Have these also, good for banging around the shop. The dial on mine has started to rotate inside so I now have to re-zero every time I use them so I would suggest you save you receipt. Nice review, thanks Marty!
I bought the Pittsburgh dail caliper with decimal measurements... about $5 more. I was surprised how accurate they are. Way more accurate than what is needed for woodworking.
I bought a set maybe 20 years ago, all metal. I took them to work and measured them against our professional calipers, and they were just as accurate. After years of use, they are still accurate and have performed exceptionally well. (They or it? Like a pair of scissors? I never thought about it until this very minute!) I've used them as a scribe on metal with no perseptible wear to the tips, so the hardening process must have been really good. The only issue I've ever had is the dial lens is starting to craze, and the plastic box is disintegrating. Definitely worth the $10 bucks I paid!
Update! I recently looked at the 6" dial calipers currently being offered at HFT, and I must say I am greatly disappointed in the quality compared to what I bought years ago. No comparison. Mine are etched "Hardened Stainless Steel", and the current ones are not. Also, the external measurement jaws are not precision ground like my old set. The etchings are rough, pretty much every aspect of the calipers is obviously lower quality than what they used to offer. Even the plastic case is thin and too delicate. I would not buy them. To be fair, this just refers to their lowest price calipers. They carry higher priced units that appear comparable to my old set. However, I did not see any decent quality mechanical dial calipers offered, only electronic digital units.
I bought the same calipers after watching a couple William Ng videos, they are definitely a good bargain and are definitely good enough for woodworking!
hi marty just wanted to say that i myself buy these calipers from harbor freight too and the ones i get have the blue color ring inside with fractions besides decimal system. they are solid enough for woodworking and i have only had to replace mine once as i dropped it accidentally and also with these Pittsburgh calipers they have lifetime warranty on them. it sould say on the cardboard that wraps the container so keep that so you can replace it free. i brougjt my first one in and they told me its not covered so i went home to bring that cardboard box back and showed them its lifetime warranty and got another one at no cost. cant go wrong with these!
Just buy older used mitutoyo's,ive seen them sell as low as $10usd without original case, $15 with. Japan>China by extreme amount. People seem less interested in dial calipers these days so they don't bring big bucks on the used market.IMHO dials are superior to digital due to rack drive that cant be slipped unlike the digital stuff,when real accuracy is required i always grab a mic (or more dedicated tool for job like depth and bore gauges etc) anyways but the older mitutoyo stuff is always dead nuts on, i have about a dozen mitutoyo calipers (yes ,rather a lot and some would say too many, if they come up cheap i buy them) up to 40 years old and they all measure the same when put on a standard.
Your solutions works great too. But these also work great for "woodworking" purposes and can be gotten much quicker (if you live near a Harbor Freight store).
+Mark Thieme Thanks. I suspect the dial calipers are less hit and miss. I'd suggest doing what I did - open the box and give the calipers a quick look.
If I might make a suggestion, as it is reading 1 thou off, turn the dial to read true on a gauge and ignore zero, after all how often do you need to measure something of zero thickness. As long as you remember what to look for when checking the gears haven't jumped, a big problem if the caliper is handled roughly, you will be fine.
I bought the digital caliper from HF and the calibration isn't terrible. The repeat-ability is okay but can be off a few numbers sometimes. It's good enough for what I use it for: figuring out drill bit sizes.
Everyone is saying "Good enough" I need them for exact .001 measurements. In reloading rifle bullets or measuring barrels. .454 in not good enough if it's supposed to be .458. I have a digital caliper and it is off. I'll try these and find out since they are adjustable.
Gday, Just use a height gauge if your just going for case or overall length, if neck tension is your goal just use a mic.I have a cheap digital height gauge that lives on my reloading bench for (i wouldn't use one of these cheapos as an actual height gauge but for this application they fine) just this, i use it like a go no-go gauge and can just slide sized/trimmed case or loaded round under it and fell if there's play,obviously if it doesn't fit its over spec! Much faster and consistent than using something in the hand you have to pick up every time.On neck tension ive honestly found it impossible to get any less than around 1.5thou consistency when using calipers(any type) so just use a mic,that gets me in the 1/2 thou range i desire to get single digit ES.I guess you could use a bore gauge but that's seriously going overboard for reloading but thats the only way to accurately measure barrels IMHO,you will get a different number every time with a caliper trying to measure id of of anything round.I am an avid shooter,re-loader,pretend gunsmith and model engineer.
You want better go with a micrometer calipers for me are use with +- .005 and a mic with anything less. I work with very close to no tolerence + nothing to -.0002 or true postion of .001
+Joe basementwoodworking Maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised. Now that I think of it I have two of the dial indicators and they've been working fine for me.
Marty Backe i was suprised. .i purchased one from home depot and it was 35$i only saved 15$but the quality of the caliper is the same as harbor freights .and i dont buy many things from h.f. cuz their tools are made so cheaply and usually dontt last but jve had this for over a year and stilk accurate
Have these also, good for banging around the shop. The dial on mine has started to rotate inside so I now have to re-zero every time I use them so I would suggest you save you receipt.
Nice review, thanks Marty!
I bought the Pittsburgh dail caliper with decimal measurements... about $5 more.
I was surprised how accurate they are. Way more accurate than what is needed for woodworking.
I bought a set maybe 20 years ago, all metal. I took them to work and measured them against our professional calipers, and they were just as accurate. After years of use, they are still accurate and have performed exceptionally well. (They or it? Like a pair of scissors? I never thought about it until this very minute!) I've used them as a scribe on metal with no perseptible wear to the tips, so the hardening process must have been really good. The only issue I've ever had is the dial lens is starting to craze, and the plastic box is disintegrating. Definitely worth the $10 bucks I paid!
Update! I recently looked at the 6" dial calipers currently being offered at HFT, and I must say I am greatly disappointed in the quality compared to what I bought years ago. No comparison. Mine are etched "Hardened Stainless Steel", and the current ones are not. Also, the external measurement jaws are not precision ground like my old set. The etchings are rough, pretty much every aspect of the calipers is obviously lower quality than what they used to offer. Even the plastic case is thin and too delicate. I would not buy them. To be fair, this just refers to their lowest price calipers. They carry higher priced units that appear comparable to my old set. However, I did not see any decent quality mechanical dial calipers offered, only electronic digital units.
I bought the same calipers after watching a couple William Ng videos, they are definitely a good bargain and are definitely good enough for woodworking!
hi marty just wanted to say that i myself buy these calipers from harbor freight too and the ones i get have the blue color ring inside with fractions besides decimal system. they are solid enough for woodworking and i have only had to replace mine once as i dropped it accidentally and also with these Pittsburgh calipers they have lifetime warranty on them. it sould say on the cardboard that wraps the container so keep that so you can replace it free. i brougjt my first one in and they told me its not covered so i went home to bring that cardboard box back and showed them its lifetime warranty and got another one at no cost. cant go wrong with these!
+whitewolf8758 That's good to know. I'll flatten the box and stick it in with my box of tool manuals. Thanks.
I have these and love them. Used one to make a table saw sled that was accurate within 0.001" over 33 inches. I'd say that's good enough for me.
Just buy older used mitutoyo's,ive seen them sell as low as $10usd without original case, $15 with. Japan>China by extreme amount. People seem less interested in dial calipers these days so they don't bring big bucks on the used market.IMHO dials are superior to digital due to rack drive that cant be slipped unlike the digital stuff,when real accuracy is required i always grab a mic (or more dedicated tool for job like depth and bore gauges etc) anyways but the older mitutoyo stuff is always dead nuts on, i have about a dozen mitutoyo calipers (yes ,rather a lot and some would say too many, if they come up cheap i buy them) up to 40 years old and they all measure the same when put on a standard.
Your solutions works great too. But these also work great for "woodworking" purposes and can be gotten much quicker (if you live near a Harbor Freight store).
I've been considering buying a set of these. Glad to see they're usable. Thanks!
Thanks for doing this. I've been shopping for a new caliper. HF is always hit or miss. I leaning towards the dial with fractions.
+Mark Thieme Thanks. I suspect the dial calipers are less hit and miss. I'd suggest doing what I did - open the box and give the calipers a quick look.
If I might make a suggestion, as it is reading 1 thou off, turn the dial to read true on a gauge and ignore zero, after all how often do you need to measure something of zero thickness. As long as you remember what to look for when checking the gears haven't jumped, a big problem if the caliper is handled roughly, you will be fine.
I bought the digital caliper from HF and the calibration isn't terrible. The repeat-ability is okay but can be off a few numbers sometimes. It's good enough for what I use it for: figuring out drill bit sizes.
+Adam R Yeah, I don't think the digital version has the same repeatability as the dial. Good enough is often enough ;-)
landed pretty much within its stated tolerance, thanks for sharing.
Everyone is saying "Good enough" I need them for exact .001 measurements. In reloading rifle bullets or measuring barrels. .454 in not good enough if it's supposed to be .458. I have a digital caliper and it is off. I'll try these and find out since they are adjustable.
Keep in mind this is a woodworking channel. The tolerances are much different since wood changes dimensions every day as the humidity changes.
Gday,
Just use a height gauge if your just going for case or overall length, if neck tension is your goal just use a mic.I have a cheap digital height gauge that lives on my reloading bench for (i wouldn't use one of these cheapos as an actual height gauge but for this application they fine) just this, i use it like a go no-go gauge and can just slide sized/trimmed case or loaded round under it and fell if there's play,obviously if it doesn't fit its over spec! Much faster and consistent than using something in the hand you have to pick up every time.On neck tension ive honestly found it impossible to get any less than around 1.5thou consistency when using calipers(any type) so just use a mic,that gets me in the 1/2 thou range i desire to get single digit ES.I guess you could use a bore gauge but that's seriously going overboard for reloading but thats the only way to accurately measure barrels IMHO,you will get a different number every time with a caliper trying to measure id of of anything round.I am an avid shooter,re-loader,pretend gunsmith and model engineer.
get a cheapo micrometer and be done with it.
You want better go with a micrometer calipers for me are use with +- .005 and a mic with anything less. I work with very close to no tolerence + nothing to -.0002 or true postion of .001
i have the same calipers..i was suprised also..thanks for the review
+Joe basementwoodworking Maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised. Now that I think of it I have two of the dial indicators and they've been working fine for me.
Marty Backe i was suprised. .i purchased one from home depot and it was 35$i only saved 15$but the quality of the caliper is the same as harbor freights .and i dont buy many things from h.f. cuz their tools are made so cheaply and usually dontt last but jve had this for over a year and stilk accurate
I would like to see these in metric.
jep.. for wood working is very good.
Not bad considering dial calipers will never be 100% accurate. Good buy