Calipers

[Scattergun2570]

Yep! for basic reel repair those will do just fine, But, when someone that depends on your opinion and has to sign off on a $15000 order and asks you if you are sure about the dimension on the changes, that's when a better caliper come in handy.

Sal

So if I wanted to change abushing to a bearing,,it's fine to measure the bushing with? And match a bearing up?

[Alto Mare]

Yep! for basic reel repair those will do just fine, But, when someone that depends on your opinion and has to sign off on a $15000 order and asks you if you are sure about the dimension on the changes, that's when a better caliper come in handy.

Sal

So if I wanted to change abushing to a bearing,,it's fine to measure the bushing with? And match a bearing up?

In most cases I would say no, but if you're talking custom plates, as Cortez Conversions and a few others, then the answer is yes.
Tom( Cortez Conversions) sends out a bearing and a bushing with his kits, giving you a choice on how you like to set your reels.

Sal

[Tiddlerbasher]

If you are happy with a 'few thou', anything will do. If you need more accuracy check the specs and be prepared to pay for it.

[Alto Mare]

Yep! for basic reel repair those will do just fine, But, when someone that depends on your opinion and has to sign off on a $15000 order and asks you if you are sure about the dimension on the changes, that's when a better caliper come in handy.

Sal

So if I wanted to change abushing to a bearing,,it's fine to measure the bushing with? And match a bearing up?

In most cases I would say no, but if you're talking custom plates, as Cortez Conversions and a few others, then the answer is yes.
Tom( Cortez Conversions) sends out a bearing and a bushing with his kits, giving you a choice on how you like to set your reels.

Sal

Sorry Scattergun I misunderstood your question, I thought you were asking if you could change bushings to bearings. Of course you could use the cheap calipers to measure bearings, we do it all the times.

Sal

[Rivverrat]

The Starret & Mitutoyo are the most widely available high end dial calipers. Once you reach a certain level with them they will be the last ones you buy. They can be rebuilt.

With fishing reels exactness is not needed until you start making parts or blue printing reels. When blue printing & dealing with the drag cams of a lever drag you want to know, or at least I do that both sides of the cam are the same hieght regarding the respective location of where the lever is.

Things of this nature can be more difficult to acheive somtimes with a lesser dial caliper... Jeff

[Scattergun2570]

Yep! for basic reel repair those will do just fine, But, when someone that depends on your opinion and has to sign off on a $15000 order and asks you if you are sure about the dimension on the changes, that's when a better caliper come in handy.

Sal

So if I wanted to change abushing to a bearing,,it's fine to measure the bushing with? And match a bearing up?

In most cases I would say no, but if you're talking custom plates, as Cortez Conversions and a few others, then the answer is yes.
Tom( Cortez Conversions) sends out a bearing and a bushing with his kits, giving you a choice on how you like to set your reels.

Sal

Sorry Scattergun I misunderstood your question, I thought you were asking if you could change bushings to bearings. Of course you could use the cheap calipers to measure bearings, we do it all the times.

Sal

lol yeah I thought so,had me scratching my head..

[Scattergun2570]

The Starret & Mitutoyo are the most widely available high end dial calipers. Once you reach a certain level with them they will be the last ones you buy. They can be rebuilt.

With fishing reels exactness is not needed until you start making parts or blue printing reels. When blue printing & dealing with the drag cams of a lever drag you want to know, or at least I do that both sides of the cam are the same hieght regarding the respective location of where the lever is.

Things of this nature can be more difficult to acheive somtimes with a lesser dial caliper... Jeff

so you prefer digital ?

[Cadman]

Scattergun2570
I have (6) Starrett and (6) Mitutoyo dial and digital calipers from 6 up to 48". You get what you pay for. Like Rivverrat mentioned these will be the last ones you will ever buy, unless you drop them. For wood working or parts not needing perfect tolerances, most of the caliper for around $20 will work just fine. If I were to buy a caliper and I didn't have a lot of cash, I would buy a single revolution dial caliper. They have been around for ages and are accurate. What you will see different between a Starrett and Mitutoyo versus a Harbor Freight is the gearing. Starrett and Mitutoyo have much finer smoother gears, which makes adjusting the calipers easy. On the cheaper ones you can feel the courseness in the thumb wheel in the calipers due to cheaper gear cutting and tooth count, but they do work. Also if you go with a dial caliper, there are no batteries to wear out.

[Tiddlerbasher]

Just for reel work I would still go for a budget digital caliper - accurate enough - much easier to read than a vernier or dial.
If you really (reely ) need to know how accurate your calipers are buy a one off slip gauge (grade 2 is good enough) but that is getting a bit anal
I bought one a few years back. My calipers turned out to be pretty good.
Repeatability is also important. Some calipers, and most micrometers have a clutch. This enables the same pressure to be applied, each time, which should help repeatability.

[Rivverrat]

The Starret & Mitutoyo are the most widely available high end dial calipers. Once you reach a certain level with them they will be the last ones you buy. They can be rebuilt.

With fishing reels exactness is not needed until you start making parts or blue printing reels. When blue printing & dealing with the drag cams of a lever drag you want to know, or at least I do that both sides of the cam are the same hieght regarding the respective location of where the lever is.

Things of this nature can be more difficult to acheive somtimes with a lesser dial caliper... Jeff

so you prefer digital ?

I like the digital because I get a nice easy to read measurement. But I have both types on my bench. " Measure Twice Cut Once " ... Jeff

[oc1]

If the buttons and digital display look like the one in Alan's link above, then flip it over and tape or glue the battery cover closed.  The cover can fall off and you loose it you're done.  Lots of brands and styles have that same mechanism.
-steve

[Three se7ens]

I use calipers a lot in my work, as well as tools that are far more accurate.  Heres my take:  Digital calipers are not reliable or consistent.  Individual examples may be accurate, but there is no way to tell if they are losing accuracy or consistency unless you have a way to properly test them.  You will never see digital calipers in my toolbox.  Dial calipers will give you signs there may be an issue with accuracy, like not returning to zero properly, or a lack of consistency when zeroing. 

Cheap dial calipers often pass the certification tests as well as more expensive models.  Expensive models are fail to pass sometimes, as do cheap ones.  But at their best, dial calipers are only truly accurate to plus or minus 0.003" or so.  And this is very much dependent on experience and feel when using them.  If you need a relatively close measurement, dial calipers are good.  If accuracy matters, they are not up to the task.  For example, properly fitting a ball bearing to a shaft commonly has a tolerance on the shaft of plus or minus 0.0002"  Thats less than half a thousandth range between the minimum and maximum acceptable size. 

To check accuracy of calipers(or micrometers), I use the standards used for checking micrometers.  The standards come in 1" increments, and with a set, you can test the full range of a caliper.  This is how the certification shops do it.  I check the ones I use on a regular basis, and one particular set reads within a thousandth or two every time I check it.  I have a set from harbor freight at the house that typically reads within 2 thousandths. 

[Tiddlerbasher]

I think the 'standards' that Adam referred to are slip gauges like these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Slip-Gauge-Set-Upto-4-Imperial-MITUTOYO/292430591571?hash=item441638b653:g:zmMAAOSwYDZacJQm

They usually come in Grade 0 (the best but VERY expensive), Grade 1 (Inspection grade) and 2 (workshop grade) - For reel work and similar 'engineering' practices Grade 2 will suffice.
It's certainly worth having a couple to bracket the average measurements tht you are doing.

[Three se7ens]

I think the 'standards' that Adam referred to are slip gauges like these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Slip-Gauge-Set-Upto-4-Imperial-MITUTOYO/292430591571?hash=item441638b653:g:zmMAAOSwYDZacJQm

They usually come in Grade 0 (the best but VERY expensive), Grade 1 (Inspection grade) and 2 (workshop grade) - For reel work and similar 'engineering' practices Grade 2 will suffice.
It's certainly worth having a couple to bracket the average measurements tht you are doing.

Not quite. Those are gauge blocks.

Here is what I was referring to: https://m.mscdirect.com/mobileweb/product_detail?id=90027095&hasRestrictedParts=false

[Tiddlerbasher]

Different shape same purpose - as long as I see a National Standard Certification with them I'd be happy