Re: power consumption, Don't be fooled by the display blanking on those digital calipers , many will draw just as much current blanked as working, in general mitutoyo and other expensive brands will use less power (thus the battery last longer ) than the cheap ones. My mitutoyo mic does not switch off at all !
That's what I discovered. The latest crop of harbor freight calipers will blank the display, but it is still on. If you press the zero button, then turn them back on, they will now show zero. I found that some the house brand from Travers will hold there position when off, and don't go through batteries when not in use.
Like most electronics Off no longer is "off" it really means what we used to call "standby mode" the only true off mode is battery mode. That's why all the low price calipers ship with a "spare" "bonus" battery the battery in the caliper is either dead or half dead from powering the chip to "remember" zero and other functions like "instant on". So the battery the caliper is a place holder showing you how the replacement battery should be installed. The original battery should be discarded. Unless the caliper is being used almost daily it is probably a good idea to remove the battery.
Fun video. I have a set of 6” Starrett that was very first calipers. They were given to me because they would drain a battery in less than a week. Now my go-to is the Mitutoyo in 8”. I NEVER shut them off! I’ve probably replaced the battery 2 or 3 times in 10 years. I try to remember to shut them off when I know I’ll not be using them but I guarantee if I go to the shop right now, they are on. Moral of the story, don’t sweat the battery they are good tools.
I purchased two of these very same calipers. I had no problem with cutting them to pieces and making digital readouts out of them for my mini Chinese mini lathe. 1 for the cross slide and 1 the Carriage feed and they seem to work fine. Not bad for twenty bucks.
Good morning, Mr. Pete. I'm becoming a huge fan of Shars tools..seems they have found that fine line of quality for a good price. I enjoyed very much, as always. Thanks, Mr. Pete! :-)
Our shop teacher in the 1970’s required us to know how to read and use a vernier. I haven’t used a lathe or a Bridgeport in 40 years, but in reloading my old eyes forced me to start using a dial caliper about 20 years ago...
HAHA, your story rings true to me as well .Always used verniers in the past but can no longer get consistent measurements when talking below 0.1mm so also switched to dials(although in more recent times, im a bit less old than you!), sometimes im getting picky about 1/2 a thou of neck tension, got to keep those ES numbers low.I do machining as well and use verniers when making rough cuts but not for final measurement that's when its dial and mic time, at least the verniers can sit on lathe without much worry,unlike dials and mic's which can get fouled by chips pretty easy.Digital can go jump.
I'm sitting in front of my PC and sitting next to it is a Pittsburgh digital caliper which works smoothly across the whole span, was tested like you are doing now, and proved to be very accurate for the $10 paid.
Not meaning to criticise too much but, you're making a common mistake of adjusting the applied pressure to get the value you desire rather than measuring with a fixed force (a real problem with calipers in general ).
I agree Bill. I believe that pressing on the measurement 'blades' is legit, but pressing on the adjustment knob flexes the frame and rack within their tolerances. Still a very good video Mr Pete.
As a new machinist back in the 70's my bosses name was Francis. He was notorious for doing that very thing and was ridiculed mercilessly for it. Now every time I see someone do it I can't help but think of Francie and his adjustable caliper pressure lol.
Bill Todd If calipers were used for final measurements that would be more of a problem, but since all final measurements are (or should be) made with micrometers, it's not that much of an issue. The only time I would use a caliper on a final measurement is when it would surpass my 5" micrometers capacity. Then I would use a vernier caliper applying appropriate pressure on the jaws, not the rack.
@@tsw199756 You are correct. My bad on the verbiage. Just meant that I prefer to slide the jaws to the work with my thumbs than locking the slide and then using the adjustment wheel.
Lyle, when I first purchased my gage pins and gage blocks over 25 plus years ago, they came in wooden display and storage boxes same as yours. I removed all the pins and blocks and literally soaked the wood storage area with wd40, not a single trace of rust or corrosion on them to this day.
The trick with the HF Pittsburgh calipers is to take a fine stone and deburr all the edges on the caliper (except the measuring surfaces). This makes the caliper feel much better in the hand and improves the movement of the sliding jaw. I always use the on/off button on the HF calipers and the batteries seem to last three or four years. This is about the same battery life as my Mititoyo calipers. I've gotten the HF calipers for $10 when they are on sale. An excellent bargain for a decent measuring tool.. certainly a tool every machinist should have for everyday use. If you buy one I would recommend removing them from the box before you leave the store and make sure the movable jaw moves smoothly and there is no light showing between either the jaw faces or the i.d. measuring ears when they are closed. Calipers are often called "estimators" for the reasons you showed in the video when taking a quick measurement, but with care you can reliably get +/- 0.001, which is important when making difficult to get to measurements. I never really liked dial calipers on the shop floor. The tiniest piece of dirt in the gear rack will make them jump a tooth... and it was always at the worst time.
I just bought a 6 inch dial caliper from Harbor Freight that measuers fractions to 1/64th and to 1/100th of an inch. I must say they are very well made and I am surprised at how accurate and repeatable they are for what they are. Compared all 4 ways to measuer against each other. Great for wood work and so on.
The cheaper ones are supplied with 'LR??' batteries. These are lithium based and don't last very long. The circuitery inside the digital caliper is powered even when turned off. Generally turning them off only turns off the display Go buy some 'SR??' batteries (silver oxide based) and you will find that the batteries will last at least six times longer, usually more. Nice video.
That was interesting. I am always pleasantly surprised when Harbor Freight stuff works, as it quite often does. I buy a lot of things there, and actually like their stuff. I go with the mindset of "if this just works long enough to..." and am usually happy. Mostly. Thanks.
I bought a pair of HF calipers exactly like the ones mr pete has. Paid 10 bucks for them with a coupon. Original battery lasted about 30 minutes but the replacement battery has been going for 2 years without issue. When I first got them they were very stiff and crunchy feeling. Took them apart, stoned off the burrs and reassembled them. I'm impressed by how smooth they are with 30 minutes of fine tuning.
My boss bought some 12in one. The problem I have with them is if you press the black part, not even pressing any of the buttons, it tends to zero itself out or switch to metric.
One good test, to determine a digital calipers accuracy, is rapidly opening and closing the jaws several times and see if the caliper will return to zero out at the closed position. My Mitutoyo will pass this test every time, but my craftsman and Starrett will not.
I have observed this as well, i call it "slipping the scale" for lack of a better term and this is one of the main reasons i refuse to us digital,if your dial caliper slips scale something serious has gone wrong and you will notice,not so with digital junk!
About six months ago, I purchased the supposedly modern "Cadillac" of dial calipers for $170. They are made by Etalon (same as Brown and Sharpe) and they have all the bells and whistles. When I received them I was sadly disappointed because they seemed like Chinese junk and I sent them back to the supplier. I did some research and discovered that many calipers made by Starrett and Brown & Sharpe/Etalon are actually made or assembled in China. Upon further research, I ended up purchasing a set of Mitutoyo calipers that are made in Japan (a lot of Mitutoyo calipers are made in Brazil) and they are very well made. Just my two cents.
Everything went to cheap Chinese assembly and design. You get what you pay for. I own a Chinese knockoff micrometer and it gets the job done just like a starret.
When buying starrett tools you need to stay away from any and all the "global series" tools in the catalog. Those all have that title and the pages or website page have a small globe on them. EVERYTHING in the "global" series is china made.
Although testing with a known precision block is very good. Something I have learned is that if you know what result to expect. You may force the tool to read that measurement. I always test as I would naturally when machining.
I bought a Shane brand digital caliper off of eBay several years back. Very nice pair of calipers, highly recommend them. I keep them at my desk to measure parts that I'm working on in my design work I do. I have a couple pair of the HF one's too. They are my one's to hand to anyone that needs to borrow a pair of calipers from me. Will say, they are very accurate for the price paid. My first pair of digital calipers was the Mityoyo (sp) 8" pair, cost me over $160 from Enco. They were great until about ten years later, started reading funny. Didn't manner how you cleaned them, took care of them, and oh, these stayed at my desk, they didn't go out in the shop. Last time I tried calibrated them, they were right on at 1", 2", 3" and so on. But when you checked them at say 1.250", 2.250" or any other odd dimension, they would be off as much as .010" in any reading. So for any one out there who checks/calibrates digital calipers, suggest checking at different intervals and not just 1", 2", 3" and so on. I grew up using a pair of old Heilos calipers similar to the ones you have in your video. I gave them to one of my nephews when we closed out the old family homestead. I pretty much wore them out from use in my earlier years. I still love my Starrett calipers! Again, thank you Mr. Pete for another shop class lesson. Two thumbs up!!! Ken Stokley
Mr. Pete, Like you I am cheap. When I am not using my HF caliper I take out the batt. and turn it upside down and put it back in so I know where it is and it will not drain down.
Thanks for the video. I have a set of cheap Chinese digital calipers I bought off Ebay, and they are pretty good. They are the only digital set I own. I have two sets of Mititoyo dial calipers, and a Starrett vernier, and a Helios vernier caliper. I actually use the dial, and vernier, calipers more than the digital. Once again, thanks for the video.
Hi Mr. Peterson, It goes without saying, but ... Yet another great video! Just a comment about your thoughts that you were afraid people would have about holding your Jo-Blocks in your hand. The coefficient of thermal expansion for steel is 7.2 x 10^-6 / F or 13 x 10^-6 / C. The temperature in the metrology lab is specified as 68 degrees F or 20 degrees C (the two are exactly the same). On a winter day the temperature in our home is 68 F. On that same day, the steady state temperature of my hands is about 82 F. That's a temperature difference of 14 degrees. So, the 1.0000" Jo-Block will be 7.2 x 10^-6 / F x 1.000" x 14 F = 0.000101" longer than at the inspection temperature. Obviously, the 2.0000" block will have expanded approximately 0.0002". Better get out your precision, 50-millionths mike to _maybe_ measure that increase in length. A couple of observations: 1) The USA is, indeed, a metric country, though it may not always be obvious. The specification for metrology labs is 20 degrees C, it just happens to exactly equal 68 degrees F. 2) I'm more worried that the stuff on my hands will corrode the Jo-Blocks than that my hand will distort the block stack ups in the range of one inch due to thermal expansion. So, I wipe them down with instrument oil when done. BTW, I think you know my uncle Paul; he is a member of the the Midwest Tool Collectors and designed and built ornamental / rose turning lathes. Thanks for your videos & Best regards, Gottfried
You are so right, but you know that people would make a big deal out of it. But the expansion would be minuscule, and not possible to measure with ordinary tools
I love the end, opening up the box seeing the caliper WITH a battery ON it. It doesn't work so back inside to complain: 70 + years a master/teacher is getting a lesson from a young girl :-))
Arend Wolbers The ones I bought(two for me and two for gifts) all came with a battery installed and the spare. I would return this pair too just because they are supposed to come with a battery and a spare. It appears she didn’t get it working with the spare battery so either it was inop or came with two dead batteries. Return!
Enjoyed the video, thanks. I have an identical Max-Cal that I purchased new in 1982. It has been very reliable and good on batteries too. It has automatic shutoff.
I think Lyle you demonstrated the inherent failing of vernier calipers. That being how difficult they are to use .. accurately. It may be in my head but I find a micrometer more userfreindly. Also I imagine the ones that have had a hard life could easily have been dropped and 1 or 2 thou of bend in the fixed jaw could easily be compensated for by squeezing the moving jaw to align it. Hence your ability to make them read dead on. Interesting all the same.
I know this is a test from years ago, but I really liked it. It's a pity that the Swedish company Limit was not included in the test. In Europe, it is quite a popular company, expensive, but not as absurd as Mitutoyo. I use a simple Limit CDH 150 mm model. From the beginning he can't decide whether it should be 0.00 mm or 0.01 mm. Basically, I'm satisfied with the caliper, but I still most often use the old, Polish-made VIS vernier caliper from the 1970s. Thank you for the interesting video.
Lock up and stiff operation is generally gunk in the gears and tracks which brake kleene will almost always remove then light oil I have disassembled mine a couple times to clean and lube.... Good to clean the drive gear as well..... I have bought cheap 14 dollar calipers to attach to my mill and lathe to use as digital readouts.... For those I wish I could turn off the automatic turn off... The ones I bought could be plugged into a computer if you get the right plug or wire it direct
I've had a Fowler Max-Cal exactly like that one for about 35 years. The batteries last a long time, it's accurate, but if you move it too fast it skips counts. They still used a rack and pinion in them back then. It stays in the case pretty much, and I use my newer ones with big numbers. It's been 35 years, and my eyeballs aren't what they used to be.
Neat to see how close they all measure. I’ve heard them lovingly referred to as dial or digital approximators. Good for a lot of measuring tasks, but not the final word in measuring.
The reason for that some calipers dont turn off is that they drain the battery at practically the same rate off as on. Tom Lipton from Ox tools don't turn any of his calipers off for this reason. :)
My attitude to calipers (at least in the home shop environment) is that I use them to get to within a few thou, at which point I switch to a micrometer for the final dimension. When measuring an item I'm not making (ie. something that comes pre-made), I'll use a caliper if I need to to know the size to within a couple of thou, but for something I need to know the size to less than that, I switch to the micrometer. Calipers (especially electronic ones) are very fast to use, easy to read, and accurate enough for things such as checking drill sizes, and measuring items that are to be threaded. My go to set are a pair of Workzone digital calipers. controlline.org.uk/phpBB2/files/workzone_digital_caliper_small_195.jpg They're smooth in operation, the finish is reasonable, they have auto on/off, and they even have a quick reference chart on the back, for metric (3mm to 20 mm) and Whitworth (1/4" to 1") threading. I bought them about 10 years ago from ALDI, for around £15, and (other than replacement batteries) they've never required any kind of maintenance. Regarding the Harbour Freight one, are you sure it wasn't the absence of the battery, that was stopping it working? 😋
When I want a reliable accurate measurement, I'll use a Mic. That being said, I have 8 of those harbor freight calipers laying on every work bench and machine around the shop. 99% of the time the cheap calipers are adequate. As far as the batteries going out quicker on the cheapies, you can buy 50 of those watch batteries on ebay for under $10, and that's what I've done. I bought some 5yrs ago, and I'm only half way thru my stock pile of batteries.
If when it's off, you move it and it's still reading the position without rezero'ing - It's always on. Most if not all of these are always on. The digital display is all you are turning off. The display uses a tiny tiny fraction of the overall power. What you think Mr. Pete?
Except for the old Mitutoyos, and I think that might be related to their not having auto shutoff. The 'absolute' Mitu's will behave as you stated, though they're better about battery consumption when off as compared to the HF cheapies, as aVe had shown. Non-'absolute' digitals generally don't wake up on movement, re-zero any time you power them on, and consequently have fantastic battery life. I wonder if they don't auto shutoff due to losing zero or origin when they go to sleep?
My 12" Helios has no on/off but the battery lasts months even used many times daily. I got it cheap because it had coolant contamination on the pcb and was eating batteries. Check those IP Ratings if you run fluids in your machines. @Crafted, you're absolutley right. Surprised Mr. Pete didn't answer. Keep your fingers safe.
Haha...look closely at your footage of the caliper not working, it turned off when the box the opened (must have seen a Starrett hat/shirt & died of shame). Ha, but seriously though, Probably the foam case pushing on battery cover & making the connection...until you opened it up that is. I usually clean & condition the contacts on battery powered items...still though, on some calipers, especially cheap ones like those Pittsburg, I need to shim the battery by sliding a small piece of card stock or folded paper between the battery & cover to secure the battery & maintain a connection. A commonly overlooked variable though is the dozen or so model numbers in that same size battery...most of which online sellers mistakenly list as compatible. There's various chemical compositions/compounds built/assembled to the differing device requirements for load, duty cycles, amp, volts...etc, of which any given device was only meant to use one spec & its respective battery model/s...which are hopefully listed correctly, if at all, on your device (provided the manufacturer/designer knew of these variable too)...but you never know these days, so just keep a variety of the models by various brands on hand. There's seemingly some cross compatibility since usually multiple models will power the same device to varying degrees of success & battery life, but very few or only one model is optimized for a given device. This was very evident when i discovered the SR44 made with silver oxide & provides a slightly higher voltage than the others...the SR44 was ably power up tools & various items previously thought to have something wrong...also sadly, maybe all that was needed for countless items I've deep-sixed over the years for not turning on. Hope this helps.
You of all people walked into Harbor Freight and paid for chinesium? I think hell just froze over. At any rate, machinists have been keeping precision tools in wooden Gerstner chests for decades. The wood generally prevents condensation from forming. You'll note that Starett used beautiful wooden cases for years until they cheaped out and went to plastic. The higher end stuff, e.g. the vernier master height gages, still come in wooden boxes.
Now i have to get my woodworking mate to knock me up a box for all my measuring equipment.I only have a couple of things in wood at moment, parallels and a height gauge, rest of my stuff is in plastic fantastic :(Oh well, he likes playing with dead trees and it will give him something to do! I probably should have got him to do that before he started on dedicated cases for my 12" verniers and square collection.I prefer wood off-course but never thought about this (now glaringly obvious) benefit,was only getting boxs for these caliper and squares because calipers came without a box(used) and squares came in cardboard which simply aint going to cut it.
I have a Mitutoyo 6" dial caliper, I loved it, used it for wood working, dropped it once, never was accurate again, I thru it against the concrete garage floor, now its in pieces. ;-\
Nice work I do enjoy watching your videos. I bought a few the Harbor Freight digital calipers, they have inch, mm and fractions. I leave one by the drill cabinet the fraction mode is great for sorting fraction drill bits. Thanks
I wish more companys made 4” calipers.. i have a starrett 6” and a 12”, however i mainly use a 4” harborfreight digital. It fits right in my pocket nicely
I bought one of those HF calipers some years ago. It seemed to be a little bit sticky until I oiled the rack with a small amount of machine oil. After that it was very smooth. Several years later I thought that I should have a GOOD caliper so I bought a more expensive one. The more expensive one was very jumpy and absolute crap compared to the HF one. I sent it back. The HF one is fine for me. Mr Pete, I suspect that the calipers that you have that aren't smooth would be smooth again with a little bit of oil on their racks.
I discovered that on my Mitutoyo digital calipers zeroing the outside jaws does not zero the inside jaws there is about .004 difference, the top jaws actually overlap, so I keep a known sized hole gage handy to calibrate with when I remember to. How do others handle this?
The secret to keeping your dial indicator accurate is to keep them out of metal chips and clean. The rack and pinion, once damaged, create inaccurate readings at those locations on the rack.
Those "Enco" ones look suspiciously like re-branded mitutoyos! Ive got an old set (no idea age,they look identical, zero plastic apart from dial screen and the same kind of case down to red material inside) that look pretty well the same.Could be everyone copying everyone else though.I only have Mitutoyos (prefer older ones with metal housings)aside from one Mauser dial caliper i bought just because Mauser. My most recent mitutoyo dial calipers cost me a whopping $27AUD including shipping,beat that! Original case ,condition A1 no wear or damage.No idea of the age but at minimum few generations old.One factor in price is they imperial and i live in a metric country,metric ones bring much much higher prices in the 3-5 times region.So for you imperial fans (i use whatever, not a fanboi of either,i use solely imperial for reloading as bulk of data is supplied this way but manufacturing i just use whatever the drawing is in,if im doing the drawing i normally go metric but that's most likely habit from working in %100 metric industries) check out Australian ebay for cheap imperial measuring equipment.If shipping wasn't so horrendous it would be cheaper for me to by metric stuff from over there in the USA!
The Pittsburgh caliper is the same one that is sold under Hornady (with a brand name sticker) RCBS (same brand name sticker0, Lyman, Frankford Arsenal, etc. etc except you'll pay from $30-120 for those calipers. It's ridiculous that companies sell the exact same product but under different brand names when that product is a crappy $2 caliper.
I have one of the chinese "black dial blue-red-yellow buttons" digital calipers. Got it a few years back from a reloading supplier for 20 something $, and it's been very smooth, workmanship is much better than your example and it's been dead-on accurate since day one. I use it daily. Maybe whatever chinese factory makes these produces different grades of the same model.
Body heat? Really? Are we building space shuttles here? Have you ever tried to correct a skipped tooth in a dial caliper? Love your informative videos...catching up on the older ones. Keep them coming.
I was caught of guard by that as well. I am just new to using these and learning. Does the room temperature and or body heart really make a difference when trying to get measurements??
I have 3 Harbor Freight calipers, 1 vernier and 2 digital. I brought the vernier caliper back in the late 1980s, are harder to read but very good. The digital calipers are less than 5 years old and have little problems, the older one started reading half size . If it is 2 inches it would read 1 inch. I took it a part and clean it worked again. The newer ones will not zero anymore but I just have to remember the offset. I do 3d printing so 0.1mm good enough for my work.
Another issue , but with cheap ones , it kinda takes the issue away . Replacement parts , generally with name brand you can get repairs & parts . I have a fire and several of my digital tools had melted plastic and all but one I could still fined replacement heads . But again with cheap ones , kinda takes the issue away . On the consistent readings , or the lack of , using the same technique for repeatability .
My experience with 2 different digital electronic calipers is that even though they will both auto shutoff if I don't remove the battery in between uses the battery will still die on me in relatively short time.
@@mrpete222 My thinking is the ones that turn on automatically when you open them to measure something do this by continuously monitoring for changes, which depletes the battery even in the "off" state. If I'm right about this the ones that you have to turn on manually will have better battery life even though it is a bit of an annoyance.
G Day Mr Pete, Recently I bought a couple of cheap digital calipers for the front counter and found the external measuring part was not in line with the external measuring part, so if one was to turn something in a lathe using them to measure a fit it would not be hard to get caught out. Might be a good video in that checking the accuracy of them all. Thanks for all of the videos.
Mr. Pete, I have had stainless steel oxidize with age. Not to difficult to remove. My cheap Craftsman caliper is the same way stiff and even locks up sometimes. Irritating at times, but accurate enough for what I use them for.
Nice to see the results of different brands. I bought some at a garage sale and in the box was a Federal dial indicator that is marked 0.00005, how is this read. Thanks, new to this.
Interesting, thanks for sharing Mr. Pete! Apparently calipers are a dependable tool. I have an old HF caliper that I like, it's branded Cen-Tech. Works nice and has a good feel. Have had it for many years. Unfortunately the battery cover ended up somewhere on the floor of my garage never to be found again. I bought a couple of new pairs, the Pittsburgh branded ones like yours. And like yours they feel very gritty, no where near as nice as the Cen-Tech. But they are serviceable for the price.
I prefer mechanical calipers, but bought one of the HF units for metric use and quickly IDing small drill bits. It works ok but has the nasty habit of changing scales and/or zeroing out at the most inopportune times. I now have lots of good calipers, but still have an old Rutland from about 1982 that is very well loved- it's still accurate, but jumps a tooth more and more often, no matter how much I clean it.
I saw you cover photo with the 14 Calipers and thought Mr Pete must be in a laboratory or a large workshop. I shouldn't of been surprises to find you had so many. Which one is your favorite?
Everyone complains about the cheap "crap" tools, but they have their place. They are just not professional tools to be used every day, but they are "good enough" for the weekend warrior. The guy that has to take a precise measurement and doesn't have a set of calipers. If he has gone 30-40 years and doesn't already own them he probably doesn't need something that costs hundreds. I have a cheap Chinese hydraulic press I bought on Amazon for less than $100 and man, I am impressed by it. Built like a tank. Good welds, sturdy, it just works. I am sure the bottle jack is junk, but so what? I will be lucky to use it 5 times in my life. But...I have it when I need it.
Question, is some of the problem you had getting them to "square up" on the blocks due to the blades not being ground perfectly flat and parallel? Also, the Harbor Freight ones are kind of hit and miss. I've seen some that don't work well at all. But, I also had a set that worked flawlessly for more than 10 years.
I´m not sure, but the Fowler looks like a early Tesa Caliper. Maybe, they bought them from Tesa - Etalon (Swiss). My problem with all of them is, you can apply a bit more or a bit less pressure, and get different readings. So i don´t trust them to be accurate better then 2 or 3 thou
Another firecracker of a video! All of my measurement tools are from Harbor Freight - it's all that I can afford... Justify spending. I do have a couple of import 1 2 3 blocks (I think that's what their called). The ones with all the holes in. I'm assuming the holes serve some purpose other than keeping the weight down and saving a bunch of material during casting. I haven't figured out why some are holes are threaded. To use like expensive Lego bricks? Just guessing. Anyway, I've found all of my HF measuring tools to be accurate, and relatively touch. My micrometer & dial calipers have both fallen off my workbench onto the a concrete floor and aren't any worse for the fall. I figured well those are going into the wheelie bin. I check them agains the 1 2 3 block and they measure true after the fall. The dial indicator? didn't fair as well. I it took a spill when the the stand fell over - and that was that. It still reads something - but the dial face rotates independently of the adjustment ring. Did I toss it in the garbabe? No! I'm sure it's good for something - I don't know what yet. My wife just shakes her head.
If you're still interested, the main reason some blocks have holes in them has nothing to do with weight/saving material, they cost as much if not MORE than the solid ones..its an additional feature, you can use the holes to clamp down your blocks to your milling table or drill press t-slots (with only GENTLE pressure, of course!) or to more blocks, thus increasing the width or surface area of the reference faces..many amateur shop owners will have only one block or a pair at most, but if you're obsessive or a professional set-up having numerous pairs is actually very useful, you can set up a quick run of repeatable holes or taps etc with dead-straight reference faces against your 1-2-3 blocks in a fraction of the time it would take to set up a machinist vice, angle plate, dial indicator, etc. 👍
Lyle, stainless steel is just what it says “ Stainless “ NOT RUSTLESS..If you want a rustles version you should order something like 316. I am of course referring to machining metals and not the callipers.
We were expecting at least 20 pair here from your collection mr.pete but we will watch anyways since you have more pair then any one man we are aware of. Interesting you mention range of dimensional checking we just got in a pair of Fowler digital calipers (making our product with it) and while they are high tolerance made for Fowler in the Czech Republic to order (2 months to make get here so they are not to get confused with those online Fowler's) Reason for sharing this is they are only guaranteed for the first 3.00" of the total 6.00" usable length. ? so are they a 3 inch or 6 inch caliper? Great video and who wants to use up more batteries dead when you need them, we knew the Starrett name was going to come up. We are hoping you left your wallet at home though we see the coffee that got you to the store. LOL.
I got board after 3mins and couldn’t waste any more time, but did you have to do any actual recalibration i.e. adjustments to bring it back into specs?
Our Canukistanian friend AvE has shown that even though the cheap calipers feature an auto off, there is still a significant parasitic draw in the electronics. "Off" =/= Off.
On that Harbor Freight at the end - was there a battery in it? I didn't see you checking. They normally do not ship with a battery in them because they are always on (only the display turns off) and the battery will be dead in a few months after installation whether being used or not. There was a battery there in the case. I have seven 6" Harbor Freight calipers and a 20+ year old Mitutoyo. They all have measured exactly the same on everything I've ever tested them on. Same with mics - I have 4 harbor freight mics and a mitutoyo and they all also measure exactly the same on everything.
Perhaps its the mititoyo thats over rated and over priced. In the video it seamed the farthest out until it was tampered with long enough to satisfy. In the real world, we tend to believe what it reads. Not push it around till it reads what we believe
Re: power consumption, Don't be fooled by the display blanking on those digital calipers , many will draw just as much current blanked as working, in general mitutoyo and other expensive brands will use less power (thus the battery last longer ) than the cheap ones. My mitutoyo mic does not switch off at all !
That's what I discovered. The latest crop of harbor freight calipers will blank the display, but it is still on. If you press the zero button, then turn them back on, they will now show zero. I found that some the house brand from Travers will hold there position when off, and don't go through batteries when not in use.
Thanks
Like most electronics Off no longer is "off" it really means what we used to call "standby mode" the only true off mode is battery mode. That's why all the low price calipers ship with a "spare" "bonus" battery the battery in the caliper is either dead or half dead from powering the chip to "remember" zero and other functions like "instant on". So the battery the caliper is a place holder showing you how the replacement battery should be installed. The original battery should be discarded. Unless the caliper is being used almost daily it is probably a good idea to remove the battery.
I agree. I would turn my calipers off. But they are always dead when I need them. Now I take the batteries out and also keep a spare set nearby.
Thanks for your support Bill. AvE has a great video regarding power consumption of Mitytoyo calipers.
Fun video. I have a set of 6” Starrett that was very first calipers. They were given to me because they would drain a battery in less than a week. Now my go-to is the Mitutoyo in 8”. I NEVER shut them off! I’ve probably replaced the battery 2 or 3 times in 10 years. I try to remember to shut them off when I know I’ll not be using them but I guarantee if I go to the shop right now, they are on. Moral of the story, don’t sweat the battery they are good tools.
Thanks
I purchased two of these very same calipers. I had no problem with cutting them to pieces and making digital readouts out of them for my mini Chinese mini lathe. 1 for the cross slide and 1 the Carriage feed and they seem to work fine. Not bad for twenty bucks.
You are right, they are disposable or can be repurposed
My cousin designs calipers. He just got another patent. He put a strain gauge in the caliper that measures thumb wheel force and then compensates.
Awesome
Good morning, Mr. Pete. I'm becoming a huge fan of Shars tools..seems they have found that fine line of quality for a good price. I enjoyed very much, as always. Thanks, Mr. Pete! :-)
Unfortunately my 'new' Mitutoyo is not auto shut off. Accurate and smooth but you are 100% correct in your assessment of the auto shutoff feature.
Our shop teacher in the 1970’s required us to know how to read and use a vernier. I haven’t used a lathe or a Bridgeport in 40 years, but in reloading my old eyes forced me to start using a dial caliper about 20 years ago...
Yes, I know what you mean!
HAHA, your story rings true to me as well .Always used verniers in the past but can no longer get consistent measurements when talking below 0.1mm so also switched to dials(although in more recent times, im a bit less old than you!), sometimes im getting picky about 1/2 a thou of neck tension, got to keep those ES numbers low.I do machining as well and use verniers when making rough cuts but not for final measurement that's when its dial and mic time, at least the verniers can sit on lathe without much worry,unlike dials and mic's which can get fouled by chips pretty easy.Digital can go jump.
I'm sitting in front of my PC and sitting next to it is a Pittsburgh digital caliper which works smoothly across the whole span, was tested like you are doing now, and proved to be very accurate for the $10 paid.
Not meaning to criticise too much but, you're making a common mistake of adjusting the applied pressure to get the value you desire rather than measuring with a fixed force (a real problem with calipers in general ).
I agree Bill. I believe that pressing on the measurement 'blades' is legit, but pressing on the adjustment knob flexes the frame and rack within their tolerances. Still a very good video Mr Pete.
As a new machinist back in the 70's my bosses name was Francis. He was notorious for doing that very thing and was ridiculed mercilessly for it. Now every time I see someone do it I can't help but think of Francie and his adjustable caliper pressure lol.
Bill Todd If calipers were used for final measurements that would be more of a problem, but since all final measurements are (or should be) made with micrometers, it's not that much of an issue. The only time I would use a caliper on a final measurement is when it would surpass my 5" micrometers capacity. Then I would use a vernier caliper applying appropriate pressure on the jaws, not the rack.
@@MaturePatriot vernier calipers do not have a rack only a graduated scale and a coresponding sliding scale. Dial calipers have a rack.
@@tsw199756 You are correct. My bad on the verbiage. Just meant that I prefer to slide the jaws to the work with my thumbs than locking the slide and then using the adjustment wheel.
Lyle, when I first purchased my gage pins and gage blocks over 25 plus years ago, they came in wooden display and storage boxes same as yours. I removed all the pins and blocks and literally soaked the wood storage area with wd40, not a single trace of rust or corrosion on them to this day.
That sounds like a good idea
What?! Your Harbor Freight has automatic doors?!? Living high on the hog there! Thanks Mr Pete!
What free "tool" did you pick up?
I've had my HB ones for almost 10 years hanging in a unheated garage and still work fine.
The trick with the HF Pittsburgh calipers is to take a fine stone and deburr all the edges on the caliper (except the measuring surfaces). This makes the caliper feel much better in the hand and improves the movement of the sliding jaw.
I always use the on/off button on the HF calipers and the batteries seem to last three or four years. This is about the same battery life as my Mititoyo calipers.
I've gotten the HF calipers for $10 when they are on sale. An excellent bargain for a decent measuring tool.. certainly a tool every machinist should have for everyday use. If you buy one I would recommend removing them from the box before you leave the store and make sure the movable jaw moves smoothly and there is no light showing between either the jaw faces or the i.d. measuring ears when they are closed.
Calipers are often called "estimators" for the reasons you showed in the video when taking a quick measurement, but with care you can reliably get +/- 0.001, which is important when making difficult to get to measurements.
I never really liked dial calipers on the shop floor. The tiniest piece of dirt in the gear rack will make them jump a tooth... and it was always at the worst time.
Yes
I just bought a 6 inch dial caliper from Harbor Freight that measuers fractions to 1/64th and to 1/100th of an inch.
I must say they are very well made and I am surprised at how accurate and repeatable they are for what they are.
Compared all 4 ways to measuer against each other.
Great for wood work and so on.
The cheaper ones are supplied with 'LR??' batteries. These are lithium based and don't last very long.
The circuitery inside the digital caliper is powered even when turned off. Generally turning them off only turns off the display
Go buy some 'SR??' batteries (silver oxide based) and you will find that the batteries will last at least six times longer, usually more.
Nice video.
That was interesting.
I am always pleasantly surprised when Harbor Freight stuff works, as it quite often does. I buy a lot of things there, and actually like their stuff. I go with the mindset of "if this just works long enough to..." and am usually happy. Mostly.
Thanks.
I bought a pair of HF calipers exactly like the ones mr pete has. Paid 10 bucks for them with a coupon. Original battery lasted about 30 minutes but the replacement battery has been going for 2 years without issue. When I first got them they were very stiff and crunchy feeling. Took them apart, stoned off the burrs and reassembled them. I'm impressed by how smooth they are with 30 minutes of fine tuning.
My boss bought some 12in one. The problem I have with them is if you press the black part, not even pressing any of the buttons, it tends to zero itself out or switch to metric.
One good test, to determine a digital calipers accuracy, is rapidly opening and closing the jaws several times and see if the caliper will return to zero out at the closed position. My Mitutoyo will pass this test every time, but my craftsman and Starrett will not.
I have observed this as well, i call it "slipping the scale" for lack of a better term and this is one of the main reasons i refuse to us digital,if your dial caliper slips scale something serious has gone wrong and you will notice,not so with digital junk!
About six months ago, I purchased the supposedly modern "Cadillac" of dial calipers for $170. They are made by Etalon (same as Brown and Sharpe) and they have all the bells and whistles. When I received them I was sadly disappointed because they seemed like Chinese junk and I sent them back to the supplier. I did some research and discovered that many calipers made by Starrett and Brown & Sharpe/Etalon are actually made or assembled in China. Upon further research, I ended up purchasing a set of Mitutoyo calipers that are made in Japan (a lot of Mitutoyo calipers are made in Brazil) and they are very well made. Just my two cents.
Yes, I think most of them are made in China nowadays
Everything went to cheap Chinese assembly and design. You get what you pay for. I own a Chinese knockoff micrometer and it gets the job done just like a starret.
When buying starrett tools you need to stay away from any and all the "global series" tools in the catalog. Those all have that title and the pages or website page have a small globe on them. EVERYTHING in the "global" series is china made.
Thanks for yet another interesting and entertaining video.
I have had that Fowler since the 80s. It is still in use, but I need glasses to read it!
I use my Pittsburgh caliper nearly every day and it never fails me. Just calibrated it yesterday again and it was dead nuts on.
👍
Although testing with a known precision block is very good. Something I have learned is that if you know what result to expect. You may force the tool to read that measurement. I always test as I would naturally when machining.
I bought a Shane brand digital caliper off of eBay several years back. Very nice pair of calipers, highly recommend them. I keep them at my desk to measure parts that I'm working on in my design work I do. I have a couple pair of the HF one's too. They are my one's to hand to anyone that needs to borrow a pair of calipers from me. Will say, they are very accurate for the price paid. My first pair of digital calipers was the Mityoyo (sp) 8" pair, cost me over $160 from Enco. They were great until about ten years later, started reading funny. Didn't manner how you cleaned them, took care of them, and oh, these stayed at my desk, they didn't go out in the shop. Last time I tried calibrated them, they were right on at 1", 2", 3" and so on. But when you checked them at say 1.250", 2.250" or any other odd dimension, they would be off as much as .010" in any reading. So for any one out there who checks/calibrates digital calipers, suggest checking at different intervals and not just 1", 2", 3" and so on. I grew up using a pair of old Heilos calipers similar to the ones you have in your video. I gave them to one of my nephews when we closed out the old family homestead. I pretty much wore them out from use in my earlier years. I still love my Starrett calipers! Again, thank you Mr. Pete for another shop class lesson. Two thumbs up!!! Ken Stokley
Mr. Pete, Like you I am cheap. When I am not using my HF caliper I take out the batt. and turn it upside down and put it back in so I know where it is and it will not drain down.
Thanks for the video. I have a set of cheap Chinese digital calipers I bought off Ebay, and they are pretty good. They are the only digital set I own. I have two sets of Mititoyo dial calipers, and a Starrett vernier, and a Helios vernier caliper. I actually use the dial, and vernier, calipers more than the digital. Once again, thanks for the video.
Hi Mr. Peterson, It goes without saying, but ... Yet another great video! Just a comment about your thoughts that you were afraid people would have about holding your Jo-Blocks in your hand. The coefficient of thermal expansion for steel is 7.2 x 10^-6 / F or 13 x 10^-6 / C. The temperature in the metrology lab is specified as 68 degrees F or 20 degrees C (the two are exactly the same). On a winter day the temperature in our home is 68 F. On that same day, the steady state temperature of my hands is about 82 F. That's a temperature difference of 14 degrees. So, the 1.0000" Jo-Block will be 7.2 x 10^-6 / F x 1.000" x 14 F = 0.000101" longer than at the inspection temperature. Obviously, the 2.0000" block will have expanded approximately 0.0002". Better get out your precision, 50-millionths mike to _maybe_ measure that increase in length. A couple of observations: 1) The USA is, indeed, a metric country, though it may not always be obvious. The specification for metrology labs is 20 degrees C, it just happens to exactly equal 68 degrees F. 2) I'm more worried that the stuff on my hands will corrode the Jo-Blocks than that my hand will distort the block stack ups in the range of one inch due to thermal expansion. So, I wipe them down with instrument oil when done.
BTW, I think you know my uncle Paul; he is a member of the the Midwest Tool Collectors and designed and built ornamental / rose turning lathes.
Thanks for your videos & Best regards, Gottfried
You are so right, but you know that people would make a big deal out of it. But the expansion would be minuscule, and not possible to measure with ordinary tools
I love the end, opening up the box seeing the caliper WITH a battery ON it. It doesn't work so back inside to complain: 70 + years a master/teacher is getting a lesson from a young girl :-))
That was a spare battery, the HF ones come with an extra.
Arend Wolbers The ones I bought(two for me and two for gifts) all came with a battery installed and the spare. I would return this pair too just because they are supposed to come with a battery and a spare. It appears she didn’t get it working with the spare battery so either it was inop or came with two dead batteries. Return!
@@836dmar 12 battery's cost $2 so what's the problem. Mine came with a packed battery and no battery in the caliper.
Arend Wolbers appears this was more than a new battery.
Enjoyed the video, thanks. I have an identical Max-Cal that I purchased new in 1982. It has been very reliable and good on batteries too. It has automatic shutoff.
👍
I think Lyle you demonstrated the inherent failing of vernier calipers.
That being how difficult they are to use .. accurately.
It may be in my head but I find a micrometer more userfreindly.
Also I imagine the ones that have had a hard life could easily have been dropped and 1 or 2 thou of bend in the fixed jaw could easily be compensated for by squeezing the moving jaw to align it.
Hence your ability to make them read dead on.
Interesting all the same.
I went looking for a "new" dial caliper recently. But rather than buying "new" I bought a vintage Scherr Tumico. Made in Japan, beautiful caliper
I know this is a test from years ago, but I really liked it. It's a pity that the Swedish company Limit was not included in the test. In Europe, it is quite a popular company, expensive, but not as absurd as Mitutoyo. I use a simple Limit CDH 150 mm model. From the beginning he can't decide whether it should be 0.00 mm or 0.01 mm. Basically, I'm satisfied with the caliper, but I still most often use the old, Polish-made VIS vernier caliper from the 1970s. Thank you for the interesting video.
👍👍
Did the same at my friends CNC shop the Harbor Freight checked out as good as the Starett B&S & Fowler with a gauge block
Lock up and stiff operation is generally gunk in the gears and tracks which brake kleene will almost always remove then light oil I have disassembled mine a couple times to clean and lube.... Good to clean the drive gear as well..... I have bought cheap 14 dollar calipers to attach to my mill and lathe to use as digital readouts.... For those I wish I could turn off the automatic turn off... The ones I bought could be plugged into a computer if you get the right plug or wire it direct
I've had a Fowler Max-Cal exactly like that one for about 35 years. The batteries last a long time, it's accurate, but if you move it too fast it skips counts. They still used a rack and pinion in them back then. It stays in the case pretty much, and I use my newer ones with big numbers. It's been 35 years, and my eyeballs aren't what they used to be.
Neat to see how close they all measure. I’ve heard them lovingly referred to as dial or digital approximators. Good for a lot of measuring tasks, but not the final word in measuring.
Will buy a Shars myself you and Abom can’t be wrong .
The reason for that some calipers dont turn off is that they drain the battery at practically the same rate off as on. Tom Lipton from Ox tools don't turn any of his calipers off for this reason. :)
Excellent video . Well it's time to get to bed here in Australia. Need to stop lol
Thanks
Great video Mr. Pete. Thank you for posting.
My attitude to calipers (at least in the home shop environment) is that I use them to get to within a few thou, at which point I switch to a micrometer for the final dimension.
When measuring an item I'm not making (ie. something that comes pre-made), I'll use a caliper if I need to to know the size to within a couple of thou, but for something I need to know the size to less than that, I switch to the micrometer.
Calipers (especially electronic ones) are very fast to use, easy to read, and accurate enough for things such as checking drill sizes, and measuring items that are to be threaded.
My go to set are a pair of Workzone digital calipers.
controlline.org.uk/phpBB2/files/workzone_digital_caliper_small_195.jpg
They're smooth in operation, the finish is reasonable, they have auto on/off, and they even have a quick reference chart on the back, for metric (3mm to 20 mm) and Whitworth (1/4" to 1") threading.
I bought them about 10 years ago from ALDI, for around £15, and (other than replacement batteries) they've never required any kind of maintenance.
Regarding the Harbour Freight one, are you sure it wasn't the absence of the battery, that was stopping it working? 😋
Thank you, I always prefer a micrometer when working on the Lathe
When I want a reliable accurate measurement, I'll use a Mic. That being said, I have 8 of those harbor freight calipers laying on every work bench and machine around the shop. 99% of the time the cheap calipers are adequate. As far as the batteries going out quicker on the cheapies, you can buy 50 of those watch batteries on ebay for under $10, and that's what I've done. I bought some 5yrs ago, and I'm only half way thru my stock pile of batteries.
I always prefer a micrometer when working on the lather. I do keep multiple batteries in stock
I still use vernier calipers because you can find them super cheap used. Probably because everyone is buying digitals now.
It would be nice to see how the depth, outside, and inside measurement devices compare with one another.
I thought of that, but the video was too long the way it was
If when it's off, you move it and it's still reading the position without rezero'ing - It's always on. Most if not all of these are always on. The digital display is all you are turning off. The display uses a tiny tiny fraction of the overall power. What you think Mr. Pete?
Except for the old Mitutoyos, and I think that might be related to their not having auto shutoff. The 'absolute' Mitu's will behave as you stated, though they're better about battery consumption when off as compared to the HF cheapies, as aVe had shown. Non-'absolute' digitals generally don't wake up on movement, re-zero any time you power them on, and consequently have fantastic battery life. I wonder if they don't auto shutoff due to losing zero or origin when they go to sleep?
My 12" Helios has no on/off but the battery lasts months even used many times daily. I got it cheap because it had coolant contamination on the pcb and was eating batteries. Check those IP Ratings if you run fluids in your machines. @Crafted, you're absolutley right. Surprised Mr. Pete didn't answer. Keep your fingers safe.
Haha...look closely at your footage of the caliper not working, it turned off when the box the opened (must have seen a Starrett hat/shirt & died of shame). Ha, but seriously though, Probably the foam case pushing on battery cover & making the connection...until you opened it up that is. I usually clean & condition the contacts on battery powered items...still though, on some calipers, especially cheap ones like those Pittsburg, I need to shim the battery by sliding a small piece of card stock or folded paper between the battery & cover to secure the battery & maintain a connection.
A commonly overlooked variable though is the dozen or so model numbers in that same size battery...most of which online sellers mistakenly list as compatible. There's various chemical compositions/compounds built/assembled to the differing device requirements for load, duty cycles, amp, volts...etc, of which any given device was only meant to use one spec & its respective battery model/s...which are hopefully listed correctly, if at all, on your device (provided the manufacturer/designer knew of these variable too)...but you never know these days, so just keep a variety of the models by various brands on hand.
There's seemingly some cross compatibility since usually multiple models will power the same device to varying degrees of success & battery life, but very few or only one model is optimized for a given device. This was very evident when i discovered the SR44 made with silver oxide & provides a slightly higher voltage than the others...the SR44 was ably power up tools & various items previously thought to have something wrong...also sadly, maybe all that was needed for countless items I've deep-sixed over the years for not turning on.
Hope this helps.
You of all people walked into Harbor Freight and paid for chinesium? I think hell just froze over.
At any rate, machinists have been keeping precision tools in wooden Gerstner chests for decades. The wood generally prevents condensation from forming.
You'll note that Starett used beautiful wooden cases for years until they cheaped out and went to plastic. The higher end stuff, e.g. the vernier master height gages, still come in wooden boxes.
Now i have to get my woodworking mate to knock me up a box for all my measuring equipment.I only have a couple of things in wood at moment, parallels and a height gauge, rest of my stuff is in plastic fantastic :(Oh well, he likes playing with dead trees and it will give him something to do! I probably should have got him to do that before he started on dedicated cases for my 12" verniers and square collection.I prefer wood off-course but never thought about this (now glaringly obvious) benefit,was only getting boxs for these caliper and squares because calipers came without a box(used) and squares came in cardboard which simply aint going to cut it.
I have a Mitutoyo 6" dial caliper, I loved it, used it for wood working, dropped it once, never was accurate again, I thru it against the concrete garage floor, now its in pieces. ;-\
Good, ruined tools should be thrown out
Nice work I do enjoy watching your videos. I bought a few the Harbor Freight digital calipers, they have inch, mm and fractions. I leave one by the drill cabinet the fraction mode is great for sorting fraction drill bits. Thanks
I wish more companys made 4” calipers.. i have a starrett 6” and a 12”, however i mainly use a 4” harborfreight digital. It fits right in my pocket nicely
Yes
I bought one of those HF calipers some years ago. It seemed to be a little bit sticky until I oiled the rack with a small amount of machine oil. After that it was very smooth. Several years later I thought that I should have a GOOD caliper so I bought a more expensive one. The more expensive one was very jumpy and absolute crap compared to the HF one. I sent it back. The HF one is fine for me.
Mr Pete, I suspect that the calipers that you have that aren't smooth would be smooth again with a little bit of oil on their racks.
Thank you, I will Oil it up
Mr PETE, AS ALWAYS GREAT VIDEO , VERY INFORMATIVE THANKS !
Hello,MrPete222.
I have a digital caliper. I bought it at a construction hypermarket 12:36
I discovered that on my Mitutoyo digital calipers zeroing the outside jaws does not zero the inside jaws there is about .004 difference, the top jaws actually overlap, so I keep a known sized hole gage handy to calibrate with when I remember to. How do others handle this?
The secret to keeping your dial indicator accurate is to keep them out of metal chips and clean. The rack and pinion, once damaged, create inaccurate readings at those locations on the rack.
Thanks
Those "Enco" ones look suspiciously like re-branded mitutoyos! Ive got an old set (no idea age,they look identical, zero plastic apart from dial screen and the same kind of case down to red material inside) that look pretty well the same.Could be everyone copying everyone else though.I only have Mitutoyos (prefer older ones with metal housings)aside from one Mauser dial caliper i bought just because Mauser.
My most recent mitutoyo dial calipers cost me a whopping $27AUD including shipping,beat that! Original case ,condition A1 no wear or damage.No idea of the age but at minimum few generations old.One factor in price is they imperial and i live in a metric country,metric ones bring much much higher prices in the 3-5 times region.So for you imperial fans (i use whatever, not a fanboi of either,i use solely imperial for reloading as bulk of data is supplied this way but manufacturing i just use whatever the drawing is in,if im doing the drawing i normally go metric but that's most likely habit from working in %100 metric industries) check out Australian ebay for cheap imperial measuring equipment.If shipping wasn't so horrendous it would be cheaper for me to by metric stuff from over there in the USA!
Thank you, that’s interesting. I had no idea things cost that much over there. I guess I mean under there
The problem with the Harbor Freight one is it will drain the battery by the next time you use it.
The Pittsburgh caliper is the same one that is sold under Hornady (with a brand name sticker) RCBS (same brand name sticker0, Lyman, Frankford Arsenal, etc. etc except you'll pay from $30-120 for those calipers. It's ridiculous that companies sell the exact same product but under different brand names when that product is a crappy $2 caliper.
I have one of the chinese "black dial blue-red-yellow buttons" digital calipers. Got it a few years back from a reloading supplier for 20 something $, and it's been very smooth, workmanship is much better than your example and it's been dead-on accurate since day one. I use it daily. Maybe whatever chinese factory makes these produces different grades of the same model.
Yes
Thank you
Body heat? Really? Are we building space shuttles here?
Have you ever tried to correct a skipped tooth in a dial caliper?
Love your informative videos...catching up on the older ones.
Keep them coming.
Yes, he has a video on doing just that.
@@MrUbiquitousTech Thank you for the info - it's #407
I was caught of guard by that as well. I am just new to using these and learning. Does the room temperature and or body heart really make a difference when trying to get measurements??
@@big_air_jer9768 I think Mr. Pete was just getting in front of the "But you're doing it wrong" crowd.
I have 3 Harbor Freight calipers, 1 vernier and 2 digital. I brought the vernier caliper back in the late 1980s, are harder to read but very good. The digital calipers are less than 5 years old and have little problems, the older one started reading half size . If it is 2 inches it would read 1 inch. I took it a part and clean it worked again. The newer ones will not zero anymore but I just have to remember the offset. I do 3d printing so 0.1mm good enough for my work.
Thanks
Another issue , but with cheap ones , it kinda takes the issue away .
Replacement parts , generally with name brand you can get repairs & parts .
I have a fire and several of my digital tools had melted plastic and all but one I could still fined replacement heads .
But again with cheap ones , kinda takes the issue away .
On the consistent readings , or the lack of , using the same technique for repeatability .
Yes thanks
My experience with 2 different digital electronic calipers is that even though they will both auto shutoff if I don't remove the battery in between uses the battery will still die on me in relatively short time.
You know, even when they are off they actually are on. Just the display is off
@@mrpete222 My thinking is the ones that turn on automatically when you open them to measure something do this by continuously monitoring for changes, which depletes the battery even in the "off" state. If I'm right about this the ones that you have to turn on manually will have better battery life even though it is a bit of an annoyance.
I am surprised at the outcome. I thought that some would be off.
Appleton, Wisconsin
Yes
THANK YOU...for sharing.
G Day Mr Pete, Recently I bought a couple of cheap digital calipers for the front counter and found the external measuring part was not in line with the external measuring part, so if one was to turn something in a lathe using them to measure a fit it would not be hard to get caught out. Might be a good video in that checking the accuracy of them all. Thanks for all of the videos.
Thanks
Mr. Pete, I have had stainless steel oxidize with age. Not to difficult to remove. My cheap Craftsman caliper is the same way stiff and even locks up sometimes. Irritating at times, but accurate enough for what I use them for.
Lucky you the second cheapie worked well, and accurate. ;)) Now you have 14 calipers that almost as accurate.
Yes
Nice overall comparison.
Nice to see the results of different brands. I bought some at a garage sale and in the box was a Federal dial indicator that is marked 0.00005, how is this read. Thanks, new to this.
Interesting, thanks for sharing Mr. Pete! Apparently calipers are a dependable tool.
I have an old HF caliper that I like, it's branded Cen-Tech. Works nice and has a good feel. Have had it for many years. Unfortunately the battery cover ended up somewhere on the floor of my garage never to be found again.
I bought a couple of new pairs, the Pittsburgh branded ones like yours. And like yours they feel very gritty, no where near as nice as the Cen-Tech. But they are serviceable for the price.
I prefer mechanical calipers, but bought one of the HF units for metric use and quickly IDing small drill bits. It works ok but has the nasty habit of changing scales and/or zeroing out at the most inopportune times. I now have lots of good calipers, but still have an old Rutland from about 1982 that is very well loved- it's still accurate, but jumps a tooth more and more often, no matter how much I clean it.
Are used to buy a lot of items from Rutland
Shars sales pitch didn’t work Mr P but I’ll still tune in lol
I saw you cover photo with the 14 Calipers and thought Mr Pete must be in a laboratory or a large workshop. I shouldn't of been surprises to find you had so many. Which one is your favorite?
Love the ending.
Thanks
Where are your Starrett Weber gauge blocks?
I love my Mit but no longer use it. No auto-shut off. Nice review.
Everyone complains about the cheap "crap" tools, but they have their place. They are just not professional tools to be used every day, but they are "good enough" for the weekend warrior. The guy that has to take a precise measurement and doesn't have a set of calipers. If he has gone 30-40 years and doesn't already own them he probably doesn't need something that costs hundreds. I have a cheap Chinese hydraulic press I bought on Amazon for less than $100 and man, I am impressed by it. Built like a tank. Good welds, sturdy, it just works. I am sure the bottle jack is junk, but so what? I will be lucky to use it 5 times in my life. But...I have it when I need it.
i found with micrometres and callipers it,s feel, on a Monday morning after a hard weekend when a little shaky, I really had to take extra care
@@jameswarbrick9168 Yes, and the guy I am talking about will be back in his cubical on Monday pounding away at the keyboard.
Well said
Question, is some of the problem you had getting them to "square up" on the blocks due to the blades not being ground perfectly flat and parallel? Also, the Harbor Freight ones are kind of hit and miss. I've seen some that don't work well at all. But, I also had a set that worked flawlessly for more than 10 years.
The HF tools with a battery I have purchased have had a piece of plastic on the battery for insulation to be pulled out for it to work.
That is the first thing I checked for
I´m not sure, but the Fowler looks like a early Tesa Caliper. Maybe,
they bought them from Tesa - Etalon (Swiss). My problem with all of them
is, you can apply a bit more or a bit less pressure, and get different
readings. So i don´t trust them to be accurate better then 2 or 3 thou
Picking up a shars that displays imperial, metric and fractions.
where is the Varner caliper?
Is that mercury thermometer on a calibrated Dole pineapple tinform?🍍🌡
lol
Lyle i find electronic calipers all have different personalities in feel i trash the rough one's .🔨😁
Unless your measuring blocks are made out of invar, temperature coefficients would make a difference right ?
Thanks for sharing sir..
body heat on a 1 inch gauge block in a room temperature shop isnt enough to make a readable difference
I know that, it would be negligible. But if I didn’t say something that like that, 100 people would comment about body heat
Another firecracker of a video! All of my measurement tools are from Harbor Freight - it's all that I can afford... Justify spending. I do have a couple of import 1 2 3 blocks (I think that's what their called). The ones with all the holes in. I'm assuming the holes serve some purpose other than keeping the weight down and saving a bunch of material during casting. I haven't figured out why some are holes are threaded. To use like expensive Lego bricks? Just guessing. Anyway, I've found all of my HF measuring tools to be accurate, and relatively touch. My micrometer & dial calipers have both fallen off my workbench onto the a concrete floor and aren't any worse for the fall. I figured well those are going into the wheelie bin. I check them agains the 1 2 3 block and they measure true after the fall.
The dial indicator? didn't fair as well. I it took a spill when the the stand fell over - and that was that. It still reads something - but the dial face rotates independently of the adjustment ring. Did I toss it in the garbabe? No! I'm sure it's good for something - I don't know what yet. My wife just shakes her head.
If you're still interested, the main reason some blocks have holes in them has nothing to do with weight/saving material, they cost as much if not MORE than the solid ones..its an additional feature, you can use the holes to clamp down your blocks to your milling table or drill press t-slots (with only GENTLE pressure, of course!) or to more blocks, thus increasing the width or surface area of the reference faces..many amateur shop owners will have only one block or a pair at most, but if you're obsessive or a professional set-up having numerous pairs is actually very useful, you can set up a quick run of repeatable holes or taps etc with dead-straight reference faces against your 1-2-3 blocks in a fraction of the time it would take to set up a machinist vice, angle plate, dial indicator, etc. 👍
Lyle, stainless steel is just what it says “ Stainless “ NOT RUSTLESS..If you want a rustles version you should order something like 316. I am of course referring to machining metals and not the callipers.
Thanks
Morning!
Morning
Learning here and new to this. Body heat and room temperature really throws off your measuring or something to consider when In the shop?
We were expecting at least 20 pair here from your collection mr.pete but we will watch anyways since you have more pair then any one man we are aware of.
Interesting you mention range of dimensional checking we just got in a pair of Fowler digital calipers (making our product with it) and while they are high tolerance made for Fowler in the Czech Republic to order (2 months to make get here so they are not to get confused with those online Fowler's) Reason for sharing this is they are only guaranteed for the first 3.00" of the total 6.00" usable length. ? so are they a 3 inch or 6 inch caliper?
Great video and who wants to use up more batteries dead when you need them, we knew the Starrett name was going to come up. We are hoping you left your wallet at home though we see the coffee that got you to the store. LOL.
Oh Pete old love even them pitted stiff ones would you send them if I paid shipping?
What about NSK made in Japan i have 2 of them , very good quality
👍👍
I got board after 3mins and couldn’t waste any more time, but did you have to do any actual recalibration i.e. adjustments to bring it back into specs?
You insult me and then you asked me a favor?
I actually greatly prefer the analog type
👍
Our Canukistanian friend AvE has shown that even though the cheap calipers feature an auto off, there is still a significant parasitic draw in the electronics. "Off" =/= Off.
On that Harbor Freight at the end - was there a battery in it? I didn't see you checking. They normally do not ship with a battery in them because they are always on (only the display turns off) and the battery will be dead in a few months after installation whether being used or not. There was a battery there in the case.
I have seven 6" Harbor Freight calipers and a 20+ year old Mitutoyo. They all have measured exactly the same on everything I've ever tested them on.
Same with mics - I have 4 harbor freight mics and a mitutoyo and they all also measure exactly the same on everything.
I noticed that too. The battery wasn't installed.
Perhaps its the mititoyo thats over rated and over priced. In the video it seamed the farthest out until it was tampered with long enough to satisfy. In the real world, we tend to believe what it reads. Not push it around till it reads what we believe