Reply With QuoteI bought a draper set from tool station. It was about £35 IIRC
I'd previously bought a cheap pair from ebay but it is woeful. When you measure the same thing twice you get wildly different readings. There's so many to choose from it's anyone's guess which are the decent ones. Your recommendations please. Thanks
I bought a draper set from tool station. It was about £35 IIRC
Never had a problem with cheap (~£12?) one from Lidl. Readings are certainly reproducible.
When it comes to digi calipers there is really one good choice, Mitutoyo, had my set for 15 years without any issue, works just like new, before that i used sets when working on aircraft, only ones we'd use, hence why i bought a set myself!
Make sure you get an all metal one would be my advice!
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If you want one that will last buy a Mitutoyo. There are several other cheaper variations that will do the job if you only want occasional use.
The Moore & Wright ones from this company would be fine.
https://www.milotools.co.uk/measurin...ers/c/calipers
Not sure if you can buy direct or need an account. You can probably search for the same thing on eBay.
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If precision matters then get a Mitutoyo, very happy with mine, gives excellent results when comparing with measurements performed with more accurate gauges
Luckily, lives won't depend on my choice!Originally Posted by Argee1977
i had the cheap ones and i had a draper as well, they both packed up , i use the moore and wright one mentioned above now and seems to be ok
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I did a lot of researching before buying and it came down to Mitutoyo or iGaging. At the time I found an offer on Mitutoyo which meant they were only @ £15 more than the iGaging so I bought the Mitutoyo.
https://woodworkersworkshop.co.uk/products/igaging-origincal-ip54-digital-caliper-absolute-origin-0-6
F.T.F.A.
Take care buying Mitutoyo, when I was looking recently there were a lot of fakes about. I ended up with an old fashioned manual Mitutoyo vernier scale, if you are on a watch forum I think you should consider it. Lovely object as well an a supremely accurate tool.
Last edited by raysablade; 8th August 2020 at 11:57.
Another vote for the toolstation one, that's what I use.
I bought mine here , albeit for @ £70!
I have a cheap one from Amazon - think I paid about £3 for it.
Had it a couple of years and for the occasional use it gets, its fine and certainly produces reliable, consistent results.
Have to admit that the metal ones look a lot nicer!
Depending what you want to use it for I have various old ones at work, I think there is a 'proper' non digital Vernier scale one too.
I can have a look on Monday if you would like?
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I have a cheapy on my desk bought from Aldi for less than a tenner but my proper ones I use on my machines are both Mitutoyo.
Thanks for the offer but I'm hell bent on digital. My eyes ain't what they used to be.
I think I have some old digital ones too.
I struggle with a vernier scale these days!
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I usually use an old fashioned Mauser caliper but for watch parts etc I have found my £10 digital set from Lidl are just fine.
Cheers,
Neil.
Remember to get the matching slip gauge set so you can calibrate the calipers whenever you need too
https://www.mscdirect.co.uk/MT5-1697...Y/product.html
I use them nearly every day. Bought some Sealey ones and they were useless. Tried a couple other makes and they were as bad. Most are made in China anyhow regardless of labelling.
Bought these......https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3283...648e4c4dUOoY9M. and they work fine for the last 6 months!
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
If you're fine with non-metal, check out Wiha: https://www.wihatools.com/shop-tools...ement/calipers -- a few months ago I bought their Vernier caliper and I'm happy with it, would go with them again if I needed a solid digital one (I have a Chinese cheapie that works just fine, too, when I care to change the battery).
If you genuinely need micrometer accuracy the £30 digital calipers won't give that, but for most jobs they're fine. I could do with a micrometer to measure mainspring thicknesses sometimes, that's pushing the caliper beyond its limits.
Bugger!
Something else I didn't know i needed.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Once you get a set, you’ll find all kinds of uses for them!Bugger!
Something else I didn't know i needed.
I have a vernier in my toolbox which I probably haven't used for 30 odd years. The big advantage of a good vernier is that I could pull it out and use it straight away, even after being unused for all that time. It will work and still be accurate.
Or, in the unlikely event you need one in the next 30 years, order a cheapy for next day delivery from Amazon.
Always nice to have the set :)
Such is the state of our values, I doubt if I could give the vernier away in todays market even though they are deadly accurate. It takes about 30 mins to learn how to use a vernier correctly, hence the battery operated stuff you see everywhere that takes no training at all is everywhere.
I dare something like a vernier which was made by, and for, craftsmen, will soon end up being slung in the dustbin.
Bit demoralising really.
Grandad alert.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Cheap digital calipers tend to have battery drain even when they're turned off, so I always remove the battery after use. The faff with the battery means I tend to use the manual ones.
Quick guide on how to use them: https://youtu.be/jjw-PG0cfJU
Surprised if true, surely the off-switch simply disconnects the battery?
The ones I bought turn themselves off and turn on as soon as you move them. I prefer the digital type as they are much quicker to use. Mainly use them to check the height of oilite bushings which I have to reduce from 4mm to between 3.32mm and 3.35mm.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
It doesn't, at least not in my cheapies anyway. They turn back on automatically when you move them. It a soft-switch, which doesn't physically disconnect anything.
I just replace the battery in mine when it goes flat. It tends to last a couple of years anyway, so I don't think the vampiric drain is enough to really worry about. Probably more likely to damage the battery by taking it out & putting it back in again all the time. It is slightly annoying that they tend to die with no warning though, given that I use mine infrequently.
Not quite; he hasn’t mentioned slide rules yet!
For truer accuracy though, a micrometer should always be used in preference to vernier wherever possible.
The more this thread continues, the more interested I become, why oh why are measurements becoming so fascinating?
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
I have a metal one and a cheap Amazon one (plastic is good for measuring things you don't want to risk scratching) and, to be honest, they both seem reliable, consistent and accurate.
I don't, though, need to use mine to rebuild engines and the like, so a couple of 1/1000ths out probably doesn't matter in my case, but may for some.
M
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
Okay, my cheap Lidl ones don't (and better for it as not used too often).
A Mitutoyo will last you decades and still be accurate.
Mitutoyo are great but Id like to put in an honorable mention for;
"Moore & Wright" here
You probably wouldn't get fired if you bought these at 75% of the price of Mitutoyo: https://www.starrett.co.uk/shop/prec...gital_caliper/
Just some of the micrometers I use for measuring up to 1.0000"/25mm
I bought LOUISWARE Electronic Digital Vernier from Amazon. I’m not an engineer but I was more than impressed at the quality and price.
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I don’t know how I used to cope with my non digital vernier!
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Aren’t they all?
So that's more the sort of budget for me. I'm only measuring occasionally, and it's not life or death.
You can’t go wrong with those for the price.
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I'm not sure, but my battery seemed to die very quickly, I took to taking them out and they last far longer.
M
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
My Moore & Wright digital is 22 years old and still bang on measured on slips.
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