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You can buy cheap digital calipers for just £5 on ebay these days. Big Clive did a tear down of some that he found and found they were pretty good except for th

by spuz 6y ago

You can buy cheap digital calipers for just £5 on ebay these days. Big Clive did a tear down of some that he found and found they were pretty good except for the fact that the digital circuit drains the battery even when it's off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKSSY1gzCEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKSSY1gzCEs

muro 6y ago
+1, got mine a few weeks back. For about €6 including shipping costs. They don't pretend to be a different brand.
hyperbovine 6y ago
This. Unless you are a professional machinist, in which case you know where to buy genuine Starrett, Mitutoyo, B&S, etc. the cheap digital calipers are probably sufficient for your needs. .001” thickness tolerance is fine for even “precision” woodworking for example.
- stan_rogers 6y ago
  Among woodworkers - and here I'm talking about those who work in fine joinery - the usual take is that if you think you're working to anything finer than 1/64", you're fooling yourself. Your material movement will, by itself, be greater than the tolerances you're aiming for.
  - unwind 6y ago
    For us metric folks, that is 0.4 mm (400 µm) which does seem to be very precise for wood. Good to know, I'm not a woodworker myself although the dream is alive.
StavrosK 6y ago
I have those plastic ones but I also got these $18 ones: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000098107734.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.70cc2af0va2m7I&algo_pvid=4c8cb1b9-9892-47b8-83cb-049594fc71b9&algo_expid=4c8cb1b9-9892-47b8-83cb-049594fc71b9-1&btsid=0b0a557216164135524147036e668f&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000098107734.html?spm=a2g0o... They're all-metal, two decimal digits of accuracy, and I've been supremely satisfied. Zero retention is great, feel is good, they're way better than anything I'll ever need as a hobbyist.
kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
Mitsutoyos are in a class by themselves. None of the cheapies have absolute positioning.

by spuz 6y ago

muro 6y ago

+1, got mine a few weeks back. For about €6 including shipping costs. They don't pretend to be a different brand.

hyperbovine 6y ago

This. Unless you are a professional machinist, in which case you know where to buy genuine Starrett, Mitutoyo, B&S, etc. the cheap digital calipers are probably sufficient for your needs. .001” thickness tolerance is fine for even “precision” woodworking for example.

stan_rogers 6y ago
Among woodworkers - and here I'm talking about those who work in fine joinery - the usual take is that if you think you're working to anything finer than 1/64", you're fooling yourself. Your material movement will, by itself, be greater than the tolerances you're aiming for.
- unwind 6y ago
  For us metric folks, that is 0.4 mm (400 µm) which does seem to be very precise for wood. Good to know, I'm not a woodworker myself although the dream is alive.

StavrosK 6y ago

I have those plastic ones but I also got these $18 ones: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000098107734.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.70cc2af0va2m7I&algo_pvid=4c8cb1b9-9892-47b8-83cb-049594fc71b9&algo_expid=4c8cb1b9-9892-47b8-83cb-049594fc71b9-1&btsid=0b0a557216164135524147036e668f&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000098107734.html?spm=a2g0o... They're all-metal, two decimal digits of accuracy, and I've been supremely satisfied. Zero retention is great, feel is good, they're way better than anything I'll ever need as a hobbyist.

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago

Mitsutoyos are in a class by themselves. None of the cheapies have absolute positioning.