Ways to use your calipers

Seen this on youtube. The guy shows a 4th way of measuring with digi calipers.

Bit long winded but i never knew about the 4th way of measuring the depth of a piece of stock.

Some of you will know this but the new guys like me probably do not.

Steve.

The 4th way of measurement

Thanks for putting this up, Stevie, I learned something valuable from it.

You're right about his being long-winded. The important bit starts at 1½ minutes and ends around 3 minutes (out of 8 minutes total).

George B.

We can always learn something new. I did. Regards . Steve.

And don't forget the zero button.
In this particular scenario to measure the step, where you can access both ends of the workpiece.

Measure end to bottom of step, zero the caliper at that, and then measure the longer length.
There's your step depth displayed on screen.

Bill

I have found my 10 quid digital caliper work improves a lot if I do a lot of zero checking/resetting

switch on and reset, open jaws out, return jaws to zero and reset

measure, and return to zero, reset

measure again to check, return to zero to check, reset

Once you get into the habit of opening out to measure and returning the jaws to zero to keep an eye on any error issues your confidence in your caliper work improves, it did with me anyway

Also, a cool trick to measure the centre distance between two holes of the same size:

Measure the diameter of one hole using the inside jaws and hit the zero button with the jaws still in that position.

Then measure the distance between the closest edges of the two holes by sticking the outside jaws down in the two holes. The reading on the scale is the centre distance.

I bought a Starrett digital caliper a couple of years ago, new, and all of these techniques were described in the instruction leaflet that came in the box...

After zeroing the caliper at the hole diameter using the inside jaws I then use the inside jaws to measure the distance between the 2 holes outside diameters to provide the centre distance between holes.

Emgee

edit for clarity

Edited By Emgee on 28/09/2020 09:10:23

Same when I bought a Mitutoyo vernier in 1976 - except you couldn't zero those at current setting .

Plus the bloke really annoys me the way he keeps pointing his finger and shaking the caliper in yer face...

But then I was watching it with sound turned down.

Thanks for posting that. I never looked at the back of the calliper! Only problem now is will I remember!?

Also make good tweezers for pulling out metal splinters

If it needs saying, sometimes a digital calliper, or scale, that has gone haywire can be restored by stripping off the read head and gently cleaning everything in sight. But don't lose the tiny screws, or put the strips back in the wrong place or the wrong way round.

Now how would I know that?

Howard

And wooden splinters from treeclimbing and playhouses. The grandkids now want one kept at their house...

And a 5th way...

Joe

Is that for growth rate or confirmation of checking the right lion?

MickB1's note triggered a memory, because I bought a Mitutoyo dial caliper sometime in 1973 or 74, I still have it and it is still in very good condition. I am one of those terminally sad people who keeps instruction books or leaflets safely tucked away, and I was able to locate the booklet which came with the instrument - including the little metal "banjo" for resetting the gauge pinion on the rack. It advises only on how to read the dial gauge, no other uses, but also includes the following information:-

"For relative measurements, first measure the workpiece to be used as a master. With the dial at this measurement, loosen the bezel screw and set the dial to '0'. Comparative measurements and variations are now rapidly read on the dial."

I have to say that having used the digital caliper (metric) a great deal, I still prefer the older dial caliper and wish I 'd bought a metric version rather than the electronic wizard.

I have 6 and12 inch digital Mitotoyos, from 1990 and 1993 and they are the only ones that are trusted to measure inside or out with accuracy. Most of the time I use the cheap Chinese ones from Lidl, and only use the Mits for precision work, I also have micrometers up to 150mm and a tube mic to 300mm, with the essential length bars. I often use the digital calipers as comparitors as it greatly simplifies measurements, which is impossible with mechanical instruments. I sold my digimatic mics as they weren't being used.