can throw it away.

[marty fretheim]

I bought a cheapo digital a couple years ago. Then I bought an I-gaging (cheapo) on sale thinking the original would surely fail soon. Over two years later the first one is still going strong. Just put in the second battery a couple months ago (auto shut off). I use it two, three times a week. Its accurate enough for woodworking and honestly I'd be afraid to have a $100+ caliper in my shop. Both mine are metric and inch. Digital takes all the thinking out of it :) and I don't have to put on my glasses.

[Gary Radice]

Can't help with comparison shopping, but I'll say that I picked up an 8" Mitutoyo dial caliper at a garage sale last year and it has been wonderful. Smooth and dead reliable. No batteries to worry about. My 65 year old eyes have no trouble reading the dial. I had a nice vernier caliper but it was just too hard to read.

I also agree that Starrett and Brown and Sharpe are also comparable.

My advise is that a tool like this is a good investment since you will use it often and need to rely on it. Get a good one.

[Craig White]

I use an inexpensive (not cheap) fractional dial caliper purchased from Highland Hardware years ago. I rely on them for accurate work. I don't worry too much about their well-being. I also have a nice set of Starrett fractional dial calipers - but they stay in a drawer...

Craig

[Tony Pisano]

I have several mitutoyo ranging from 4 to 12 inches from my machine shop days. I do use them in the wood shop, but they stay in their cases when not in use. I haven't had any problems with the racks, but I don't lay them in sawdust and clean off whatever I'm measuring before using them. The 4 in one is really handy

[Kevin Perez]

I echo the comment about cheap digital ones eating batteries. I stick to standard dial calipers and have never had a problem with dust in them. I have an expensive one and a cheap, plastic General one from HD that is reads fractions. I end up using the cheap one much more often. Which is odd, since just about all my other set up stuff is Starrett.

[jack dempsey]

Hello,
Thanks again for all of the information. I picked up a dial caliper from LV and after reading all of the comments here think that it will be fine for woodworking. I need to keep proper perspective here. At least for me at this stage of the game it could be nitpicking as far as accuracy goes compared to my skill level. I suspect as time goes on there may be a reason for another in the future. Thanks, Jack

[Bill Adamsen]

I'm using a Wixey with fractions that I purchased a few years ago at Woodcraft for less than $30. I replace the battery about once a year. It is pretty obvious when the battery runs down and requires replacement. The calipers are fantastic for aligning with my DROs on the planer (especially), sander and router table. I find the digital readout much easier to use than a dial.

[rudy de haas]

Hello,
Looking for opinions on a first time purchase for a Dial Caliper. Just looking for accuracy and reliability. Any suggestions will be welcome.
Jack

Don't make my mistake: I found one on sale at princess auto (think harbour fright :) ) - $12.95 and beautifully made - heavy, stainless steel, smooth operation - what a bargain! Except that it's in tenths of inches - great for comparing two things (is this thciker than that?) but like having a unilingual German speaker in an English debate club when it comes to making things fit.

[jack dempsey]

Rudy,
Thanks for the reply, quite thought provoking. You put a smile on my face. If the woodworking does not work out, you have a shot at comedy writing. Jack

[William Young]

There is nothing like picking up a nice instrument like a Starrett or Brown & Sharp and feeling the smooth operation and quality. However, if your main concern is cost, I don't think there is a significant difference in accuracy between the high quality calipers and the inexpensive plastic ones for wood working. In most instances, I think either will get you to within 1/128" (just a guess) and, in my experience, that is more than close enough most of the time. If I have two boards that are within 1/64" in thickness, I consider them the same. Once glued together, they will get sanded anyway. I have both a better quality stainless steel model and a plastic one made by General. I can use either and, 99% of the time, get good results. Be careful about some of the cheap plastic ones. Some tend to have sticky movement and are hard to adjust smoothly (the General is very smooth). Direct reading is nice, but I don't like messing with batteries that seem to always be dead when needed. I've never had any problems with dirty dial caliper mechanisms, but I keep them in the drawer when not in use.

[jack dempsey]

William,

I have picked a reasonably priced pair from Lee Valley and they seem to be very serviceable. I guess I will see in the long run. As for dust and dirt they come with a case which should take care of any issue there. Jack

[William Young]

Congratulations. I know you will enjoy it.
To reiterate, in my opinion, I would caution you to not get to hung up on the accuracy it provides. It's nice to know that you have the capability to measure something to 1/128" or less, but do you really need to?
Good luck.

[andy bessette]

...It's nice to know that you have the capability to measure something to 1/128" or less, but do you really need to?...

Every operation introduces an accumulation of errors into our work, no matter how careful we are. Should we buy cheap measuring tools to compound those errors?

[glenn bradley]

Hello,
Thanks again for all of the information. I picked up a dial caliper from LV and after reading all of the comments here think that it will be fine for woodworking. I need to keep proper perspective here. At least for me at this stage of the game it could be nitpicking as far as accuracy goes compared to my skill level. I suspect as time goes on there may be a reason for another in the future. Thanks, Jack

I have that one. I have three fractional dial calipers in the shop through duplicate gift giving friends. One I know is a Woodcraft from about 10 years ago. One is a Lee Valley which seems of equal quality and one is a Peachtree which is obviously a lesser tool. All have served me well at the DP, the planer and the bench. I have managed to never drop one so far. I think you will find one to be a valued tool after some period of use.

[William Young]

Every operation introduces an accumulation of errors into our work, no matter how careful we are. Should we buy cheap measuring tools to compound those errors?

It's not my intent to start an "accuracy" argument, Only to point out that most dial calipers have "extra capacity" when it comes to woodworking. As always, get the best you can afford. But remember, a lot of fine woodworking was done long before there were dial calipers. My family has a nice mahogany chest that was made in the mid 1800s. With my dial calipers, I can tell that hardly any two pieces of that hand made chest are exactly the same size. So what? It is a nice piece of furniture that has lasted a couple of lifetimes.

I like my calipers and I enjoy trying to be accurate. But I also try not to get hung up on being more accurate that needed to achieve the end result.

[Chris Fournier]

Personally I can't stand the feel of cheap calipers. Nothing like a buttery rack. Accuracy? Not really a huge issue from calipers and wood. Buy to your budget and blow them it out with compressed air if you have to. I never have and I have had the same dial calipers in my wood shop from over 15 years.

[Rick McQuay]

I have a digital caliper and use it mostly as a depth or marking gage. It's also handy for measuring the exact width of a spline or similar then using the opposite end to set the fence.

[Jim Becker]

My opinion is that a "reasonable quality" dial caliper is a very handy tool to have in the shop, particularly when you are in a situation that you want to match a thickness or make some other appropriate measurement. I say "reasonable quality" because "insanely accurate and expensive" isn't likely to pay off for this particular tool unless you also work with metal. Why? Even on the same day, a piece of wood may vary slightly in thickness over time and actually adjusting our machinery to such a high level of accuracy is difficult and sometimes impossible. So, while buying "quality" tools is a no brainer, spending a fortune for a dial caliper that will only be used with wood may not be the best financial decision. That said, it's perfectly appropriate for anyone who prefers buying "the best" to do so for this tool, too. That's a personal preference decision and something that only the individual can make.

[Bert McMahan]

I'd like to point out a couple of benefits to digital calipers. It's not useful on an everyday basis, but two benefits to digital over dial are that 1- they work in metric and English, which can be a plus if you ever need metric stuff, and 2- they can do relative measurements. You can measure one thing, hit Zero, then measure another, and it'll give you the difference between them. Again, not something most people would use super frequently, but it's a nice bonus.

Mitutoyos and probably other nice brands have a feature where you can switch back and forth between absolute and relative measurement modes without needing to rezero with the jaws closed all the way. Not something I use often but it's nice to have.

[Brian Lefort]

Chinese Starrett. $100 on Amazon.

[John Cole]

Get the one from highland woodworking, inexpensive and works well. I wouldn't be without it, used it for 10+ years no problems with dust. Easy to read and accurate.

[Dave Lehnert]

For woodworking I use this from Home Depot. $8.00

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Empire-4-in-Pocket-Caliper-2783/202035322

[J.R. Rutter]

I tend to buy multiples of things and use magnets to attach them where they are needed: Hex wrenches, tape measures, digital calipers, pencil cups, etc. I just pick up Grizzly digital calipers when they go on sale and buy button cells in bulk.

I do cabinet doors all day, so learned early on about how measuring errors add up across the width of the door: Rail cut length + 2 x Cope end trims + 2 x Stile widths. It is very satisfying to pump out doors as close to dead on dimension as possible.