dial calipers

[SingleMalt]

I went digital years ago with a cheap set from eBay. They work great and have held up.

[BOB HILL]

I have a few sets of the cheap plastic calipers scattered around. I use the wire in the guide as a depth gauge, mostly when  checking a ramrod hole position through a 1/16 hole drilled in the barrel channel. I do have a couple of nice old metal sets, but in gun building, I don't really use them.    Bob

[delivered]

Do you think that Hershel ever use one; except for tightening a bolt on his model-T 

[Steve-In]

The Mititoyo are what most shops are using.  Keep the tracks clean and they will give good service. 
I also have a set of Mititoyo digitals.  Battery life is great so far.
My Starrett satin 12" Vernier calipers have no track, no need for batteries and have never lost calibration.
TIP if you use your calipers to measure drills, reamers etc.  Rotate the tool counter-clockwise.  It will not wear the jaws.  Also they are NOT adjustable precision wrenches.

[jerrywh]

Guys who don't use calipers don;t make guns

[gusd]

Elnathan,
To reset your Mitutoyo back to zero,
take a alum. soda can and cut a strip out approx. 1/16 wide x 2 long.
Open jaws about an inch , slip alum. strip between rack & pinion and slide to close.
 (you have to roll onto alum strip.) you may have to try a few times.
hope you can understand this.
Gus

[Bob Roller]

I sold my digital Starretts, all they were good for was running down batteries, even after I modified the case to stop turning them when in storage.  It's nice to flip/flop between inches and micrometers as much of what I do involves both BUT there was no backup scale for use when the digitronics were dead.

A simple dial is great to use, but I don't have a good set in house now.

I now always use _and love_ a set of Mitutoyo verniers (dual scale) given to me by a friend because no one else at his business would learn how to read them-and they're not machinists, so they get a pass .  They never need batteries and the dial doesn't move.

The biggest hassle is locating them. 

Also, most uses have nothing to do with longrifles.   

I want some inside and outside calipers without scales at all for the bench, but just haven't run across the right ones when I had money to spend. Fit by feel, not by nummers. 

I also have a fine Vernier made by George Scherr in Minnesota. They are 12" with decimal and metric read out.
The last time I used them was probably in 1986 when I worked in a babbit bearing repair shop.I use a micrometer
most of the time with a Vernier scale that reads to 10ths.I used it this morning on a piece of drill rod to see if it was
.1094 or .110 (#35).The dial calipers,I think I have one that use sometimes plus a new one still in the box. I still
refer to them as "Verynear"calipers and when I was working in optics the government inspector forbade their use.

Bob Roller

[Darkhorse]

 

I want some inside and outside calipers without scales at all for the bench, but just haven't run across the right ones when I had money to spend. Fit by feel, not by nummers. 
[/quote]
I also have a fine Vernier made by George Scherr in Minnesota. They are 12" with decimal and metric read out.
The last time I used them was probably in 1986 when I worked in a babbit bearing repair shop.I use a micrometer
most of the time with a Vernier scale that reads to 10ths.I used it this morning on a piece of drill rod to see if it was
.1094 or .110 (#35).The dial calipers,I think I have one that use sometimes plus a new one still in the box. I still
refer to them as "Verynear"calipers and when I was working in optics the government inspector forbade their use.

Bob Roller
[/quote]

Bob, are refering to Optical Tooling as in Building and repairing aircraft fixtures? And doing calibration on those fixtures and anything else they need? If so I have at least 10 years in that field. Only one inspector was classified to inspect our work and he couldn't tell us what to use to accomplish the mission.
I used calipers and micrometers so much for so many years that I almost always have one with me when doing gun work. Personally, I need one to build a rifle. They are so versatile they can be used to measure outside, inside, and depth. Also you can scribe a very accurate line with one.

[ron w]

agreed, they don't always give the most accurate measurement. most can be fudges a little up r down with differing thumb pressure and you must pay close attention to alignment with the piece being measured. that said, for most of what someone building a long rifle would use them for they are entirely adequate with the required attention. I mainly use mine to check thickness of lumber for cabinets and furniture, as I plane it. so a few .oo1's off either way there doesn't really matter. the main use is to be sure my material is "really close" to what I want. I've done a lot of precision measuring in y carrer and I got used to knowing exactly what size the object i'm measuring is, regardless what it is. people get anal about measuremen when they understand what .001' is and work with close tolerances all the time. as far as planning lumber,.....measuring with a tape or hard rule, is just about useless, in my mind....you might as use your thumbnail and stick.

[T*O*F]

I've got an old set of Craftsman calipers but I don't use them for measuring.  Every time I need to measure something with my digital ones I have to put a new battery it them.

[Bob Roller]

 

I want some inside and outside calipers without scales at all for the bench, but just haven't run across the right ones when I had money to spend. Fit by feel, not by nummers. 

I also have a fine Vernier made by George Scherr in Minnesota. They are 12" with decimal and metric read out.
The last time I used them was probably in 1986 when I worked in a babbit bearing repair shop.I use a micrometer
most of the time with a Vernier scale that reads to 10ths.I used it this morning on a piece of drill rod to see if it was
.1094 or .110 (#35).The dial calipers,I think I have one that use sometimes plus a new one still in the box. I still
refer to them as "Verynear"calipers and when I was working in optics the government inspector forbade their use.

Bob Roller
[/quote]

Bob, are refering to Optical Tooling as in Building and repairing aircraft fixtures? And doing calibration on those fixtures and anything else they need? If so I have at least 10 years in that field. Only one inspector was classified to inspect our work and he couldn't tell us what to use to accomplish the mission.
I used calipers and micrometers so much for so many years that I almost always have one with me when doing gun work. Personally, I need one to build a rifle. They are so versatile they can be used to measure outside, inside, and depth. Also you can scribe a very accurate line with one.
[/quote]

This inspector thought he was "the"authority on all things. The shop I was working in
at that time was a reactivation of a long dormant lens maker that got rich with WW2
contracts and they had decided to have another go at it.We made lenses for prisms
and other things as well as power packs for night vision equipment.These power packs
looked like flashlight batteries.I made quite a bit of the tooling for some of the lenses
and they were generated on small ,very fast Bridgeport milling machines.
The business was doing well and had a potential to put 500 people to work until the
owners decided to start rebuilding mobile generators for the Navy,the type that was
used on aircraft to keep air conditioners working and restarts of engines.
I was not involved with it but thought it was beyond our expertise but did design an
instrument panel for it that was accepted but we didn't make it. I don't know what
really happened but there was an $800,000 loss on this project that killed the whole
company and we never did find out what happened. It was obvious that something was
wrong when some of the pay checks bounced.That was promptly corrected but by then
I was ready to quit anyway. I went back to my shop work and part timed with Raydon (Don)
Thompson in his European Motors repair business. The Euroklunkers are why we have
owned 7 Lincolns over our nearly 48 years of marriage.

Bob Roller

[Elnathan]

Elnathan,
To reset your Mitutoyo back to zero,
take a alum. soda can and cut a strip out approx. 1/16 wide x 2 long.
Open jaws about an inch , slip alum. strip between rack & pinion and slide to close.
 (you have to roll onto alum strip.) you may have to try a few times.
hope you can understand this.
Gus

I think I do understand what you mean, though I'd be afraid of just making things worse. The calibers are already re-zeroed by the simple expedient of moving the dial a couple degrees, so they are quite useable as-is. It just offends my sense of symmetry to have the dial canted a bit. 

[Marcruger]

Everyone has their own purposes and inclinations.  I have a digital Starrett 799 that I rely upon.  I treat it like the (relatively) expensive measuring tool that it is, and it works reliably in return.  Symbiotic relationship.  ;-)  When I sit it down, it is most usually placed carefully back in its padded hard case.  It is always packed away and the battery shut off at the end of a work session.  It has never failed and is accurate. I bought mine for handloading and don't know how anyone could do same without a good caliper.  Best wishes and God bless,   Marc

[Darkhorse]

Elnathan,
To reset your Mitutoyo back to zero,
take a alum. soda can and cut a strip out approx. 1/16 wide x 2 long.
Open jaws about an inch , slip alum. strip between rack & pinion and slide to close.
 (you have to roll onto alum strip.) you may have to try a few times.
hope you can understand this.
Gus

What you are trying to do is "Jump" a cog, if that makes any sense. That's the only way I know of to get a dial back to straight up. Keep your calipers clean, dirt, shavings, stuff like that will make it jump on it's own.

I think I do understand what you mean, though I'd be afraid of just making things worse. The calibers are already re-zeroed by the simple expedient of moving the dial a couple degrees, so they are quite useable as-is. It just offends my sense of symmetry to have the dial canted a bit. 

[JBJ]

That's exactly what you are doing - "jumping a cog" in the rack. Mitutoyo used to  (may still do it) enclose a small bit of thin brass sheet metal in the caliper case to assist with resetting the dial. I like the thin strip of aluminum drink can as a work around!
J.B.

[bob in the woods]

I still use my vernier calipers, with both inside and outside measurement jaws.  No dial....it's used mainly to compare work with a pattern piece or a drawing.  Very handy as a go/no go gauge.    Anyone still use a slide rule ?   

[Clark Badgett]

That's exactly what you are doing - "jumping a cog" in the rack. Mitutoyo used to  (may still do it) enclose a small bit of thin brass sheet metal in the caliper case to assist with resetting the dial. I like the thin strip of aluminum drink can as a work around!
J.B.

Years ago, a guy I worked with owned a set of Mitutoyo dial calipers that had a small "key" slot just on the back side of the dial that you could close the jaws, insert the small key and it would return the setting to the 12o'clock position. My new 8" versions do not have this feature.

[Bill Raby]

   The jewelry stores I worked at always had the $400 fancy calipers. I don't think they were any more accurate than the ones I got for about $25. Battery in the calipers that I use for gun building has had a dead battery for about a year. Does not seem to matter much. Don't really care what the number is.

[wmrike]

What's this scorn for vernier calipers (like mine)?  After all, we shoot black powder arms when we could be closing the action on a synthetic stocked, 6.5 Creedmoor stainless bolt gun.

[Scota4570]

What's this scorn for vernier calipers (like mine)?  After all, we shoot black powder arms when we could be closing the action on a synthetic stocked, 6.5 Creedmoor stainless bolt gun.

They are difficult to read.  IT takes time and headscratching to make sense of.  Kinda like a slide rule, works but.....  I have a vernear but never use it. 

As for chips getting the rack/track, modern digitals don't have a rack.  That is why I don't use my whiz wheel calipers anymore.  Also, the ability to reset the zero on the fly for comparitive measurments is another advantage to a modern unit.   Add carbide jaw inserts to be used as a scribe and you have my most used tool on the bench. 

[Daryl]

I still have a 6" Vernier caliper, Mitutoyou, iirc.  I can only use them with an eye hoop or head set. they are still accurate and work splendidly- the electronics and dials are simply lazy man's tools. lol- that's why I now use them mostly.

[oldtravler61]

  So you can't build a gun if you don't you calipers. Now that's interesting...yep..it is...!   Oldtravler

[BOB HILL]

Don't feel to bad Oldtraveler. I didn't know either.         Bob

[n stephenson]

When someone makes a comment  to people that actually know what they`re doing ,that is that absurd, I cringe when I  wonder what "pearls of wisdom"  they would share with a newcomer. Heck, I`m still waiting on my $50 for the blown up barrels that never happen . 

[oldtravler61]

  Nat as a heads up I worked 35 year's in a machine shop. Twenty five of that as a tooling inspector. Never liked them never will. When your checking cutting tools or anything else that has to be held within tenths of a thousands. The right thumb pressure doesn't get it. JMHO...
Oldtravler