Digital calipers like these are available for 10-30 dollars. The size quoted as in "6-inch digital calipers" refers to the maximum measurement. The resolution and accuracy of these are typically .001 or one-thousandth of an inch. Some have an additional digit that shows 0 or 5 for half a...

I think the Duracells LR44 equivalents cost about $3.50 at most retail places and the cheapies I get cost about $0.10 each. I don't think the Duracells last 35 times longer but I do admit there's a certain PITA in changing them every few months.

I haven't tried rechargeables in my HF digital caliper, but as a cost saving compared to Duracell, I don't like the "keeping up" with charging.

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those 12 volt batteries that look like a AA only shorter have 8 of those 1.5 volt button batteries inside and they are just a little more in price as one of the single button batteries.

Thanks Loring,

Interesting and very good tutorial and was much appreciated.

I don't have "digitals", but I do have a set of "verniers" which I purchase way back in the early sixties. One of my first jobs out of high school was as a mechanical inspector. While the company supplied the necessary big stuff in the lab, it did not supply much beyond a set of "mike's" for use on the shop floor.

Over all these years, my "vernier" has become indispensible for so many things, including illustrating directly from parts, when prints weren't availble. Calipers are so versatile when it comes to directly measuring almost anything. Now they serve me well in the shop.

But, I find myself having to switch to "close-up" glasses in order to read them. Maybe it's time I looked for a "digital"!

Thanks for all your efforts,

CWS

I, too learned with verniers and ended up with the same problem reading them these days. I bought one of the HF digitals and that took care of the problem... As long as I remember to remove the batteries between uses.

Does the battery continue to drain when they are turned off and back in the box?

I see that HF has their 6-inch metric, decimal inch, fractional inch calipers on sale for about $15. Does anyone know if they are worth it?

CWS

they do drain when off an in the box with the battery installed. standby drain seems to be a little high as the batteries only last a few months.

the $15 calipers with fractional sound like the plastic ones. I'd pay extra and get the stainless steel ones. I'm not a big fan of fractional for reasons I think i 'splained in the tutorial..

They're going to be a lot more durable and hold their accuracy esp. if you use the jaws for marking like I have come to do. The plastic jaws will wear and dish in spots. Sometimes you close the jaws on screw threads and rotate them to find the maximum diameter and this will eat plastic jaws alive.

I bought this caliper on sale for less than $10. It's stainless steel.

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Loring,

The calipers I refer to are "stainless" with only the housing being plastic. The "reading" is button-toggled for metric, decimal-inch, and decimal-fraction.

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-digit...ngs-68304.html

Thanks,

CWS

Good deal then! Cheapest I've seen the fractional mode stainless ones.
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