Dial Calipers

[jack dempsey]

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

[Lee Schierer]

Stay away from a dial caliper in your woodshop. The sawdust will eventually find its way into the rack and pinion and mess it up (DAMHIKT). Go for a digital type with a glass slide. If you are looking for Cheap, go to Harbor Freight. If you are looking for accuracy go to Mitutoyo or Starett but be prepared to pay considerably more..

[Adam Herman]

The cheap digitals eat batteries at about 4x the rate that the good digitals do, because the electronics are much cheaper.

I stick with dial, keep them in the case with the sleeve on it. no batteries to go dead. Same goes for all measurement tools, keep them cased and clean if you want them to stay accurate.

[Bruce Page]

If you’re looking a premium 6" dial caliper, my rec is for a Brown & Sharp. I have had them all over the last 40 years; B&S, Starrett, Mitutoyo, Fowler, Helios. IMO, the Brown & Sharp have by far the best “feel”, are very accurate & durable.
As to dust in the woodshop, I never leave them in a pile of sawdust but I have never had a problem with it. If they do get dirty a light dusting of the gear rack with a soft bristle brush like a toothbrush and a puff of air will take care of it.

[Mike Cutler]

I have Mitutoyo's, analog, not digital. The machinists at work have Starrett,s, and Brown and Sharp's.

What you're looking for is zero hysteresis. You want a caliper that does not have any "slop" at all. When opening and closing the caliper, it should always return to the "zero" you have set.
Any quality dial caliper will be more than accurate enough for wood working, (we'll leave the NIST discussion out of it. )

[Jamie Buxton]

Digital is better for those of us with less-than-perfect eyesight. My current one is a no-name from woodcraft. It cost less than $30, and it wants a new battery once a year or so.

[Rick Alexander]

I've got a wixey and I-guage - personally like the I-guage better for the readout plus it seems to match the planer and router lift better most of the time - usually within 1-2 thousandths.

[Jim Becker]

My dial calipers are from Lee Valley; one imperial and one metric. I've had no issues with dust.

[andy bessette]

Been using dial calipers in my woodshop for decades with zero problems. Mitutoyo, Starrett, Brown and Sharpe are top of line. But I also have an ancient import that is excellent, and a plastic one that is OK for many uses that don't require extreme precision. Get it in 0.001", not fractions. Also get a decimal equivalents chart until you learn to convert in your head.

[Keith Outten]

I own both a Mitutoyo digital caliper and one from Wixey. I use the Wixey caliper 98% of the time, its accurate and inexpensive so I don't have to worry about it being damaged. Get the link from my signature if your interested.

[Mike Manning]

I have both a Mitutoyo dial and digital caliper. I love them both. I don't think you can go wrong with Mitutoyo. I suspect Starrett is equally good.

[Mel Fulks]

I've got an old set of what I call indicating calipers. Gear driven with metal scale marked in 64th shown "magnified " to thirty seconds

[richard b miller]

i use an I-gauge. when i'm finished working with it, i pull out the battery, put it back in its case and store it in an upper cabinet.
i've had it for several years and replaced the battery once.

hth
rich

[Bruce Wrenn]

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.

[jack dempsey]

Thanks to everyone for the information. This is very helpful as this will be my first caliper. I will digest do a little more research and pull the trigger. Again, I appreciate everyone taking toime to give feedback. Jack