On 3/4/2018 8:24 AM, pyotr filipivich wrote:
Gunner Asch on Sat, 03 Mar 2018 20:51:05 -0800
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Unless you get the all plastic ones..the HF calipers work just as well
as just about any "good one". They may not last 30 yrs in a busy
shop..but most makers today, foreign and domestic (any domestic makers
left?) make mics and calibers more than good enough..and accurate
enough for home shop and moderate commercial use.

I want a dial caliper in fractions of an inch. Because I do a
lot of woodworking using inches and fractions thereof - and I haven't
memorized the drill size conversion charts.
--
pyotr filipivich
"With Age comes Wisdom. Although far too often, Age travels alone."


Harbor Freight sells one, or they used to. Their selection has been
reduced dramatically in recent years. I have one and its pretty
accurate for what it is, but for most of my wood working a tape measure
is good enough. If I start an important project I buy a new tape
measure and check it against my machinist scale at the beginning of the
project. Usually if I need something done more accurately than that I
just let one of the CNC machines cut it to dimension. I rarely use my
fractional dial caliper.

Here is a picture of the one I have:
http://tacklemaker.info/index.php?ac...sa=view;pic=55

I don't know why, but I tend to like dial calipers much more than
electronic digital ones. Even for my one inch mic I prefer the analog
digital to an electronic digital.

I see HF has a 12" digital though. It would have come in handy for my
current job. Its a nasty mishmash of imperial and metric dimensions. I
have a 12" Fowler inch caliper that has never been dropped, but I have
had to write conversion all over the cabinet of my mills with a dry
erase marker to keep from getting lost. LOL.