Tech: Digital Caliper

Subject: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 14 Jan 16 - 09:16 PM

Can anyone in the UK recommend an affordable Digital Caliper that's actually reliably accurate.

I need to measure string gauges on various guitars and my close up eyesight is too old and knackered
to distinguish 9s or 10s top E strings.

I bought one for a fiver from Lidls a long time ago and it was not to be trusted..
The batteries have probably corroded it to buggery by now.

Is it actually possible to get a truly good one [say off Amazon] for less than 10 or 20 quid.

Last time I looked into this, most suggested specific brands were well expensive, like over a hundred quid...


cheers...

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 14 Jan 16 - 10:13 PM

.. or if I can find a brand new one in my low price range,
would an old style mechanical micrometer be more dependably accurate ?
I used to use my dad's from his apprentice days in the late 1940s.
That was a serious bit of kit - must have cost a lot back then ???

But it broke 15 years ago.

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 14 Jan 16 - 11:06 PM

My digital calliper is Site brand. I've just tried it against a new set of mandolin strings and can not an accurate enough reading with it - I'm usually under reading by 0.0001". The one is also prone to (I suppose) "slipping" - you need to keep checking it's zeroed.

I don't know if any would do the job you want but I'd suggest that is one to avoid.

I have checked the strings against a Sealey digital micrometer and they agree within a few ten thousandths. I think that one cost me around £50 so over your budget.

I would think you would be OK with a mechanical micrometer. Have a look at tooled up.

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 Jan 16 - 03:53 AM

I have two old but very well made mechanical micrometers, and they're very accurate - but I take the point about reading the gauges.

Here's a tip you might like to consider if you wear glasses:

Buy a watchmaker's clip-on loupe, as in:

Clip-on loupe

attach it to your specs frame and read the mechanical micrometer in high magnification! I use one of these for tinkering with mechanical watch movements.

If you don't have specs, even simpler: buy a pair of magnifying reading glasses from Boots or similar - quite cheap - and magnify the micrometer that way.

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 15 Jan 16 - 04:58 AM

Will - hi.. yeah I already do something like that..

I either have to take my glasses off and hold things right up to my face..

not really sensible when I'm using screwdrivers and crafts scalpels 2 inches from my eyes..

or I've got a collection of plastic reading glasses from tesco / poundshop,
- right up to 2 -> 3 strength - that I need to wear over my glasses...

errrmmm.. they're all somewhere in the house....????

Those loupes look far more sophisticated, so are going straight on my amazon wish list .. cheers...

My eyesight is fine for all distances except that zone within reading distance.
I guess I've just got accustomed to making do with the poor focus and compromises.

Last time I had my eyes tested and got new glasses was a dismal experience
of inexperienced and incompetent newly qualified [???] high st opticians...
in Bristol and London.

Took best part of 2 months and many wasted lenses for the last one in Romford to get the prescription just right.

I made it clear to all of them that I worked daily with precision lenses in darkrooms and studios,
so needed my glasses to be spot on..
like the last pair that needed to be replaced in an emergency
cuz they'd just got smashed when I was attacked from behind in a west country pub..

I've not trusted opticians ever since - they're just as bad as dentists..
That's why I'm so reluctant / stubborn to go through it all again.
Even though I know at my age now I need something like varifocals...

Anyway, I'm looking at a micrometer on amazon for about 15 quid - but no user reviews...
it's metric only - hopefully I'll find one somewhere in imperial for guitar strings...

Guessing it'll be average cheap Chinese pound shop tools quality..

That old micrometre of my dads was excellent old world British engineered high quality...

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: Leadfingers
Date: 15 Jan 16 - 06:06 AM

Have you a Maplin Store in your vicinity ? They do a plastic caliper for about £15 , and a metal one for abut £30

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: OldNicKilby
Date: 15 Jan 16 - 06:14 AM

Have a look at www.proopsbrothers.com
They have a range of digital calipers. However you would be better off with a Wire Gauge, no batteries and easy to read for well under a tenner with post and packing

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: GUEST,Mr Red just trying to think laterally.
Date: 15 Jan 16 - 06:29 AM

have you tried clip-on magnifiers for yer glasses? Many other spheres of use.

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jan 16 - 07:11 AM

Wire guage?
'fraid this is a US site, but I am sure you can find a UK equivalent, though you may need to wade through lots of "chart" type site too.

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: Greg F.
Date: 15 Jan 16 - 10:11 AM

What about a Mechanical Dial Caliper ?

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 15 Jan 16 - 01:40 PM

I don't think it would overcome the possible limitations of the digital ones, Greg. I'm really unsure about any of the calliper's accuracy but I've only ever wanted one to get me within a wider tolerance over larger distances.

Moving back to the micrometer which in essence is a pretty simple device, to take an imperial one, it's a 40 tpi thread so one turn is 25 thou. It seems to me, they can mark those graduations reliably and it is a more accurate tool than the caliper.

One advantage with a digital one is regardless of the thread used, you essentially get 2 micrometers in one - for those that want to switch between metric and imperial.

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: kendall
Date: 15 Jan 16 - 05:23 PM

Greg, that's what I use.

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: OldNicKilby
Date: 18 Jan 16 - 09:47 AM

A WIRE GAUGE does not "Go wrong " is flat , light and easy to use, It tells you the gauge. Even a Banjo player can use one, sorry not starting a Banjo joke thread. I actually love them especially when played along side a Concertina

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 18 Jan 16 - 06:20 PM

The cheapest imperial micrometer I found is still a bit too much for me,
so I've ordered a Moore & Wright Metric & Imperial Vernier Caliper for just under £18.
It's supposed to be decent quality and accurate enough for a Chinese made tool... ???

measures to a thousandth of an inch.

It's 40 years since I last used anything like a slide rule,
... when it's delivered, let's see if I can get on with it, and if it does my intended job ok... ?????.

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: GUEST,Ted
Date: 19 Jan 16 - 03:58 AM

Coming in a bit late on this, but I've been using a Moore & Wright micrometer (ordinary mechanical type) for some years with no problems.

Going back to eyeglasses, this from the CPC catalogue (UK based) is an excellent solution to working in your own shadow: http://cpc.farnell.com/linear-tools/59-615-010/loupe-x10-mag-illuminated/dp/PY31606

Subject: RE: Tech: Digital Caliper
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 Jan 16 - 04:15 AM

flip-up magnifiers. I find them so useful. Mine are adjustable up & down so that I can created bifocals to suit my whim. They are so good I spent many hours over one week trying to find them on the web again, even wrote to the original suppliers who no longer sold them. I have repaired them with Araldite & matchsticks twice. They are cosseted in their own padded case, too precious to loose or damage.

You would be amazed if you looked at you guitar bits through them.