Decent Vernier caliper?

ugo.santalucia

I am a bit fed up of Chinese precision... digital callipers that don't work or are as accurate as a ruler and Vernier that don't even slide smoothly inside the slot... SO... should I treat myself to a Dial gauge Mitutoyo caliper (150 quid or so) or I can buy the same accuracy for a lot less somewhere else?

I do like dial indicators as they are easy to read and don't need a battery. Pure Vernier are OK, but you need a good eye to make a good read, which sometimes eludes me

Any advice?

And please... if your 5 quid Chinese Ebay job is good enough for you, refrain, it only means precision is not a priority of yours.

arlowood

UK supplier covering Mitutoyo, Moore and Wright and Machine-DRO (whoever they are).

Moore and Wright have always had a good reputation for instruments so you can choose to spend as little as £38 for 150mm

http://www.machine-dro.co.uk/digital-di ... -face.html

or as much as £83 if you need to go to 300mm

http://www.machine-dro.co.uk/digital-di ... -4684.html

meanredspider

Yup M&W will be good and Mitutoyo can be had for similar money (£40) on Amazon for 150mm and about double that for digital.

arlowood

meanredspider wrote:

Yup M&W will be good and Mitutoyo can be had for similar money (£40) on Amazon for 150mm and about double that for digital.

The Amazon £40 listing is for the non-dial version. The cheapest Mitutoyo dial version on Amazon is £106

ugo.santalucia

arlowood wrote:

UK supplier covering Mitutoyo, Moore and Wright and Machine-DRO (whoever they are).

Moore and Wright have always had a good reputation for instruments so you can choose to spend as little as £38 for 150mm

http://www.machine-dro.co.uk/digital-di ... -face.html

or as much as £83 if you need to go to 300mm

http://www.machine-dro.co.uk/digital-di ... -4684.html

Good pointer there... shame the 150 mm is out of stock ATM

arlowood

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Good pointer there... shame the 150 mm is out of stock ATM

Just found a listing on Amazon at £41 showing 4 left in stock

http://www.amazon.co.uk/150mm-Metric-Di ... B00DN3H1OE

ugo.santalucia

Excellent...

JayKosta

I have a 6 inch (150mm) Mitutoyo dial caliper that I bought used about 20 years ago, and it has served me very well - smooth operating and always repeatable.

If you buy used, inspect the jaws to verify they are not damaged, and that they close evenly from front to back. Also test that the 'drag' mechanism works ok for the entire range.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

ugo.santalucia

The smoothness is always the difference between a decent one and a budget product. Incidentally if the inner and outer sliding parts are not perfectly aligned (hence lack of smoothness) any claim of accuracy below say 0.2 mm is ridiculous

proto

Ugo, I've sent you a PM

cycleclinic

cyclus do a good one ugo. It's not ditial. As the analogue ones measure down to 0.05mm they are good enough. My set came from the school I worked at when it closed for good, a Japanese make I think, brilliant.

proto

At work we've tried others in the past but now only buy Mitutoyo calipers. Last forever if you look after them. Occasionally get dropped and if they land on the internal measuring points they are pretty well finished. You can grind the points down to remove the damage but next to useless then for measuring small holes.

The cheap chinese copies are Ok for a garage tool but are not proper measuring instruments, imo

southdownswolf

Have a look on RS

arlowood

southdownswolf wrote:

Have a look on RS

RS Components is a good spot. However the page you link to only has the Mitutoyo non dial versions at a reasonable price. Ugo was looking to spend a bit less than the £92 mark I think which is the cheapest dial version on that list.

However there are other dial versions on offer at lower prices eg RS 150mm dial version at £16.36

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/calipers/7255698/

proto

This is what you need
http://www.tooled-up.com/manproduct/mit ... -6/206925/

Don't buy anything from RS unless you have to. Very expensive.

For example:
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/calipers/2455676/ and I think that price is without VAT

ugo.santalucia

Agree... RS is a business supplier... businesses notoriously like to pay people in procurements to get the worst possible deals on everything.

I had people in procurements negotiating a deal for 20 copies of a book at 150 quid a unit, when Amazon was selling it for 50... they argued it was the American version... I replied if they could get over the obvious Aluminum Vs Aluminium debate, there was 2 grand to save

Matthewfalle

How about Blue Point (Snap On "budget") or are the ones you are discussing above better? Just a thought. Even Snap On itself?

proto

To be blunt, if you want very good quality at reasonable price, stop fannying around, buy Mitutoyo.

ugo.santalucia

I think a lot of these calipers are just badged and rebadged version of cheap Chinese jobs that might give you a 0.1 mm accuracy at best... the Park tool one being the classic example. There aren't many good precision engineering companies and Mitutoyo seems to be the reference point for this type of tool.

tangled_metal

proto wrote:

At work we've tried others in the past but now only buy Mitutoyo calipers. Last forever if you look after them. Occasionally get dropped and if they land on the internal measuring points they are pretty well finished. You can grind the points down to remove the damage but next to useless then for measuring small holes.

The cheap chinese copies are Ok for a garage tool but are not proper measuring instruments, imo

Wot he said. AT work we've used all sorts of cheapo ones for the "guys" to use on the shop floor under the impression they will just break them or leave them somewhere / lose them. But after a spell of failing ones we went Mitutoyo all across the board. Some of those we've had decades, including the beast...a 20" one IIRC. All digital though, and they cost about £76 for a 6"/150mm vernier. They pay for themselves after a year or so of replacing cheapo Chinese ones like Silverline.

IIRC vernier callipers are not accurate to much below 0.5mm or so but if you need more acccuracy you get a micrometer. Also do any of you actually check their accuracy with say slip gauges?

proto

Tangled Metal wrote:

proto wrote:

IIRC vernier callipers are not accurate to much below 0.5mm or so but if you need more acccuracy you get a micrometer. Also do any of you actually check their accuracy with say slip gauges?

Not sure I agree with that, tbh, they acn be at least as good as digital caliper, but much less user friendly. A quality vernier caliper, Benson, Rabone Chesterman, etc., can be very accurate, +/-0.02mm.

Bordersroadie

I'm a cabinetmaker and have used an Axminster manual vernier for years (http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-vernier-caliper) as have many of my colleagues. You can pay more but for no better quality.

0.02mm increments, easy to read. Nice old-fashioned screw lock, better than friction types as you can properly lock it.

They also do a pocket version which is also excellent, and a digital if you prefer.

Well-proven designs, no need to pay more to be honest.

redjeepǃ

The Mitutoyo stuff is excellent. We use dozens of them at work and the only problem we ever have is that the tips of the jaws eventually wear out, but that's because we're constantly measuring diamond.

If you buy it, you'll probably never have to buy another one. That's got to be worth saving a few quid now.

ai_1

I've used Mitutoyo and own a Moore and Wright although neither recently. Both were great. The Mitutoyo's seemed smoother but the Moore and Wright served me well and was a lot cheaper.

Tangled Metal wrote:

...IIRC vernier callipers are not accurate to much below 0.5mm or so but if you need more acccuracy you get a micrometer....

Not true, unless it's a really, really bad calipers.
The whole point of the vernier gauge is to allow you read smaller increments than you can distinguish by eye.

ugo.santalucia

Ai_1 wrote:

I've used Mitutoyo and own a Moore and Wright although neither recently. Both were great. The Mitutoyo's seemed smoother but the Moore and Wright served me well and was a lot cheaper.

Tangled Metal wrote:

...IIRC vernier callipers are not accurate to much below 0.5mm or so but if you need more acccuracy you get a micrometer....

Not true, unless it's a really, really bad calipers.
The whole point of the vernier gauge is to allow you read smaller increments than you can distinguish by eye.

I think he probably meant 0.05 mm which is reasonable