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?O...735&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