Love this guys channel. Guilty pleasure. Thought I’d share
Caliper test
- Thread starter popeye089
- Start date
Nothing wrong with digitals, like anything else, you get what you pay for. His results aren't too surprising. Just by his price quotes, he didn't buy the industrial standard Starretts or Mititoyo's with the IP67 rating and certificates of calibration. Out of the box quality is one thing, but lets see the results after a few years of daily usage and see which ones hold out. What he should have done right away was close the jaws on each and hold them in front of a light source to check for light gaps between the jaws, usually the light gap will be at the tips. Notice most of them had different measurements when he just used the tips for measuring the 1-2-3 block. Take any old set of well used calipers, regardless of brand or whether they're digital or dial, and they will also fail that light gap test.
For reloaders, repeatability and longevity/wear over time is what we need to be more concerned with. Starrett and Mititoyo are kings in those categories. Brown and Sharp was sold off a long time ago, they just survive in name only. There's a couple German/Swiss brands out there, but you rarely see them outside of Europe.
I have used alot of calipers over the yrs starting with old dial calipers.
My favorite over Starrett is Mitutoyo Coolent Proof Absolute. They also turn off automatically.
They are the best caliper and longest lasting caliper I've ever used, as a professional machinist.
Calipers are reference tools used mainly where measurements are not critical.
Like a reloading hobbyist with COAL measurements.
Modern inspection departments do not have a caliper in the room,...nothing would be certified, as past inspection with a caliper today.
Or even the more accurate micrometer for that matter, is not used.
The CNC machining centers have to be qualified before putting them into production, to see if they are accurate enough to machine the parts they are intended to machine.
Today, this is not done with out dated calipers or micrometers.
But that doesn’t mean ya can't do very accurate work with old outdated machines and measuring devices.
It's what built your rockets and nuclear weapons.
But with modern technology and Mars on the horizon, everything we do is outdated.
My favorite over Starrett is Mitutoyo Coolent Proof Absolute. They also turn off automatically.
They are the best caliper and longest lasting caliper I've ever used, as a professional machinist.
Calipers are reference tools used mainly where measurements are not critical.
Like a reloading hobbyist with COAL measurements.
Modern inspection departments do not have a caliper in the room,...nothing would be certified, as past inspection with a caliper today.
Or even the more accurate micrometer for that matter, is not used.
The CNC machining centers have to be qualified before putting them into production, to see if they are accurate enough to machine the parts they are intended to machine.
Today, this is not done with out dated calipers or micrometers.
But that doesn’t mean ya can't do very accurate work with old outdated machines and measuring devices.
It's what built your rockets and nuclear weapons.
But with modern technology and Mars on the horizon, everything we do is outdated.
I use a Mitutoyo Coolent Proof Absolut caliper for reloading. I also inherited boxes of micrometers from dad that I'm sure I'll use someday for something. (I must have been an engineer in a previous life.) I am really curious-what technology is used today for accurate measurements?
I have a set of Mitutoyo and a cheap Harbor Freight Chyyyna calipers, the latter being almost 20 years old.
If I needed pro grade, the Mitutoyo would be my choice. The Chyyna brand has worked fine for my needs, just an average reloader/hobbyist.
If I needed pro grade, the Mitutoyo would be my choice. The Chyyna brand has worked fine for my needs, just an average reloader/hobbyist.
Like mentioned by straightshooter1 two posts up, lasers are becoming much more common place. CMM (uses probes) has been around for a few decades now. All sorts of laser/probe/sensor driven measuring devices out there now. Some are even plugged straight into CNC machines and send measurements to the machine so offsets get made automatically on the fly. There's still shops out there doing checks & inspections the old fashioned way with mics, comparators, and indicators. I work at one. We don't use calipers for part inspection though, just use them for reference when setting up jobs and tooling.
My grandfather was a) a very frugal man, and b) a machinist for Goodyear for almost 50 years. When he died, I got a pair of (analog) Mitutoyos. If he was willing to spend more than the minimum amount money on something, I'm confident he did his research thoroughly and made his purchasing decision accordingly. I'm guessing they're probably from the 1960s.
I now have those and two pairs of the digitals. I've accidentally left them on for weeks and weeks before. The battery was not only fine but still hasn't needed to be replaced (and we're many years after that now).
What I ought to do is to do a video comparing the analog and the digitals.
I now have those and two pairs of the digitals. I've accidentally left them on for weeks and weeks before. The battery was not only fine but still hasn't needed to be replaced (and we're many years after that now).
What I ought to do is to do a video comparing the analog and the digitals.
Well, at least the micrometers my dad used look cool in their nice wooden box along with the gauge pins. He rebuilt a bunch of 16 cylinder Detroit diesel engines in his day with those things.
Just get a set of Mitutoyo digitals. They are plenty accurate enough for reloading.
If you can shoot well enough to see what a .0001 difference makes, I'd like to see it.
Mike
If you can shoot well enough to see what a .0001 difference makes, I'd like to see it.
Mike
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