digital or analog caliper

[Dave Malen]

Hi,
Today my analog caliper dial was out of alignment without my knowlegde.
It was not zeroed. So It thought the stock was thicker than it actually was. I almost ruined a fine piece of curly maple when I tried to sand it down with my drum sander. I'd like to avoid this in the future so I'm looking for a new caliper. Do you think that the digital (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?Offerings_ID=10735&TabSelect=) or the analogue (http://www.woodworkersshop.com/Woodworking_Calipers.htm) is better. Are digital calipers cabable of abuse ie dropping on a concrete basement floor?
Thanks for your advise
Dave:

[Bruce Page]

Dave, I have tried them but I never cared for the digital. Maybe I’m old school but I like the “feel” of my Brown & Sharp calipers. As a side benefit, I've never had a false zero or a dead battery. ;)

[Kent Fitzgerald]

I have both, and I honestly haven't used the analog dial calipers since getting the digital. For me, eliminating human error in reading is a big plus.

I definitely wouldn't recommend dropping either type on a concrete floor.

[Vaughn McMillan]

I have both, and I honestly haven't used the analog dial calipers since getting the digital. For me, eliminating human error in reading is a big plus.

I definitely wouldn't recommend dropping either type on a concrete floor.
Word for word, same here for me. But then again, I'm new school, and don't have nearly the experience around this type of tool as Bruce does.

- Vaughn

[John Schoenauer]

Dave I use calipers and micrometers at my day job. I would recomend the dial caliper with the fractional readout for woodworking. The digital caliper unless you are willing to spend about 8 to 10 times what the Rockler is selling for aren't much good. I have one and it eats batteries and you need to zero it out every time you use it. i know when I buy another I will buy the dial caliper for my shop use.
John Schoenauer

[Hoa Dinh]

I have a few - an analog 6", a digital 4", and a digital 12".

I prefer the heft of the analog 6" when holding it in my hand, but use the digital 4" the most, simply because if is lighter and smaller, better fits in my shop apron pocket.

All of them are from Harborfreight. The 4" and 6" digital are usually on sale for about $15. The 6" analog about $12. At these prices, if I drop them on concrete, I just buy another one. Fortunately, I haven't had to buy any replacement in the last 8 years.

Are they accurate? I don't know (and frankly, don't care that much. I use them only for woodworking) because I don't have anything to calibrate them. But important to me is that they are very consistent.

[Jim Dailey]

Hi Dave,

I have a digital, a couple of Starrett dial calipers, but my favorite is a factional I bought from Lee Valley. The digital is the one I'll grab if I have to go back & forth from metric. However the digital I have to load batteries every time I use it 'cause if you leave them in it.... The Starretts' are dead on but you still have to convert to fractions. The Lee Valley caliper has a nice easy to read dial.

Hope this helps,
jim

[Lee DeRaud]

I have a few - an analog 6", a digital 4", and a digital 12".
...
Are they accurate? I don't know (and frankly, don't care that much. I use them only for woodworking) because I don't have anything to calibrate them. But important to me is that they are very consistent.You've got three different calipers, so 'calibrate' them against each other. It's extremely unlikely they have the same inherent errors: worst case, they're accurate to the largest difference between any two.

[Bill Fields]

I'm with Hoa--the HF digital units on sale are good ENOUGH for woodworking to be sure.

I have Starret stuff and it hardly gets used--just to check the accuracy of the HF units. So far, +/- .001.

Stock up on batterys--don't drop them.

I also use the HF dial indicato setup for runout and roundness measurements.

BILL

[Mark Singer]

I have a few analog and one digital....the digital is great! I couldn't be without it in the shop....it makes you a better , more accurate woodworker....
just great and so useful for many things... My red Starrett box never gets opened anymore....just the cheap and useful ebay $20 ...6" digital caliper

[Dev Emch]

Dave, I have tried them but I never cared for the digital. Maybe I’m old school but I like the “feel” of my Brown & Sharp calipers. As a side benefit, I've never had a false zero or a dead battery. ;)

In addition to woodworking, I also do metalworking. Mostly to make parts and tools for woodworking. I have both a starrett digital and dial analog caliper. In metalworking, I use this to get close and then switch over to my beloved manual starrett micrometers with the TENTHS option. Thats right, these bad boys are special order mikes that can read down to about 3/10ths of 1/1000ths of an inch!

I found the digtial hardware to be a royal pain. DROs on metalworking machines are super great. Esp. the Newell readouts. But the starrett digital caliper I had/have was one item I learned to hate with a passion. And when its done irritating you, then the batteries go south and I wound up having to keep two or three spare sets in the toolbox. And these are not cheap! They are not expensive either but sometimes you would rather snag a Big Mac from McDonalds inbetween bank runs than have to go to the local hardware and buy obsure metalic wafers to drive your measure'in device!

So I switched back to a dial indicator version of the same caliper from Starrett. I love this thing. Its great and I use all the time now. In fact, I still own the digital caliper but please dont ask where I stashed it. I haven't a clue right now.

[Ian Barley]

I use a digital. a set of batteries last me about a year. The thing is only used to measure wood so, while I am not able to speak for its accuracy to one ten thousandth of an inch I honestly couldn't care less. It enables me to masure quickly to tenths of a milimetre which is good enough for me.

[Dave Fifield]

Digital all the way IMO. I have an 8" set, accurate to 0.5 mil. Cost $180 if memory serves. Can't live without them now.

I love being able to make a slot cut, measure it, make an accurate adjustment to the Incra fence (tablesaw and/or router table) and know that the next cut is going to work perfectly.

I still use dial guages for things like blade runout measurement/adjustment but would probably change to digital if they were available at the right price.

Dave F.

[tod evans]

i`m with bruce, brown&sharpe dial here. (pre import!)....02 tod

[Bill Webber]

I have always used analog dial calipers. I like the plastic ones and find them to be woodworking and sawdust friendly. They are inexpensive and will survive many trips to the shop floor. I would question their accurracy but I'm usually making relative or comparison measurements and not too concerned about absolute accuracy. I thought the brand I have was 'General' but couldn't find any on line that read to .001". Here's a link to some that do.

http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/cen6508.html

[Jim DeLaney]

I'm gonna really go 'against the grain' here. My preference is to the good old vernier calipers. I have a good set of steel (Brown & Sharpe) verniers that I use in the shop. They're about 50 years old, I suppose. Read in 1/256's so they're more than accurate enough fo woodworking.

When I go to the lumber yard, I take a cheap pair of Enco calipers with me. Cost about $3.00 ten years ago, and are nearly as accurate as the B&S.

The Enco plastic ones that they used to give away with an order are great for taking to the lumber yard, the Borg, or wherever. They're also accurate (enough) to 1/128". In the latest LV catalog, they're selling the plastic ones for something like six for $7.00. Keep a set in the car/truck to take into the stores with you, and a couple more sets laying around the house. You might be surprised how often you'll use them.

BTW, I used to teach a class to sixth graders on how to read the verniers. The kids generally were 'gee whiz' amazed at the tiny measurements they could get. I used the Enco plastic ones for the class. I had a local Enco store then, and the manager used to give me a carton of calipers to use for the class. That way each kid took home a set of calipers to play/practice with. Enco no doubt wrote it off as advertising, since the calipers had their name and phone number on them...

[Mike Kelly]

The digital's that I have used have the similar problem with zeroing as does the analog. If you don't check it, it will be wrong! The digital gives a convenient conversion to metric if needed that I can't do in my head. None that I know of will survive a drop to concrete. My little plastic General has, but not good ones. If you have a good leather shoe on, you might want to soften the impact by putting your foot in it's path before it hits the floor! Don't try it with tennis shoes.

[Mark Hollingsworth]

I have to agree with Bill. All I have ever used is a plastic(nylon) dial caliper and I have never had a problem with it even after several drops to the floor. If I should get it out of zero I see it when I close it and just turn the dial to zero which has only happened a time or two. As far as accuracy I think it's as good as I could ever need for woodworking, and I'm pretty fussy. It's also one of the cheeper tools I've settled for in the shop that I am totally satisfied with. Around $20-$25.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

There are only two options if you plan on using them in a wood shop.

Either get a digital display unit or a Vernier scale.

Digital units are easy to read and if you get a decent unit are flawlessly accurate I'd go with Brown and Sharpe, Starrett, or Mitutoyo. But people are using those cheapo units from harbor freight and seem to have no issues, so, maybe the technology has gotten so forgivable even cut rate no name manufacturers are able to produce it?

Vernier tools are available cheaply on the used market all the time - no one likes 'em any more.
I have couple old style Vernier scale calipers that go all the way to 12." They are dirt and grease and water proof.
If you have a dusty or dirty application there is nothing better than a vernier caliper. The only way to wreck 'em is to hit them with a hammer or the like.

Verniers are accurate to a fault - you do need a magnifying glass to read 'em unless you have 20 year old eyes.


If you get a dial caliper you will constantly be battling the dust and crap that is everywhere in any wood shop. It will lodge in the fine gear rack in the caliper and in the pinion gear and will destroy accuracy.
Using an air hose to cleam 'em can blow the dirt further into the mechanism.

[Brad Townsend]

My most often used tool is my 4" Highland Hardware fractional dial caliper. Easy to use and fits nicely in the vest pocket of the apron. Best $30 I've spent for something woodworking related. I also have a couple of digital ones, which I rarely use. I like the digital readout on my planer though.

If you go digital, don't waste big bucks. The Harbor Freight special will work fine. It's wood! You're not assembling the Space Shuttle.:D

[Jim Becker]

Like Brad, I use a "fractional" analog dial caliper...I don't like to have to do the math conversions for settings I can't remember due to CRS disease. (Can't Remember Stuff disease) I'd enjoy having a digital, but so far, have not identified one that does fractions. (The DRO on my planer does...)

[Jesse Cloud]

digital is much easier to read. Along with the other indignities of old age, fading eyesight makes those fine lines on the analog caliper hard to read, but a big digital display is easy.
I wouldn't trust the implied precision of a digital display, its the workings behind the display that make for accuracy, and those workings can be good or bad on either analog or digital. I have both. I get 'false zeros' on both, but at least the analog doesn't run out of battery :rolleyes:
Long winded way to say, go with the one you enjoy using most

[Matt Meiser]

I like dial calipers for most things because I find it easier to see when I'm "close" without having to do math in my head.

[Lee DeRaud]

Like Brad, I use a "fractional" analog dial caliper...I don't like to have to do the math conversions for settings I can't remember due to CRS disease. (Can't Remember Stuff disease) I'd enjoy having a digital, but so far, have not identified one that does fractions. (The DRO on my planer does...)I'm almost thinking that "fractional digital" would be the worst-case option. If I'm working in small enough dimensions for the caliper to come into play, I'd rather do everything in decimal and avoid going through the mental gymnastics of figuring out whether "27/64" is bigger than "7/16" or smaller.

(Caveat: when I'm working that way, I'm usually typing dimensions into CorelDraw for the laser. YMMV.)

[Alex Berkovsky]

I have a digital set from HF and ordered another set from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DEZJQ/qid=1143559993/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6181635-7220846?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=hi&v=glance&n=228013) for $18. I like the fact that it has a scale with fractions.

[Teri Lu]

Hi,

In addition to all the other comments, I might add that if you use an analog dial caliper, be very careful to keep sawdust or metal chips out of the itty bitty rack and pinion mechanism. At best it will just jam or cause rough operation and at worse, damage the mechanism. One of the machinists at work got a metal chip in his and spent at least an hour getting it out. Afterwards, it had a slight roughness and I imagine it's accuracy was then suspect. The digitals are immune from this problem as they do not use any mechanism that could jam or even get blocked.

I do metalworking too and find the zero anywhere a real nice feature. Of course I do have to zero it when necessary but I always do it out of habit, a good habit if I may add.

-- Teri


Hi,
Today my analog caliper dial was out of alignment without my knowlegde.
It was not zeroed. So It thought the stock was thicker than it actually was. I almost ruined a fine piece of curly maple when I tried to sand it down with my drum sander. I'd like to avoid this in the future so I'm looking for a new caliper. Do you think that the digital (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?Offerings_ID=10735&TabSelect=) or the analogue (http://www.woodworkersshop.com/Woodworking_Calipers.htm) is better. Are digital calipers cabable of abuse ie dropping on a concrete basement floor?
Thanks for your advise
Dave:

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

the mental gymnastics of figuring out whether "27/64" is bigger than "7/16" or smaller.

Wait a minute:
Aren't 7/16 and 27/64 related on their mother's hypotenuse side?

[M. A. Espinoza]

Another vote for HF digital. Good enough for woodworking and cheap.

I still have my dial caliper for backup and a vernier to back that one up. Started with the vernier, then dial, then digital. Each was an improvement in ease of use.

Accuracy? Have no idea but as long as I'm using the same caliper to check its been fine for working wood.

I wouldn't trust it to build a rocket though.

[Lee Schierer]

I use digital calipers because the dial type I had got clogged up with saw dust. The digital ones don't seem to have that problem as there is no exposed rack and pinion.

Just be aware that you can get the zero out of position on digital ones just as easy as you can on the dial type.

[Alex Berkovsky]

...Just be aware that you can get the zero out of position on digital ones just as easy as you can on the dial type.Doesn't the zero reset takes care of that on the digital caliper?

[Dave Fifield]

Yep - one button push is all you need. However, my Mitutoyo digital calipers have never needed the zero adjusting ever.

[Paul Atwood]

I will never own analog calipers (well actually I do have some in a box somewhere - free if you want em and I can find em - no dial), I've used both along with a wide variety of A/D indicators on every variety of equipment for 30 odd years and the bottom line is very simple. If you want accuracy, eliminate the opportunity for error.
In the end the major factor is the operator (user) if you have to interpret the reading, you are probably off - parallax, failing vision, hangover - whatever.
I've got a set of 6" digital calipers (why do we still refer to them in the plural?, does anyone besides me own ((at least half a dozen)) real calipers which actually have two identical halves - thus pural?) of chinese origin that I paid $20 for on eBay 6 or 7 years ago and I would hate to do without them,
Yes I have invested another $10 or so in batteries over the years and there have been a few occasions when temperature/humidity caused them to freak but that is nothing compared to chipping a tooth (or just collecting metal chips in the rack) in a $100+ pair of Starr___ or Mitu___. I've used them all and I'm convinced. As for the prices that some of the name brands charge for digital, forget it - buy 3 sets of asian origin and dinner for LOYL.
We had several of the name brand digitals and several chinese versions,
guess which ones you could count on - I could not believe the "High End" mfr's didn't include an auto shut off in the circuit, new battery every week or two and the mfg cost would have have been insignificant. Don't even think about buying a set that does not have an auto shut-off feature.

I absolutely (not relatively) love them when I am setting up the BS for resawing.

If you look at the manufacturing considerations, digital is the only way - producing a rack and pinion mechanism that can reliably deliver .0005 accuracy is ridiculously expensive compared to the glass scale in digitals.

Fractions, could we just get over it. The rest of the world measures things in decimals for a reason. I just don't care how long His Majesty's foot was.

Another rant:

Moisture meters, as far as I can tell a moisture meter measures electrical resistance (or conductivity) and (maybe, temperature) and nothing more, so why is it that most of the meters on the market cost $100+?

Please enlighten me if I am missing something,

A standard digital multimeter (VOM) can be had for $10 and the only difference is that the moisture meter has been calibrated against a known reference (hopefully),can't do anything but measure moisture content and may also measure temperature. The only other factor (according to "The Encyclopedia of Wood - Drake, Forest Products lab, 1977 - "Everything there is to know about wood as an engineering material", well at least everything that's been printed in one volume that I know of) is the content of water soluble salts.

Hmmm, in volume the circuit and electronics cost maybe $3 or if it's got lot's of extra features, maybe $10.

Well, I got to the point where I felt I really needed a moisture meter to calibrate myself (the best meter there is - your own senses) and there was just no way I was going to drop up to $400 (to be fair I did find a unit for $38 at Highland) knowing what it actually cost to produce the things. So I did what I usually do when I'm looking for a fair price on something - eBay.

Sure enough, I found a unit that I am quite satisfied with (Neiko 40492A)
for all of $22 delivered. It does not have a digital numeric display, (instead a series of LED's) but it seems to be repeatable and the readings make sense (dropping at a believable rate) when I measure the stash that I'm drying.

Of course, the fact that I already own a multimeter and I know that all I really needed to do was calibrate it for moisture content and pay attention to temp bugs me, so if there is someone out using a multimeter to measure moisture content please let us know.

Well, that was a little long-winded. Hope it helped someone as you all have helped me to learn more about working wood!

WoodyP

[Jim Bell]

I like my old dial caliper. Been using it for 25+ yrs without a failure. I keep it in the case it came in when not in use.
Jim

[Dave Malen]

Thanks for all your thoughts, I'm going to get another fractional analog dial caliper. I guess like Bruce,I'm old school. I always think in fractional terms. Many of my machines are set up that way (except for my festool stuff:mad: )
I've had a unit I bought from Lee Valley about 3 years ago which is the one that wasn't zeroed. It has survived several drops on the concrete floor with little damage except for a scratched glass. I don't like how it's scale only shows sixty fourths, with eights. So I'll get one with sixtyfourths and sixteenths and be careful to check that it's zeroed.

Dave