Digital Calipers What`s inside

Started by oldmanjoe, March 25, 2025, 09:27:27 PM

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oldmanjoe

March 25, 2025, 09:27:27 PM
The other day I had a Digital Caliper  read half of what the measurement was . So in my quest for knowledge ,I came  across this .
Grandpa`s words of wisdom......Joey that thing between your shoulders is not a hat rack.....    use it.....
A mind is like a parachute, it only work`s  when it is open.......
Character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking .   There are too many people who think that the only thing that!s right is to get by,and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught .
The power of Observation   , It`s all about the Details ..
" Life " It`s a thinking man`s game
" I cannot teach anybody anything   I can only make them think "     - Socrates-
 Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.   Alto Mare

quabbin boy 62

#1
March 26, 2025, 08:43:31 AM
i have a pair similar to these, it gave me a couple of weird readings (said a 3/8"bolt was 1 1/2") changed the battery, it's matched my mechanical dial calipers again. maybe i should spring for a better pair?

oldmanjoe

#2
March 26, 2025, 11:58:45 AM
I have this caliper for 9 - 10 years . Never gave me a false reading ,until last week .   I used a neodymium magnet to pull some bearings out of their housing .       Yes the magnet stuck to the caliper at one point .       From my search a magnet can fool with the micro computer in the caliper as well as a weak battery .
  As far as cheap versus expensive , the consensus is all have accuracy +, - 1 thousands   you pay for the fit and finish  .
 
Grandpa`s words of wisdom......Joey that thing between your shoulders is not a hat rack.....    use it.....
A mind is like a parachute, it only work`s  when it is open.......
Character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking .   There are too many people who think that the only thing that!s right is to get by,and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught .
The power of Observation   , It`s all about the Details ..
" Life " It`s a thinking man`s game
" I cannot teach anybody anything   I can only make them think "     - Socrates-
 Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.   Alto Mare

jgp12000

#3
March 26, 2025, 12:37:45 PM Last Edit: March 26, 2025, 03:18:30 PM by jgp12000
I had a HF pair I gave my son-in-law,he reloads ammo.Then after I began servicing my reels & replacing bearings I saw the need to measure the unknown. I got a nicer $20 pair from Amazon,not necessarily more accurate but not as much plastic.

tincanary

#4
May 13, 2025, 02:41:06 PM
I've been using the same dial caliper for many years now and it seems to be spot on.  My only trouble with it is now I have to use reading glasses to read it.  Getting old stinks.  I should just get a digital caliper, but the nicer ones start around $100.  The Harbor Freight caliper looks interesting but I don't know how accurate it is.

Keta

#5
May 13, 2025, 03:06:46 PM
Quote from: tincanary on May 13, 2025, 02:41:06 PMI've been using the same dial caliper for many years now and it seems to be spot on.  My only trouble with it is now I have to use reading glasses to read it.  Getting old stinks.  I should just get a digital caliper, but the nicer ones start around $100.  The Harbor Freight caliper looks interesting but I don't know how accurate it is.

Try using a vernier caliper with bad eyes.  I went to dial calipers decades ago then digital.
Hi, my name is Lee and I have a fishing gear problem.

I have all of the answers, yup, no, maybe.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

jurelometer

#6
May 13, 2025, 04:15:27 PM Last Edit: May 14, 2025, 04:01:48 PM by jurelometer
Quote from: tincanary on May 13, 2025, 02:41:06 PMI've been using the same dial caliper for many years now and it seems to be spot on.  My only trouble with it is now I have to use reading glasses to read it.  Getting old stinks.  I should just get a digital caliper, but the nicer ones start around $100.  The Harbor Freight caliper looks interesting but I don't know how accurate it is.

I went into a HF and tried a bunch against each other.  They all came within .001 in to each other for smaller measurements. The big difference is when you go from fully closed to almost fully open  (just under 6 in.) and then back to closed again.  Instead of returning to zero, they would read up to +- .005 with little repeatability. This is where some  were better than others.

I took the best of the bunch home, and it was within .001 in  when tested against a good dial caliper measuring some end mills.  But it is harder to get an accurate measurement with a cheap digital caliper because it is flexy, and sensitive to how tight you are squeezing when measuring.  The trick is not to squeeze hard. If you have a micrometer,  you can calibrate  your squeeze to pick up a bit more accuracy.

 Never tried a fancy digital caliper, so I don't know if those are better in resisting flex.

I find the cheapies plenty accurate for anything other than some serious machining that requires super tight tolerances, which is pretty much beyond my skill level.  If I did need something super accurate, I would get more micrometers of different sizes and not an expensive digital caliper. I think that those high end digital calipers are probably a specialty tool for situations where you need to make accurate measurements of small to large sizes in situations where you need to have a small portable tool handy. 

Can't imagine needing anything other than a cheapie for reel work. But I understand that some folk just enjoy using high end tools. I am sort of wired the opposite way, and this can come in handy.  I knocked a cheapie off my workbench and ruined it.  For $11USD I got a new one. 

-J

JasonGotaProblem

#7
May 13, 2025, 04:28:20 PM
I have a pair of "general" brand digital calipers. I put "digital calipers" on my Christmas list in 2023 and he got those. He's big into 3d printing and those are apparently the most favored ones south of $100 in that world. At least in his opinion. A year and a half of use later (only dropped on concrete once) I find they very consistently measure 11mm OD bearings at around 10.98 but that's plenty accurate enough for me.
Any machine is a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough.

oldmanjoe

#8
May 13, 2025, 05:58:46 PM
The Harbor Freight calipers are really good for what they cost .
Like anything else once you know how to use a tool properly , the measurement become constant
" The thumb wheel"          One of the best features with digital is no open gear channel for trash to fall into and fowl up readings .   
Grandpa`s words of wisdom......Joey that thing between your shoulders is not a hat rack.....    use it.....
A mind is like a parachute, it only work`s  when it is open.......
Character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking .   There are too many people who think that the only thing that!s right is to get by,and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught .
The power of Observation   , It`s all about the Details ..
" Life " It`s a thinking man`s game
" I cannot teach anybody anything   I can only make them think "     - Socrates-
 Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.   Alto Mare

tincanary

#9
May 14, 2025, 12:38:15 PM
Quote from: Keta on May 13, 2025, 03:06:46 PMTry using a vernier caliper with bad eyes.  I went to dial calipers decades ago then digital.

Now that just sounds like torture. LOL
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