Calipers, Digital Dial?

[Mike Holbrook]

The chair making classes I have taken so far have tested round straight and tapered tenons for correct size with a ruler or simple mechanical calipers. I had a hard time telling how much more needed to be removed by trying to fit a mechanical caliper over the tenons I was turning on a lathe. There is quite a large selection of digital dial calipers available for around $30. The Starrett model is about 3x the cost and seems to have the exact same scales. The time savings and peace of mind one of these devices could provide seems to suggest one would be more than worth the cost. I imagine these calipers provide at least as accurate a measurement as I can come up with trying to measure the distances with a ruler or ruler and mechanical caliper? I believe it would be handy to be able to check outside stock dimensions, mortise dimensions, tenon dimensions, inside groove dimensions....I'm sure the measurements would be much easier, faster and less strain on the brain.

Peter Galbert came up with a caliper design that Benchmade now makes for turners. I believe this devise is specifically made to work in the groove made in turnings with a parting tool. For twice the money and a fraction of the uses though I think a digital caliper would provide a great deal more general woodworking utility?

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Mike

A calliper for me is a general purpose tool, not just for turning. For the past number of years I have sworn by the Mitutoyo Absolute range of digital calipers. The model I use is #500-197-20

I managed to find a couple on eBay quite cheaply, as these are expensive (more so than Starrett? I am not sure). The important features are that they have a long battery life and always return to the zero position on closing. They are reliable - which is all-important when measuring small numbers.

You must take care with these on eBay since there are a number of fakes around, made in China. I suspect one I purchased was as it has stopped working. The other soldiers on.

Anyway, I decided to buy a second digital calliper, and in my searchings discovered that Wexey make one. This has the additional feature of having imperial fractions, which is very useful. And cheap! http://wixey.com/calipers/index.html

I've been using the Wexey for some months now and it have been very reliable and easy to use.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[John Huds0n]

Mitutoyo are pretty much the 'gold standard' when it comes to digital calipers, and they are definitely not cheap. I have the 6" 500-7680-10 and they were over $160. They cost so much it seems that sometimes I am afraid to use them....

I also have the Wixey - but they give me problems every now and then and I find them hard to turn on. In that price range ($30-$40) I like my IGaging set better. The display is bigger and they will also do fractions. (They also got much better reviews on Amazon compared to the Wixey)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Hilton Ralphs]

Digital vs Dial.

I have both varieties in Vernier Callipers and Dial Indicators. Some old school people swear by the dial callipers as the batteries in the Digital versions can often die just when you need the device the most. With ageing eyes, the Digital Callipers are infinitely easier to use but the accuracy on some of the cheaper ones may not be up to scratch for machinists but for woodworking they are perfect.

You can't go wrong with the iGaging Digital Vernier Calliper sold on Amazon. It's probably only $40.

For turning you get those inside and outside callipers in Digital too and again, I doubt you need 6 digit after the zero accuracy for wood.

iGaging even has a nice set comprising of a Digital Vernier Calliper plus a Digital Micrometer.

[Marko Milisavljevic]

All you need to know is here:

[Dave Anderson NH]

I have several which I've collected over the years. 6" Starrett bought in 1970, 6" long jaw Fowlers, 12" Mitotoyo, and one of the cheap $30 digitals. All except the cheapos are dial type. I actually use the digitals the most for a single simple reason. It is easier for me to remember the reading when it is graphically displayed in almost 1/2" high digits than it is to remember the location/reading of the dial type. What that really says is that I am a visually oriented person. As for any caliper returning to zero, I've always found that when it doesn't happen it is the result of dust or small debris left on the inside of the jaws.

[george wilson]

I have only ever used DIAL calipers. It is easy to interpolate to a 1/4 thousandth with them. On a dial caliper you are stuck with a 1/2 thou reading. Plus,batteries go bad. The Starretts were,at least,bad battery eaters. I hope they have improved them.

The Mitutoyo are likely the most reliable of the commonly available types. Certainly their dial calipers have held up very well.

Unless you have a very good sense of touch,and your calipers are properly adjusted, they are not all that accurate anyway. In things like fitting bearings,better use micrometers. Most of the time I use my dial calipers,though.I'm not rebuilding engines.

I have an excellent Peacock dial caliper. When Enco,several years ago,started selling the Peacock brand again,I got all excited and ordered one. It turned out to be complete junk,though. The grinding was very rough. I sent it back. Too bad this nice brand must have been bought out by junk peddlers. Worse than anything Harbor Freight ever offered.

My Starrett DIAL calipers are good also. But,I'll warn you that the first Starrett I had was way off on the internal measurement side. I had to send it back for repair. When I got it back,it was STILL way off. Finally,they sent me a new one. I have no idea how those calipers got out of their factory TWICE(even after special attention). Brown and Sharpe have been made by a variety of makers over the years. I think they are French made now. Used to be Swiss made,I think. They are o.k..

[glenn bradley]

I abandoned my digital calipers or turned them into other tools:

depth-gauge-2-003.jpg

They're just too fussy for me for a lot of woodworking tasks. I find an easy to read dial quicker and easier as I rarely try to machine wood to 1/128"; I do that by hand. I do deal in imperial in the shop for therapeutic reasons and use the 1/64" tick mark dials with good success.

[Mike Null]

I've used a Mitutoyo 500-196 for more than 10 years. I frequently use the metric scale so the digital option is perfect for me. Back then I believe I paid about $130.

[ian maybury]

It's very tough without a lot of practice to get accurate measurement with the classic outside mechanical/contact callipers.

Another with Mitutoyo here, digital in this case out of circumstances (and it's been rock solid reliable and given fabulous battery life) for years. I was brought up on and feel a vernier type is the most reliable of all - very little scope to go wrong. A nifty accessory was a simple clamp on aluminium cross bar that attaches to the end of the scale that turns it into a much more useable depth gauge: http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster...uge-attachment (some of the budget ones don't have the central sliding bar that enables this)

Wary of the various cheap brands, but some seem OK. I have a Wixey branded one that gets used for rough knock about (and to be fair it seems perfectly reliable for woodworking type dimensions), but as above it's much harder on batteries.

This may sound a bit daft, but feeling the need for an easy means of getting accurate much larger measurements at times i took a chance and bought an Indian made 600mm verner callipers off EBay for about €80 (more now) plus postage - thinking it'd probably be rubbish. http://tiny.cc/5ph9vx It turned out to be a great buy, although who knows if they are all like that or not.

Spent months trying to buy a used Mitutoyo in the UK, but kept on getting beaten out by tool dealers. The Indian model seems to be spot on. It's actually quite well made, and while the screws securing the bronze strips in the back of the head that control the fit on the scale needed minor filing to sort a fit issue it's otherwise been fine. It doesn't have quite the silky feel of a Mitutoyo, and the box wasn't up to much - but it's fine in use and perfectly functional...

[george wilson]

It doesn't have the silky feeling of the Mitutoyo,but you don't notice". Sounds like you DID notice!!!

[ian maybury]

Errm, well… yes George. Just not the $600 or whatever a Mitutoyo in that size would cost worth of notice i guess.

There seem to be some large size electronic models about at reasonable money too, i never got to check one out...

[Brian Holcombe]

As with George when I worked in the machine shop we almost never used digital calipers, but rather used micrometers for everything. So I have one in my shop now for tool related purpose, the digital calipers seem quite fine for woodworking.

I have an iGaging from Lee Valley that works well. I am transferring measurements using the same gauge, so slight inconsistency compared to absolute measurements is not so important, this was a practice I picked up at the machine shop as well, we always used the same gauge to measure parts that were going to work as an assembly or use one gauge as the standard. Not super critical for woodwork, but good practice is good practice.

[Mike Holbrook]

Wow, this is why I keep posting here year after year. Everything I could want to know about a tool from people I trust, who use the tools in real life much as I do. Great post guys, different view points and opinions with the logic behind users choices.

iGaging got me thinking about all the devices they offer in package deals on Amazon. I went to their web site and was amazed to see all the measuring devices: iGaging Digital 3-in-1 Marking/Mortising Gauge, iGaging 6" Digital Multi Gauge 3-in-1 (height gauge)...I could immediately see that the marking/mortise gauge would not have the feel or solid registering area of the popular Japanese mortise marking gauges but it might have other advantages. The iGaging Multi Gauge got me thinking about the similarities between it and the Galbert Caliper.

Checking Galbert's Blog re his Caliper, apparently it has to be calibrated on a known diameter round object and it only measures diameters from 1/2" to 2 3/4". I began to realize the advantage of moving the Galbert Caliper onto a spinning spindle and having real time feed back on the current diameter as one worked. Still I'm not sure I would be comfortable holding any caliper against spinning wood. In the class I took at Country Workshops Drew Langsner was checking his work with a caliper on spinning spindles but as he was doing it he was questioning his own IQ for doing it.

I am leaning toward ordering the iGaging EZCal Digital caliper. My eyes have been changing significantly about every year for the last 3-4 years, plus I have those floating squiggly deals inside my eyes that can cloud visual acuity at close distances. Progressive lenses are expensive and I tend to put off the dreaded trip to get rechecked and buy new lenses. As a result I tend to face some significant visual challenges seeing at common woodworking distances. I'm pretty sure I want have a problem reading the large digital display on the EZCal. I don't understand how anyone reads the fine print on many labels these days. I often wonder if that is the point of manufacturers continuing to make the print smaller and smaller and smaller....

The $30 expenditure will allow me to do further research and calculating concerning whether or not an iGaging 6" Digital Multi Gauge can be used in conjunction with a flat surface to produce the same or better results vs the Galbert Caliper....If I want to get real accurate for some reason I am hearing micrometer is the answer. Right now, working green wood, I am guessing the change in the wood after it spends a day in the kiln may be greater than the error in a digital devise.

[Myk Rian]

I have only ever used DIAL calipers. It is easy to interpolate to a 1/4 thousandth with them. On a dial caliper you are stuck with a 1/2 thou reading..

What? So, which is it? Dials are good for 1/4 thou, or 1/2 thou?
I think 1/4 thou is a little hard to get on a dial caliper, unless the dial is 6" diameter.