I have seen a 6" Digital Caliper suggested on the board..but I don`t recall seeing a brand suggestion. What is the least expensive caliper I can go with that will do the job?
this one is about right!
https://www.amazon.com/Composite-Vernier-Digital-70019-Millimeters/dp/B01BEE86II/ref=sr_1_5?dd=UWBypg094tujTFzLRaYCdg%2C%2C&ddc_refnmnt=pfod&ie=UTF8&qid=1516602778&sr=8-5&keywords=calipers&refinements=p_97%3A11292772011
Quote from: alantani on January 22, 2018, 06:33:46 AM
this one is about right!
https://www.amazon.com/Composite-Vernier-Digital-70019-Millimeters/dp/B01BEE86II/ref=sr_1_5?dd=UWBypg094tujTFzLRaYCdg%2C%2C&ddc_refnmnt=pfod&ie=UTF8&qid=1516602778&sr=8-5&keywords=calipers&refinements=p_97%3A11292772011
[/quote
Its accurate at that price? I just figured they would be considerably more money.
From what I can tell, they are all pretty accurate but they do not last very long. A forty dollar pair does not seem to last any longer than a ten dollar pair . The pre-digital dial calipers will last much longer but are not more accurate. The calipers with the Vernier scale would probably last a life time but they are no more accurate and are difficult to read. Micrometers last forever but are even harder to read.
-steve
I have used one of these - for a few $ more they are stainless and pretty accurate:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072QYJC5M/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B072QYJC5M&pd_rd_wg=pYCWD&pd_rd_r=75C3XTFSZM3N55GFS2PA&pd_rd_w=VY4Bl
Although I have used one of those my current calipers are made by Kamasa - whilst not top drawer they are tough and accurate :)
You don't need to go to extremes for reel work and general diy ;)
I bought a Mitutoyo digital caliper years ago and used it at work, it's still working now. They are more $ than needed for reel work but they are well built.
http://www.techni-tool.com/575GA113?gclid=Cj0KCQiAtJbTBRDkARIsAIA0a5MUZFwrIxks2_9nsFlqfUkswzR_sJ_eN9KHYe3INgqxycotOZLm0LcaAjWmEALw_wcB&s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!217065054180!b!!g!!&ef_id=WmPlTwAAAM_1QVHa:20180122134127:s (http://www.techni-tool.com/575GA113?gclid=Cj0KCQiAtJbTBRDkARIsAIA0a5MUZFwrIxks2_9nsFlqfUkswzR_sJ_eN9KHYe3INgqxycotOZLm0LcaAjWmEALw_wcB&s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!217065054180!b!!g!!&ef_id=WmPlTwAAAM_1QVHa:20180122134127:s)
I reload ammo, and I have el cheapo harbor freight < $10 calipers and Japanese made one, they work fine, the cheap ones are battery hogs though, I take out the battery when I store them.
They are all pretty accurate, but I check calibration with known dia bullets. Make sure you set zero.
The better brands are nice, they go on sale few times a year. I have 2 as my girls sometime help and I give them the cheap one to play with.
Cheap harbor freight works fine. Haven't had a problem yet.
I have a set of Sterrett Calipers that use for my gun work and I have cheaper set with dial and find that works well for reel a rod. If your doing machine work then that's a different story. I would look at the set that Tiddlerbasher mentioned.
Joe
Quote from: Reel 224 on January 22, 2018, 02:53:24 PM
I have a set of Sterrett Calipers that use for my gun work and I have cheaper set with dial and find that works well for reel a rod. If your doing machine work then that's a different story. I would look at the set that Tiddlerbasher mentioned.
Joe
My Sterrett quit working when it had a large gearbox set in it.
Quote from: Keta on January 22, 2018, 03:33:00 PM
Quote from: Reel 224 on January 22, 2018, 02:53:24 PM
I have a set of Sterrett Calipers that use for my gun work and I have cheaper set with dial and find that works well for reel a rod. If your doing machine work then that's a different story. I would look at the set that Tiddlerbasher mentioned.
Joe
My Sterrett quit working when it had a large gearbox set in it.
That will do it...... ;D
Joe
Got an old Lufkin 0-1" mike to measure rod blank diameters, small shaft diameters, spring wire diameters, etc.; beautiful classic tool that matches up to work on my old rods & reels. Accurate as the day it was made dozens and dozens of years ago. Made in USA, of course.
Frank
I will usually use the $15 calipers, but had to purchase Mitutoyo caliper and micrometer for some of the stuff I was doing.
Sal
Quote from: Bryan Young on January 22, 2018, 02:32:05 PM
Cheap harbor freight works fine. Haven't had a problem yet.
for reel work and rod repair this is all you need.
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
Quote from: Alto Mare on January 23, 2018, 10:50:42 PM
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?
Quote from: Scattergun2570 on January 24, 2018, 12:12:21 AM
Quote from: Alto Mare on January 23, 2018, 10:50:42 PM
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
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.
Quote from: Alto Mare on January 24, 2018, 12:27:58 AM
Quote from: Scattergun2570 on January 24, 2018, 12:12:21 AM
Quote from: Alto Mare on January 23, 2018, 10:50:42 PM
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
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
Quote from: Alto Mare on January 24, 2018, 02:13:48 AM
Quote from: Alto Mare on January 24, 2018, 12:27:58 AM
Quote from: Scattergun2570 on January 24, 2018, 12:12:21 AM
Quote from: Alto Mare on January 23, 2018, 10:50:42 PM
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..
Quote from: Rivverrat on January 24, 2018, 02:14:05 AM
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 ?
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.
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 ;D
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.
Quote from: Scattergun2570 on January 24, 2018, 05:53:20 AM
Quote from: Rivverrat on January 24, 2018, 02:14:05 AM
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
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
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.
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.
Quote from: Tiddlerbasher on February 01, 2018, 05:08:46 PM
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
Different shape same purpose - as long as I see a National Standard Certification with them I'd be happy
I like high precision measuring tools but for most of us a cheep dial or digital is all we need. I use my digital because I can switch from inch to metric and my eyes no longer let me use my Starrett vernier caliper. I do use my Starrett dial caliper when I feel I need more accurate measurements.