Recommend a digital caliper

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John Bateson
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Recommend a digital caliper

Postby John Bateson » Sat Jun 16, 2012 1:48 pm

Is anybody on this august body able to recommend a digital caliper. The one I have is losing parts of its numbers so a second one would be good.
The version I have seems to be available variously between £9 and £25, at least working from the pictures, but I would be prepared to spend a little more on quality

John
Slaving away still on GCR stuff ...

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Jonathan Wells
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Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby Jonathan Wells » Sat Jun 16, 2012 3:08 pm

Personally I prefer not to use digital calipers in order to avoid the hassle of flat batteries at inconvenient times ( the batteries these take are not always easily obtained in shops ) but to use dial calipers such as this: http://www.machine-dro.co.uk/150mm-metric-dial-caliper-moore-and-wright-141-series-.html I find vernier calipers to be awkward to read.

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Tim V
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Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby Tim V » Sat Jun 16, 2012 4:42 pm

I supposed you tried replacing the battery?
Tim V
(Not all railways in Somerset went to Dorset)

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John Bateson
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Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby John Bateson » Sat Jun 16, 2012 4:44 pm

Yes! Brand new battery ...

John
Slaving away still on GCR stuff ...

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Tim V
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Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby Tim V » Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:02 pm

Have you checked the battery is delivering the specified voltage...
Tim V
(Not all railways in Somerset went to Dorset)

allanferguson
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Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby allanferguson » Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:11 pm

John Bateson wrote:Yes! Brand new battery ...

John


Apparently the cheap digital callipers are on all the time -- only the display is switched off, and the power consumption is not significantly reduced. Better quality (= expensive) ones switch off properly. Also cheaper (LR44) batteries will last much less time than the more expensive SR44 type. There is an interesting article at
http://www.fliptronics.com/tip0006.html
about this, but you still need to do your own calculations.

Allan F

nigelcliffe
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Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby nigelcliffe » Sat Jun 16, 2012 7:06 pm

John Bateson wrote:Is anybody on this august body able to recommend a digital caliper. The one I have is losing parts of its numbers so a second one would be good.
The version I have seems to be available variously between £9 and £25, at least working from the pictures, but I would be prepared to spend a little more on quality


In a word, "Mitutoyo".
I have a set, they cost £*lots*, the battery is always fine in them - I have replaced it once in many years.

I have a cheapy set which I am willing to drop on concrete, etc.. the battery on them will fail very quickly. I also doubt its accuracy.
I also have mechanical ones, which don't require batteries, always work, but can be harder to read.

- Nigel

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Jol Wilkinson
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Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby Jol Wilkinson » Sat Jun 16, 2012 9:29 pm

allanferguson wrote:
John Bateson wrote:Yes! Brand new battery ...

John


Apparently the cheap digital callipers are on all the time -- only the display is switched off, and the power consumption is not significantly reduced. Better quality (= expensive) ones switch off properly. Also cheaper (LR44) batteries will last much less time than the more expensive SR44 type. There is an interesting article at
http://www.fliptronics.com/tip0006.html
about this, but you still need to do your own calculations.

Allan F


The same applies to any electronic device with a "soft" switch. I simply leave the battery cover off my cheap digital calipers and flip out the battery when I've stopped using it.

Jol

shipbadger
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Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby shipbadger » Sun Jun 17, 2012 8:22 am

Following discussion about battery life in digital verniers I came across an interesting situation last week. I have three sets of digital verniers (and an 'old fashioned' one for when all the batteries are flat). They are all the same type ie. Aldi or Lidl. Until now a flat battery was obvious, they didn't work; this time something different happened. All measurements up to around 10cm were perfectly OK, beyond this the reading went haywire. It was only because I knew something was wrong that I checked against the printed scale on the slide. A new battery sorted it but I am now training myself to check against the scale on the slide to verify I have a 'ball park' reading before looking at the readout.

Tony Comber

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ClikC
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Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby ClikC » Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:23 pm

Dirt will make digital messurements go berzerk in addision to a flatish battery. Best give it a clean too boot.

I've a pair of a Halfords Advanced Digital Caliper's. £19.99 and a Lifetime Guarantee. Fantastic value!

Regards

Matt / ClikC
Matt Rogers

Terry Bendall
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Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby Terry Bendall » Tue Jun 19, 2012 6:10 am

Having grown up in an era where digital calipers and micrometers did not exist, I use manual ones. :) The skill of reading manual calipers is not that difficult to learn, and onece learnt stays with you for life. No battery to go flat, no display to fail and the only errors are those you make yourself.

Terry Bendall

John Fitton

Re: Recommend a digital caliper

Postby John Fitton » Wed Jun 20, 2012 8:38 am

I would agree that Mitutoyo are very nice. Had mine for 20 years, and the case is large enough to store the old battery packaging so that when it fails in 5 years you know which one to buy....

John Fitton.


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