Back when I spent some time working with a real
machinist, he said that the best calipers were
Brown & Sharp. Well, a couple of years ago I
bought a B&S Digit-Cal digital caliper for work.
It feels nice, goes back to zero everytime, but
drives me nuts with it's delay. I figured it's
just me so the other day I bought a B&S dial
caliper for home. I'm disappointed with it's
feel and the pointer is angled about 2 degrees
to the right at zero. All in all, my $18 Enco
no-name serves better.

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

I can only speak to dial calipers, as I've never had or used a digital
unit. I use a Mitutoyo for metric work and a Craftsman for regular
stuff. The Mitutoyo is a higher quality unit compared to the Craftsman
but both are accurate and smooth in operation. Both have given many
years of good service and as I try to take good care of them, hopefully
will give many more.

Rex the Wrench



Jim Stewart wrote:
Back when I spent some time working with a real
machinist, he said that the best calipers were
Brown & Sharp. Well, a couple of years ago I
bought a B&S Digit-Cal digital caliper for work.
It feels nice, goes back to zero everytime, but
drives me nuts with it's delay. I figured it's
just me so the other day I bought a B&S dial
caliper for home. I'm disappointed with it's
feel and the pointer is angled about 2 degrees
to the right at zero. All in all, my $18 Enco
no-name serves better.

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

Jim Stewart wrote:

Back when I spent some time working with a real
machinist, he said that the best calipers were
Brown & Sharp. Well, a couple of years ago I
bought a B&S Digit-Cal digital caliper for work.
It feels nice, goes back to zero everytime, but
drives me nuts with it's delay. I figured it's
just me so the other day I bought a B&S dial
caliper for home. I'm disappointed with it's
feel and the pointer is angled about 2 degrees
to the right at zero. All in all, my $18 Enco
no-name serves better.

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

Still have my first 6" Tesa that I got for $39.95. Basically retired now
but still accurate after, uhm, several years.

Have a Mitsu 6" digital that I pretty much use only for the metric
feature.

Have a couple or three Mitsu 6" dials.

Have a couple 6" whatever dials for use when sawing, etc.

Have 1 12" Mitsu dial.

Have 3 Mitsu 8" dials.

My favorites are the 8" dials.

Digitals have batteries to replace occasionally. They only read to 5
tenths. And they got no feel. Which side of that .0005 is it?

Dials can be read to a closer measurment, you can see where the needle
is. Besides, I learned to count turns to check depth differences. Plus I
like the balanced feel of the 8" ones.

mj

Jim Stewart wrote in message ws.com...

It feels nice, goes back to zero everytime, but
drives me nuts with it's delay. I figured it's
just me so the other day I bought a B&S dial
caliper for home. I'm disappointed with it's
feel and the pointer is angled about 2 degrees
to the right at zero. All in all, my $18 Enco
no-name serves better.

Delay? MY B&S doesn't have any delay. Something needs to be looked
at. Zero point on dial calipers isn't always straight up, it varies a
little, depending on a lot of things, including how you are holding
your tongue. THe feel will improve with use, I've never had a new one
that felt right until I've used it for a while. I have a couple of
the chinese dial calipers, where the needle zero's out moves around
quite a bit, and I'm finding the chinese digital isn't always linear.
My good caliper is a Starrett dial, works well, but is still
relatively new. The old vernier caliper is hard to beat, no
batteries, no dial. I use that one the most.

I used a Brown and Sharp vernier caliper until I got tired of adding
17 to 75. Then I bought a Mitutoya dial caliper. Then I discovered
Harbor Freight's $19.95 digital calipers. Zero it anywhere, measure
in metric and english, same feel as a good pair of Mitutoya
calipers...Harbor Freight digital measures in my shop now.

BUT.. I used some Brown and Sharp dial calipers at work for a couple
of years. And I have NEVER seen any other brand elses measure with the
silky smoothness of the B&S dial Calipers. Just incredibly excellent
fit and finish. Starrett doesn't come close.

"brownnsharp" wrote in message
om...
I used a Brown and Sharp vernier caliper until I got tired of adding
17 to 75. Then I bought a Mitutoya dial caliper. Then I discovered
Harbor Freight's $19.95 digital calipers. Zero it anywhere, measure
in metric and english, same feel as a good pair of Mitutoya
calipers...Harbor Freight digital measures in my shop now.

Vernier Calipers are the simplest and probably the most rugged, the smaller
ones have a 25 division vernier scale and may be hard to read. Larger ones
have 50 division scales and are fairly easy to read until your eyes go bad.
I bought my digital caliper when I could no longer read the vernier without
a magnifying glass. Now I can't even read the digital calipers (that have ½
high digits) without my glasses. I now really appreciate how hard it is for
kids with bad eyesight to learn. I make a lot of mistakes because I can't
see details like I used to. When I am working it is often rather hard to
get my head positioned in just the right spot to bring things into focus.

Scp
Take out slashes and dashes for Email address
-r/./c//o-m

I wear progressive lenses, but have discovered that my vision is just right
now to allow me to focus at a 10" distance without even wearing my glasses,
so when doing really close work, I just switch out to regular safety glasses
and stay clear of moving parts.G

RJ

--
"You're just jealous because the voices are talking to me, instead of you."


"Stephen" wrote in message
...

"brownnsharp" wrote in message
om...
I used a Brown and Sharp vernier caliper until I got tired of adding
17 to 75. Then I bought a Mitutoya dial caliper. Then I discovered
Harbor Freight's $19.95 digital calipers. Zero it anywhere, measure
in metric and english, same feel as a good pair of Mitutoya
calipers...Harbor Freight digital measures in my shop now.

Vernier Calipers are the simplest and probably the most rugged, the
smaller
ones have a 25 division vernier scale and may be hard to read. Larger
ones
have 50 division scales and are fairly easy to read until your eyes go
bad.
I bought my digital caliper when I could no longer read the vernier
without
a magnifying glass. Now I can't even read the digital calipers (that have
½
high digits) without my glasses. I now really appreciate how hard it is
for
kids with bad eyesight to learn. I make a lot of mistakes because I can't
see details like I used to. When I am working it is often rather hard to
get my head positioned in just the right spot to bring things into focus.

Scp
Take out slashes and dashes for Email address
-r/./c//o-m