Dial Calipers

[Warren Lake]

have a mititouyou with over 30 years of hard use, lives in my tool belt and other places never in the case, . Its yellowed and looks like crap and still works perfectly. Left on batteries last long. ILl have no trouble replacing it same brand and almost had to once as it was lost, fell off the back of the bench found it in a tool box. . ITs lived in sawdust and could not care less, at times it didnt slide smoothly and I probably did things you should not do and it didnt care. I did buy a Lee Valley one that allows you to convert from one scale to another one has no wheel on it so fine adjust was a pain, poor design maybe improved.

One thing I did was scratch a line on the face so im always reading three digits, essentially separating the half thou. just makes it easier to read.

[matt stott]

Some suggestions:

If you plan on buying one tool for a lifetime, then Mitutoyo, Starrett or Brown and Sharpe (TESA) are all great (and expensive). I use Starrett at work, but in the home shop I cannot justify the expense. I use Mitutoyo vernier calipers at home- no rack gears, batteries, or calibration issues to deal with and just as accurate. But they can be a pain to read in the beginning, and my eyesight is not getting any better.

My recommendation for a good, cheap digital is the Aventor brand from Shars. They are REALLY nice for the price- I have two of them in regular rotation- one in my home shop, for when I don't want to get my "good" tools dirty, and one in a classroom-type of shop, where they are abused by students daily. Battery life is good, finish is good, accuracy is spot on, and half the price of the big three. I have the Harbor Freight calipers, too- they are not even in the same ballpark as the Shars version.

Good Luck,

Matt

[jack dempsey]

Thanks Matt for the advice. It is always helpful to get insight from someone with experience on the subject.

[Andy Bryant]

I have both digital and dial from HF. Like both of them, but use dial most often. Have a conversion chart attached to case of dial caliper. Remove battery from digital when finished. Right now, HF has a digital that reads imperial, metric and fractions for $9.99 with a coupon from current sales book.

Yes. It's as accurate as my buddies who paid $75 for his and if i step on it I can throw it away.

[marty fretheim]

I bought a cheapo digital a couple years ago. Then I bought an I-gaging (cheapo) on sale thinking the original would surely fail soon. Over two years later the first one is still going strong. Just put in the second battery a couple months ago (auto shut off). I use it two, three times a week. Its accurate enough for woodworking and honestly I'd be afraid to have a $100+ caliper in my shop. Both mine are metric and inch. Digital takes all the thinking out of it and I don't have to put on my glasses.

[Gary Radice]

Can't help with comparison shopping, but I'll say that I picked up an 8" Mitutoyo dial caliper at a garage sale last year and it has been wonderful. Smooth and dead reliable. No batteries to worry about. My 65 year old eyes have no trouble reading the dial. I had a nice vernier caliper but it was just too hard to read.

I also agree that Starrett and Brown and Sharpe are also comparable.

My advise is that a tool like this is a good investment since you will use it often and need to rely on it. Get a good one.

[Craig White]

I use an inexpensive (not cheap) fractional dial caliper purchased from Highland Hardware years ago. I rely on them for accurate work. I don't worry too much about their well-being. I also have a nice set of Starrett fractional dial calipers - but they stay in a drawer...

Craig

[Tony Pisano]

I have several mitutoyo ranging from 4 to 12 inches from my machine shop days. I do use them in the wood shop, but they stay in their cases when not in use. I haven't had any problems with the racks, but I don't lay them in sawdust and clean off whatever I'm measuring before using them. The 4 in one is really handy

[Kevin Perez]

I echo the comment about cheap digital ones eating batteries. I stick to standard dial calipers and have never had a problem with dust in them. I have an expensive one and a cheap, plastic General one from HD that is reads fractions. I end up using the cheap one much more often. Which is odd, since just about all my other set up stuff is Starrett.

[jack dempsey]

Hello,
Thanks again for all of the information. I picked up a dial caliper from LV and after reading all of the comments here think that it will be fine for woodworking. I need to keep proper perspective here. At least for me at this stage of the game it could be nitpicking as far as accuracy goes compared to my skill level. I suspect as time goes on there may be a reason for another in the future. Thanks, Jack

[Bill Adamsen]

I'm using a Wixey with fractions that I purchased a few years ago at Woodcraft for less than $30. I replace the battery about once a year. It is pretty obvious when the battery runs down and requires replacement. The calipers are fantastic for aligning with my DROs on the planer (especially), sander and router table. I find the digital readout much easier to use than a dial.

[rudy de haas]

Hello,
Looking for opinions on a first time purchase for a Dial Caliper. Just looking for accuracy and reliability. Any suggestions will be welcome.
Jack

Don't make my mistake: I found one on sale at princess auto (think harbour fright ) - $12.95 and beautifully made - heavy, stainless steel, smooth operation - what a bargain! Except that it's in tenths of inches - great for comparing two things (is this thciker than that?) but like having a unilingual German speaker in an English debate club when it comes to making things fit.

[jack dempsey]

Rudy,
Thanks for the reply, quite thought provoking. You put a smile on my face. If the woodworking does not work out, you have a shot at comedy writing. Jack

[William Young]

There is nothing like picking up a nice instrument like a Starrett or Brown & Sharp and feeling the smooth operation and quality. However, if your main concern is cost, I don't think there is a significant difference in accuracy between the high quality calipers and the inexpensive plastic ones for wood working. In most instances, I think either will get you to within 1/128" (just a guess) and, in my experience, that is more than close enough most of the time. If I have two boards that are within 1/64" in thickness, I consider them the same. Once glued together, they will get sanded anyway. I have both a better quality stainless steel model and a plastic one made by General. I can use either and, 99% of the time, get good results. Be careful about some of the cheap plastic ones. Some tend to have sticky movement and are hard to adjust smoothly (the General is very smooth). Direct reading is nice, but I don't like messing with batteries that seem to always be dead when needed. I've never had any problems with dirty dial caliper mechanisms, but I keep them in the drawer when not in use.

[jack dempsey]

William,

I have picked a reasonably priced pair from Lee Valley and they seem to be very serviceable. I guess I will see in the long run. As for dust and dirt they come with a case which should take care of any issue there. Jack