Calipers, Digital Dial?

[Mike Holbrook]

Wow, this is why I keep posting here year after year. Everything I could want to know about a tool from people I trust, who use the tools in real life much as I do. Great post guys, different view points and opinions with the logic behind users choices.

iGaging got me thinking about all the devices they offer in package deals on Amazon. I went to their web site and was amazed to see all the measuring devices: iGaging Digital 3-in-1 Marking/Mortising Gauge, iGaging 6" Digital Multi Gauge 3-in-1 (height gauge)...I could immediately see that the marking/mortise gauge would not have the feel or solid registering area of the popular Japanese mortise marking gauges but it might have other advantages. The iGaging Multi Gauge got me thinking about the similarities between it and the Galbert Caliper.

Checking Galbert's Blog re his Caliper, apparently it has to be calibrated on a known diameter round object and it only measures diameters from 1/2" to 2 3/4". I began to realize the advantage of moving the Galbert Caliper onto a spinning spindle and having real time feed back on the current diameter as one worked. Still I'm not sure I would be comfortable holding any caliper against spinning wood. In the class I took at Country Workshops Drew Langsner was checking his work with a caliper on spinning spindles but as he was doing it he was questioning his own IQ for doing it.

I am leaning toward ordering the iGaging EZCal Digital caliper. My eyes have been changing significantly about every year for the last 3-4 years, plus I have those floating squiggly deals inside my eyes that can cloud visual acuity at close distances. Progressive lenses are expensive and I tend to put off the dreaded trip to get rechecked and buy new lenses. As a result I tend to face some significant visual challenges seeing at common woodworking distances. I'm pretty sure I want have a problem reading the large digital display on the EZCal. I don't understand how anyone reads the fine print on many labels these days. I often wonder if that is the point of manufacturers continuing to make the print smaller and smaller and smaller....

The $30 expenditure will allow me to do further research and calculating concerning whether or not an iGaging 6" Digital Multi Gauge can be used in conjunction with a flat surface to produce the same or better results vs the Galbert Caliper....If I want to get real accurate for some reason I am hearing micrometer is the answer. Right now, working green wood, I am guessing the change in the wood after it spends a day in the kiln may be greater than the error in a digital devise.

[Judson Green]

For my purposes the veneer calipers are used mostly to visually compare thicknesses, meaning I don't really look at the numbers on it. Of course some times its used for measuring. I've neither the dial or digital but the old school type.

[Shawn Pixley]

I use both a digital and dial caliper. For the digital, I have the Mitutoyo and love it. But my go to ,have knocking around caliper was a cheap General Tool caliper (<20$ -maybe much less - I don't remember). The dial ring got banged enough that it became inaccurate (the needle will move the dial). So I'll get another cheap one. I guess I actually prefer the dial type. For more accuaracy I go to my micrometer.

[george wilson]

IIRC,the acceptable accuracy of tape measures in 3/16" out at 6' of length! No wonder there were disagreements. I have not yet found a METAL tape measure that inaccurate. Maybe the old cloth types?

[Bruce Page]

Dial calipers, and not just any dial calipers, Brown & Sharp dial calipers. I have owned several name brand calipers from Helios to TESA, to Starrett digital. I have never found any that has a better feel than the Brown & Sharp 6" caliper. The Starrett digital had the worst feel and you always had to worry about the danged battery.
JMHO, but I made a living using them.

[ian maybury]

For sure callipers can (depending on the maker and spec) flatter to deceive on accuracy - in that just because they read to 0.01mm doesn't mean they are necessarily accurate to that. There's mutterings about of inacuracies coming in in some as batteries discharge too - don't know what the reality is. It's not going to be much of an issue in woodworking, but as the guys micrometer based stuff is normal in engineering in most situations where e.g. parts are being machined to deliver a particular fit and a thou can make a lot of difference.

Rules depending on the type and standard are not aways very trustworty either as you surely know George. I've started checking standards before I buy. Dieter Schmid in Germany does Shinwa which are very nice, very clear and certified: http://www.fine-tools.com/shinwa-ruler.html No doubt avilable in the US too. The rule stops offered with them can be very useful too, they enable hooking it over an edge..

Must say that with my eye sight i find when marking out with a rule that I often do better with one graduated in just mm - that i can quite accurately eyeball whatever proportion of a mm i want. That finer graduations just confuse my eyes.

[Mike Holbrook]

I think I may fall into the same visually oriented category Dave Anderson mentions and I think Ian refers to above. My eyes can get lost in all the little marks on a ruler or dial, forgetting exactly which length line, reversing the image....I have to study the marks and double or triple check myself and I may still cross them up when I try to transfer the information. I find mm's easier to follow and use too, if so many things were not imperial I would use metric all the time.

[Marko Milisavljevic]

I have an iGaging from Lee Valley that works well.

I would be careful getting this item from Lee Valley. Notice how whenever an item is Made in China their website doesn't tell you the brand name? I wonder if they are just some locally made knock-offs.

[Hilton Ralphs]

I would be careful getting this item from Lee Valley. Notice how whenever an item is Made in China their website doesn't tell you the brand name? I wonder if they are just some locally made knock-offs.

That hasn't been my experience. I think they just prefer to mention Brands that they have official distribution rights with. If you email customer services and ask, they will confirm the OEM part number and Brand so you can verify.

[Mike Henderson]

I'm in the mechanical camp. I like to be able to see exactly where the reading is. With a digital, the result is rounded.

I also like that I don't have to depend on a battery.

Mike

[Brian Holcombe]

I would be careful getting this item from Lee Valley. Notice how whenever an item is Made in China their website doesn't tell you the brand name? I wonder if they are just some locally made knock-offs.

The brand is on the gauge itself....

As much as I like to fall down the 'better is better' rabbit hole of quality, this has served me quite well in the way of woodwork and I have a Mitutoyo micrometer for accurate work.

[Hilton Ralphs]

I'm in the mechanical camp. I like to be able to see exactly where the reading is. With a digital, the result is rounded.

My $46 iGaging rounds up to the next ten thousands of an inch (1/10000). I really hate that, puts all my work out.

[Marko Milisavljevic]

It was a joke about Canadian-made knock-offs of Chinese items, which seems absurd currently, but I guess I didn't word it well. Not for too long, though, if Chinese keep increasing quality of their items as is evident with these iGaging callipers.

iGaging has mostly been miss for me so far.

I just bought 4" LV-branded PEC-made square, and rather enjoyed throwing into garbage my 4" and 6" iGaging squares. They worked, but I just grew to dislike them more and more for their sticky screw, not square ends, and roughly milled channel in the ruler that made sliding not smooth.

I also took the opportunity at the same time to throw away iGaging 6" rule which is a nasty piece of junk when compared to inexpensive thing of beauty that is Shinwa 6"

I have iGaging digital protractor, and arms are cheaply made stamped steel but ok - I rarely use it so for that it works.

I also have their digital marking gauge, which seems like a great idea but I regret buying it because if feels extremely clumsy to use and I will probably never use it again.

I have their 24" straight edge. It seems straight enough - I don't have a suitable reference to compare it to - but not machined very nicely.

I had iGaging 6" divider which fell apart in my hands while using it. I have LV "french" dividers, which are also pretty rough and prone to rusting. I guess it is Starrett-time on these.

IMG_0808.jpg

I also have iGaging sliding bevel which is Starrett knockoff and it isn't too bad. Not beautifully made, but good enough.

I wish I could see more Shinwa items. They seem universally good quality and inexpensive.

[Pat Barry]

It was a joke about Canadian-made knock-offs of Chinese items, which seems absurd currently, but I guess I didn't word it well. Not for too long, though, if Chinese keep increasing quality of their items as is evident with these iGaging callipers.

iGaging has mostly been miss for me so far.

I just bought 4" LV-branded PEC-made square, and rather enjoyed throwing into garbage my 4" and 6" iGaging squares. They worked, but I just grew to dislike them more and more for their sticky screw, not square ends, and roughly milled channel in the ruler that made sliding not smooth.

I also took the opportunity at the same time to throw away iGaging 6" rule which is a nasty piece of junk when compared to inexpensive thing of beauty that is Shinwa 6"

I have iGaging digital protractor, and arms are cheaply made stamped steel but ok - I rarely use it so for that it works.

I also have their digital marking gauge, which seems like a great idea but I regret buying it because if feels extremely clumsy to use and I will probably never use it again.

I have their 24" straight edge. It seems straight enough - I don't have a suitable reference to compare it to - but not machined very nicely.

I had iGaging 6" divider which fell apart in my hands while using it. I have LV "french" dividers, which are also pretty rough and prone to rusting. I guess it is Starrett-time on these.

IMG_0808.jpg

I wish I could see more Shinwa items. They seem universally good quality and inexpensive.

I'm a bit curious why you would have purchased so many crappy tools from the same brand name if you had such poor results

[Marko Milisavljevic]

Haha, excellent question Pat. When I started woodworking I needed a lot of items quickly and I couldn't stomach prices of quality tools. That was before I knew this was an endless pit. I don't completely regret it, they served a purpose for a while.

At first I thought they were pretty good tools. I mean, it is square. I can mark with it. It slides up and down, etc. I used them and learned with them and wondered why someone would pay 5 times more for a fancy tool. Over time you get more sophisticated and demand more. The same reason we eat steak if we can afford it and not spam.