I need new caliper


 
DanHoo

DanHoo

TVWBB Olympian
My caliper is old, and limited only does thickness.

fairly basic needs, measuring drill bits where the diameter is worn, tubing diameter OD and ID, metal thickness.

Six inch seems more than enough.

I borrowed a a cheap digital caliper, but I think I'd rather stay old school.

suggestions? hopefully one made in USA ?
 
I have a Helios dial caliper from my apprenticeship 50 years ago...are you looking for a vernier caliper? Starrett or Brown & Sharpe are/were made in USA.

I like Mitutoyo, though.
 
DanHoo said:
My caliper is old, and limited only does thickness.
Click to expand...
Thickness, ID, OD, and depth...what else is there? I have a few of the HF digital calipers, and I even mounted one on the quill of my drill press. For the kind of work I do around the house, they are plenty good enough, and I don't have to cry if I drop one. The only complaint I have is that there is always a little bit of current draw, even when they are off, so batteries get depleted over time...I just buy the batteries by the dozen from Amazon.
 
I guess a vernier caliper is what I'm looking for. Maybe a low cost digital would work out.

I'm trying to avoid buying cheap junk that I'll regret later, yet not spend a ton of money.
 
Not sure your location Dan, shipping across the US boarder seems to get expensive, seems I can ship in form Europe for cheaper. I have a set of 9" Mitutoyo's that haven't been dropped I could possibly part ways with.....in the original case. Not sure what the value would be, I do remember what I paid for them. Dial gauge, I haven't looked in a long time but I think it is 100 around once like the pic below but would need to verify.
Imperial measuring, not metric. About 20 to 25 years old. I live in Canada....when dealing with fabrication and drill bits ect.....Metric makes no sense......Measuring lengths in the sense of meters and kilometers is the only thing in metric that makes sense to me.
I don't get on the site a lot, forgive me if you reply and I don't get back for a while.
We use company digitals here at work now, precision isn't important, works well for me....1 button swaps metric to imperial, works good if you don't need to be very specific.

1649183869126.png
 
DanHoo said:
I guess a vernier caliper is what I'm looking for. Maybe a low cost digital would work out.

I'm trying to avoid buying cheap junk that I'll regret later, yet not spend a ton of money.
Click to expand...
Hard to go wrong with HF, Dan. There are hacks for them, and they use them (or a similar design) for DIY DROs (digital readouts). Calipers are not a very accurate way of measuring, anyway.
 
Darryl - swazies said:
Not sure your location Dan, shipping across the US boarder seems to get expensive, seems I can ship in form Europe for cheaper. I have a set of 9" Mitutoyo's that haven't been dropped I could possibly part ways with.....in the original case. Not sure what the value would be, I do remember what I paid for them. Dial gauge, I haven't looked in a long time but I think it is 100 around once like the pic below but would need to verify.
Imperial measuring, not metric. About 20 to 25 years old. I live in Canada....when dealing with fabrication and drill bits ect.....Metric makes no sense......Measuring lengths in the sense of meters and kilometers is the only thing in metric that makes sense to me.
I don't get on the site a lot, forgive me if you reply and I don't get back for a while.
We use company digitals here at work now, precision isn't important, works well for me....1 button swaps metric to imperial, works good if you don't need to be very specific.

View attachment 48482
Click to expand...
very cool, but likely over my budget and I'd end up dropping it and then I'd be sad. Thanks but I think I'll have to pass on this.
 
What was the budget you had in mind? I can easily check shipping rates with your ZIP.
Or maybe you were thinking like $20, not sure how low you can go and stay reliable.
 
Ed P said:
Hard to go wrong with HF, Dan. There are hacks for them, and they use them (or a similar design) for DIY DROs (digital readouts). Calipers are not a very accurate way of measuring, anyway.
Click to expand...

I guess I mis-spoke. I have a micrometer that looks like this, and I'll use it when I'm sifting through old drill bits for sizing, but rarely use it.

1649184726001.png
Maybe I'll try a cheap digital and see if it works.
 
Darryl - swazies said:
What was the budget you had in mind? I can easily check shipping rates with your ZIP.
Or maybe you were thinking like $20, not sure how low you can go and stay reliable.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the offer, yet I don't want to offend you with a stupid low offer, and I'm not sure a precision dial indicator is what I need, and shipping anything these days tends to be expensive.

My current "need: is to size and inventory a bunch of mild steel that I have collected in my garage. Some is angle stock, some square tube, some round tube and a bit of rectangular. It's all small stuff but knowing what gauge it is will help me think through a couple of projects.

another use would be to quickly size drill bits, but I'm not sure how accurate the cheap digi calipers are for this.

I just ordered this one, listed accuracy is 0.01 inches or 0.1 mm $9 delivered free shipping, free returns. I'll see if it works out.

 
DanHoo said:
I appreciate the offer, yet I don't want to offend you with a stupid low offer, and I'm not sure a precision dial indicator is what I need, and shipping anything these days tends to be expensive.

My current "need: is to size and inventory a bunch of mild steel that I have collected in my garage. Some is angle stock, some square tube, some round tube and a bit of rectangular. It's all small stuff but knowing what gauge it is will help me think through a couple of projects.

another use would be to quickly size drill bits, but I'm not sure how accurate the cheap digi calipers are for this.

I just ordered this one, listed accuracy is 0.01 inches or 0.1 mm $9 delivered free shipping, free returns. I'll see if it works out.

Click to expand...
Get yourself some batteries, too, Dan. These calipers are always on. This is what I bought 3 years ago (NLA). I've only used 8 of them since then.

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Buy SkoTeRy 30 Pack AG13 LR44 357 303 SR44 1.5V Battery Button Coin Cell Batteries: Coin & Button Cell - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
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I picked up a digital one from Northern Tool for about $30 that has been surprisingly good. The talk about batteries in spot on, though. 5 months at best for me before needing replacement.
 
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