Bought a cheap Chinese Digital Micrometer, here's a bit of a review -

Bought a cheap Chinese Digital Micrometer, here's a bit of a review -

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the review. The ball type micrometer anvil attachment in your review might come in handy when measuring curved items like the thickness of a pipe wall.

Thor

Ah thanks Thor for pointing out the use of the anvil attachment as soon as I read what you said, i realised how handy it would be for what you pointed out, someone on Youtube also told me that they thingomebob I asked about is to unscrew the battery cover.

Sometimes things are right in front of your face! So I've learnt two things at least today, which has made it a better day.

Cheers and thanks again,

Jim

I got my fingers burnt on a cheap digital mic, it now serves as reminder above my shed door, not to but cheap metrology stuff!

It was within 0.0001" measuring smaller and smaller slips, on the return out, it gained .002" every time!

Lesson learned.

Jim

For general day to day measuring I prefer a normal standard micrometer. I spent many of my working years working in high end toolmaking companies. We where expected to have top of the range Tesa/Shardlow style of kit to comply with standards required. Reality was not the bulky/heavy stuff but a "Tenths" reading Mitutoyo standard mic.

the odd tool is for unscrewing the battery cover isnt it ?

I sold my Mitotuyo digitals, 0-1, 1-2 and 2-3 because I didn't use them enough, they went for bargain prices. I can manage a manual metric or imperial mic perfectly well enough on the rare occasions I need one now. Most of the measuring I do now is with a digital caliper, and the Mitotoyo one gets used when the accuracy is important.

I have collected a nice set of micrometers, including bore micrometers but none of these are digital.

I just do not trust digital part of it, I have reservations about circuitry failing and me ending up with expensive junk.

Vernier scale is for ever, very much like traditional mic. Digital one is no way comparable in this respect. It is convenient but time will come when it shows some reading you will not necessarily trust.

They are usually branded items like Starret, Verdict, Mitutoyo but my caliper is from Draper and it works very well for 15 years (this one has clock, not vernier scale but still not digital).

My 3 point bore mics are Chinese (couldn't afford European or American) and they work really well.

I am very, very happy with them, they are very remote from anything known as "Chinese junk" but I still had to pay about half of European price.

Problem with cheap Chinese stuff is that if you are just looking for "cheapest of the cheap" and also sent to you without postage charge and it cost 5% of European price then what do you expect?

That had me stumped, I was thinking it was going to be for something much more complicated than that. Why'd they'd even include it is a mystery.