What calipers should Santa bring me?

Crayola

Crayola

Joined
Sep 23, 1999
Messages
3,831
Howdy all,

I'm thinking about asking Santa for calipers for X-Mas this year. There are dial calipers, and digital ones. Is one any better than the other for knife making? Also, I can get one that converts from fractions to decimals (a dial, not digital), or one that goes metric to Imperial. Which would be best, do you think? Thanks!
 
I just have the dial calipers and couldnt do without them. One is metric and one is standard. The digital ones would be nice but I still like the dial. Hey I think some have both.
 
I work with a lot of precision machinists. They seem to prefer Starrett or Mitutoyo. Some decent alternates would be Browning, Fowler(the Swiss ones, not the chinese) and NSK (once again, the Japanese ones, not the chinese). I would only get a digital if you switch back and forth between Imperial and Metric measurements. Otherwise, I think that the dial calipers give a better feel.

1) Keep 'em clean
2) Don't drop 'em
 
I work with calipers and all other kinds of measuring instruments every day. My faves are the digitals because they are way more versatile than the dial calipers, but the dial ones are the workhorses of teh industry, that's for sure!

You simply can't go wrong when buying a Starrett. In order of preference for quality my line up is as follows:

Starrett, Brown & Sharp, Fowler. There are some swiss brands that are pretty good I hear, but I'll stick with American made on this topic. Well worth the money.

Mitutoyo is okay, but I have watched their quality slide. You know we are in trouble, when Japanese companies start getting their stuff made in Taiwan and China.
 
Definite Must - whatever kind.

I love mine. I have a dial set given me as a gift. Being made of quality steel (I use mine for marking steel alot) is more issue than digital or dial IMO.

I use them for:

Checking bar thickness.
Marking centerlines
Spacing pin holes.
Centering pin holes.
Checking consistency of edge thickness
measuring scale thickness
Marking attached scales to make sure the handle is balanced/centered in all directions.
Double checking drill bit sizes (I'm not very organized - they get loose all the time.)
Marking grindline targets to keep both sides even.
......

A definate need for the Christmas list.

Steve
 
Personally, if you're after precision for checking thickness, I'd get Starrett 0-1" outside micrometer. I got a very nice one, brand-new in the box off of ebay for $90.

I have a pair of $15 Harbor Freight dial calipers that I sharpened the tips on, and I use them for all sorts of scribing and lay-out work.

Nick
 
I have been very impressed by a Peacock (Japan made) dial calipers that I purchased about six months ago.

They were just under $50 from Enco, and for the price I was not really sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they are very smooth and have proven to be quite durable.

The company that I work for requires that all measuring tools that are used by engineers have to be checked for accuracy and qualified by the gauge lab, and these ones were given the OK by them, so I can say with a reasonable degree of ceratinty that they are very accurate.

Personally I strongly prefer dial style calipers over the electric ones. No batteries to bother with, easier to read, and much cheaper for comparable quality.

Then again, there are always the antiques that use the Vernier scale. Some companies still manufacture them, apparently people learned to use them and are unwilling to change.
 
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