digital calipers

[75F100]

looking for something that thats good to like 0.0001" .

any suggestions??

[CJeep77]

Digital calipers can be accurate to the .0005, but not .0001. You need micrometers to read .0001. Mitutoyo and Starret are one of many good brands for precision instruments, but for home use, the Fowler stuff works fine for me too.

[JeepinDoug]

Digital calipers can be accurate to the .0005, but not .0001. You need micrometers to read .0001. Mitutoyo and Starret are one of many good brands for precision instruments, but for home use, the Fowler stuff works fine for me too.

X2, plus get a couple of guage blocks, .100" and 1.0" so you can calibrate them yourself. .0001" takes a feel and acurate guage blocks will help you find the feel for the mics.

[m016324]

Digital calipers can be accurate to the .0005, but not .0001. You need micrometers to read .0001. Mitutoyo and Starret are one of many good brands for precision instruments, but for home use, the Fowler stuff works fine for me too.

I concur doctor. I like Starret better than mitutoyo but they are both very good mics. Be ready to spend some coin though with the tolerances you want. I know that they do make a starret mic that's good to .0001 that's a digital but it's only on the 0-1" and it's pricey. Oh oops you digital calipers yeah don't think that you are going to get that accurate with those. Why digital by the way? I have two starret calipers that I truly love but neither are digital and are quite easy to read.

-ben

[rusted]

I have a set of mitutoyo my mom bought in the late 1980s. They're digital, both mic and calipers.

I use them a LOT more than I would have imagined! My torque screwdrivers sit in the drawer collecting dust, I just used the caliper depth gauge to set my chainsaw's metering needle yesterday. I use those calipers constantly it seems like.

These are good to .0005, and haven't been calibrated since 1993 or so, at least it was done under a Fed program (defense contractor). After reset to zero, they still jibe up to the mic, but I don't REALLY know if they are still in cal, just that both instruments read exactly the same up to 1" (the size of my mic).

If buying new, I'd have a hard time being patriotic and going Starrett, they are $$$. I have a down-brand made in the USA drillpoint gauge, and after using it and the calipers, I couldn't pay twice as much, literally, for what they are.

[DavidVanVorous]

Digital calipers can be accurate to the .0005, but not .0001. You need micrometers to read .0001. Mitutoyo and Starret are one of many good brands for precision instruments, but for home use, the Fowler stuff works fine for me too.

X3. Unless routinely checked against a known standard and used in a controlled temp environment calipers are really only good to .001 in most applications regardless of the DRO, leastwise thats been my experience in QA doing mech inspections. Mitutoyo is a good bang fer the $, Starret and Brown&Sharpe out shine them for quality and smoothness in their action but are $$$.

My "shop" calipers happen to be Brown&Sharpe .1 revolution dial type and have served me well for nigh onto 30 yrs now which means my $65 I paid for them was well spent.

D.

[TLCObsession]

I like my digital Mitutoyo - paticularly because I can zero it anywhere and also because I can flip back and forth between inch & metric....

Jim

[PTSchram]

C'mawn guys, calipers are to get you close. Digital calipers are for lazy folks (like me). Height gauges, surface plates, and micrometers are necessary if you want accuracy and precision.

Being a measuring instrument nerd, I have boxes of measuring tools that rarely get used. The vast majority of time, I'm either making a tool that only has to fit the job, or a part that only has to fit its mate.

[Toyota FJ40]

Yeah, you won't get a caliper that accurate, even though the display shows .0005, if you read the specs on any digital caliper it will show that it is accrate to .001. I got a sweet digital micrometer for like 90 bucks on ebay, it is a mitutoyo with the computer connection output and everything I got it brand new and I think it is accurate to .00005.

[rusted]

C'mawn guys, calipers are to get you close. Digital calipers are for lazy folks (like me). Height gauges, surface plates, and micrometers are necessary if you want accuracy and precision.

Being a measuring instrument nerd, I have boxes of measuring tools that rarely get used. The vast majority of time, I'm either making a tool that only has to fit the job, or a part that only has to fit its mate.

What do you use for 'precise' i.d.s then? Serious question, I don't know.

[Jeepdude_Jay]

What do you use for 'precise' i.d.s then? Serious question, I don't know.
Snap gages or "telescoping gages" will get you pretty close. After that a bore gage is what I would use.

[rusted]

Snap gages or "telescoping gages" will get you pretty close. After that a bore gage is what I would use.

Thanks.

[MC]

We have way too many digitals here in this shop...they are a PIA..always getting wet with coolant and erroring. They make coolant proof calipers....but I really prefer my old brown and sharp. I can hold .0003 with it, but thats after many years of use

[JeepinDoug]

The only digital instrument I have in the shop is a profilometer. All mics are standard Starrett .0001" mics. For IDs we use Deltronic guage pins, the smallest we have is .025" and upto .750" (guage pins do not check roundness, only minimum hole diameter). After that diameter for internal we use a Sunnen bore guage, with adapters we measure upto 4.0".
I run several jobs in exotic materials where I need to hold + or - .0001", I set indicator mics with guage blocks to check the diameters, occasionally checking them through the day for thermal change. Many of our parts will change .0001" if you hold it in your hands too long.

[krb]

Like what has been said DC,s are only good to .0005-.001.What are you trying to measure?