3 ms·

I've seen so many digital calipers destroyed by careless engineers and humidity here in Guangdong in the last few years (mostly cheap Chinese ones), I just boug

I've seen so many digital calipers destroyed by careless engineers and humidity here in Guangdong in the last few years (mostly cheap Chinese ones), I just bought two new extended digital Mitutoyo. I intend to keep them carefully secured in boxes with dehumidification salts and zealously restrict their use. Heading to the US shortly so was sure to obtain the metric/imperial option, which is amusingly cheaper than metric here in China as nobody wants the hassle of the extra button - and presumably, the corresponding increase in chance of error.

kevin_thibedeau 4y ago
> nobody wants the hassle of the extra button Or they know they're more likely to be counterfeit.
- contingencies 4y ago
  When you buy imported mass-produced goods in China and they come from a really popular distributor located in a developed coastal city (eg. Shanghai) with huge, platform-audited sales volume and the goods already cost 10x local units, the chance of counterfeit goods is generally very low. The most recent supply scam I have personally had to deal with was the substitution for sale of alternate polymers as more expensive, engineering grade polymers.
stacktrust 4y ago
If rolling the dice on a cheap Chinese digital caliper, Home Depot's Husky house brand offers lifetime warranty, no receipt needed, return to any HD store, https://www.homedepot.com/c/huskywarranty https://www.homedepot.com/c/huskywarranty Metric, imperial and woodworking-friendly fractions, https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-6-in-3-Mode-Digital-Fractional-Caliper-1467H/206007130 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-6-in-3-Mode-Digital-Fracti...
- bityard 4y ago
  Usually the biggest problem with sub-$100 Chinese calipers is they chew through batteries even when off. A real annoyance if you're not using them every day. (And if you were using them every day, you'd just buy Mitutoyo in the first place.) Since I'm just a lowly woodworker, I just buy second-hand dial calipers on eBay.
  - s0rce 4y ago
    This is super annoying, I spend more time at work trying to find batteries, which we never have, than it would have cost to buy a legit brand name micrometer/caliper originally. Not to mention if you ever get it calibrated locally you are better off buying a good one initially vs. paying to calibrate cheap ones.
    - stacktrust 4y ago
      Teardown of cheap calipers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKSSY1gzCEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKSSY1gzCEs Power consumption analysis: http://www.davehylands.com/Machinist/Caliper-Batteries/ http://www.davehylands.com/Machinist/Caliper-Batteries/ > The Mitutoyo caliper draws about 1/4 the power of the chinese caliper when on, and about 1/8 the power when off. SR44 batteries should last longer than LR44. For infrequently used cheap calipers, one workaround for short battery life is to remove the battery between uses, https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/electronic-calipers-battery-drain.410825/#post-7620411 https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/electronic-calip... > cheap calipers never actually turn off.. because the encoder they use is not an "absolute" encoder. You push the caliper all the way to the closed position, push "zero", and then the circuitry simply counts the number of pulses that goes by and figures out how far the caliper moved. If the caliper fully turned off, it would lose its position and you'd have to re-zero it every time you turned it on. > Mitutoyo Digimatics have what they call an "absolute encoder". The sensor doesn't just count the number of pulses. They've put a special reference pattern on their encoder such that the caliper's circuitry can figure out where it is at any given time. With a Mitutoyo caliper, you can turn it off, take the battery out, slide it to a new position, put the battery back in, turn it on, and it will know exactly where it is. This "absolute encoder" allows the caliper to fully shut down when not in use, greatly increasing battery life. Hacking a switch onto cheap calipers, https://www.instructables.com/Cheap-Caliper-Battery-Life-Hack/ https://www.instructables.com/Cheap-Caliper-Battery-Life-Hac... & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcoUdIjZozY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcoUdIjZozY & http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500/Digital_calipers_added_on_off_switch.png http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500/Digital_calipers_ad...

kevin_thibedeau 4y ago

> nobody wants the hassle of the extra button Or they know they're more likely to be counterfeit.

contingencies 4y ago
When you buy imported mass-produced goods in China and they come from a really popular distributor located in a developed coastal city (eg. Shanghai) with huge, platform-audited sales volume and the goods already cost 10x local units, the chance of counterfeit goods is generally very low. The most recent supply scam I have personally had to deal with was the substitution for sale of alternate polymers as more expensive, engineering grade polymers.

stacktrust 4y ago

If rolling the dice on a cheap Chinese digital caliper, Home Depot's Husky house brand offers lifetime warranty, no receipt needed, return to any HD store, https://www.homedepot.com/c/huskywarranty https://www.homedepot.com/c/huskywarranty Metric, imperial and woodworking-friendly fractions, https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-6-in-3-Mode-Digital-Fractional-Caliper-1467H/206007130 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-6-in-3-Mode-Digital-Fracti...

bityard 4y ago
Usually the biggest problem with sub-$100 Chinese calipers is they chew through batteries even when off. A real annoyance if you're not using them every day. (And if you were using them every day, you'd just buy Mitutoyo in the first place.) Since I'm just a lowly woodworker, I just buy second-hand dial calipers on eBay.
- s0rce 4y ago
  This is super annoying, I spend more time at work trying to find batteries, which we never have, than it would have cost to buy a legit brand name micrometer/caliper originally. Not to mention if you ever get it calibrated locally you are better off buying a good one initially vs. paying to calibrate cheap ones.
  - stacktrust 4y ago
    Teardown of cheap calipers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKSSY1gzCEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKSSY1gzCEs Power consumption analysis: http://www.davehylands.com/Machinist/Caliper-Batteries/ http://www.davehylands.com/Machinist/Caliper-Batteries/ > The Mitutoyo caliper draws about 1/4 the power of the chinese caliper when on, and about 1/8 the power when off. SR44 batteries should last longer than LR44. For infrequently used cheap calipers, one workaround for short battery life is to remove the battery between uses, https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/electronic-calipers-battery-drain.410825/#post-7620411 https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/electronic-calip... > cheap calipers never actually turn off.. because the encoder they use is not an "absolute" encoder. You push the caliper all the way to the closed position, push "zero", and then the circuitry simply counts the number of pulses that goes by and figures out how far the caliper moved. If the caliper fully turned off, it would lose its position and you'd have to re-zero it every time you turned it on. > Mitutoyo Digimatics have what they call an "absolute encoder". The sensor doesn't just count the number of pulses. They've put a special reference pattern on their encoder such that the caliper's circuitry can figure out where it is at any given time. With a Mitutoyo caliper, you can turn it off, take the battery out, slide it to a new position, put the battery back in, turn it on, and it will know exactly where it is. This "absolute encoder" allows the caliper to fully shut down when not in use, greatly increasing battery life. Hacking a switch onto cheap calipers, https://www.instructables.com/Cheap-Caliper-Battery-Life-Hack/ https://www.instructables.com/Cheap-Caliper-Battery-Life-Hac... & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcoUdIjZozY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcoUdIjZozY & http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500/Digital_calipers_added_on_off_switch.png http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/500/Digital_calipers_ad...