A digital caliper wishlist (rant really)

I have just bought a new 6" caliper and am impressed with its build quality for a low cost tool but ergonomically its a disaster.

I have always felt that product manufacturers do not make the best thing they possibly can for the price, but instead leave off features so that they can bring out a (slightly) improved model later.

The features I think they should have is;

Auto switch on (as soon as you move the slide)

Auto off (may as well)

Well separated tactile buttons (with click)

Thumbwheel

Lithium coin cell (rather than button cell with short life)

Memory! (ie it does not need zeroing every time it is switched on)

The caliper I now have has a large LCD screen (orange, and very clear) but the two least significant digits are smaller than the rest. That's acceptable for metric but looks silly and is really confusing in imperial mode. Its buttons too are very close together and its easy to press the wrong one. Also, why on earth the designers included a fractional display defeats me, its just a waste of resource.

I've bought this one now and I will use it but I would not have done if I had tried it first rather than just seeing it on a catalogue page. Actually though its becoming the norm these days not to be able to try before you buy but to be fair shops do take thing back usually.

I will keep looking for my perfect measuring tool...

Ian

One of my Aldi specials has auto switch-on as soon as the slide is moved, auto switch-off when ignored for a few minutes and remembers what it was reading when it turned itself off. This memory must mean that the display is the only thing which actually turns off, but I only have to replace its little watch battery every 3 months or so with another from those blister packs from the pound shop, containing about 80 batteries of which 60 are in redundant sizes.

I'm not suggesting £9 Aldi calipers are the most accurate of instruments, but they ain't bad for the money. When real accuracy is needed, there's no substitute for a proper micrometer.

Andy

lol

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The features I think they should have is;

Auto switch on (as soon as you move the slide) MINE HAS THIS!

Auto off (may as well) MINE HAS THIS!

Well separated tactile buttons (with click) MINE ARE OK

Thumbwheel MINE HAS THIS!

Lithium coin cell (rather than button cell with short life) MINE HAS AG13 BATTERY, COSTS ALMOST NOTHING FROM POUNDLAND SHOPS!

Memory! (ie it does not need zeroing every time it is switched on) MINE HAS THIS! (it stores the reading so you can walk away and return later)

This is the type you want, buy the same on fleabay

Edited By Ady1 on 19/09/2012 23:06:12

The last ones I got from Aldi were as you describe, except not auto-on or 'memory'. Accuracy wise they are the same as and as good as all the other ones I have bought over the years.

I dont have any precision metrology gear but all I can say is that all the Chinese calipers I have agree with each other, including the one I got yesterday and that came with a calibration certificate.

Ian

I worry more about daylight through jaws..

pair only out lasts about 2 batteries in workshop..

mind you thats about 4 years constant production use....Cant grumble..calipers are almost disposable......mikes last about 6 years with careful use and rotation...screws wear yer know..

now have 3 mikes unfit for use but couldn't skip em...so in a draw at home they go

One of these days I'm going to treat myself to an LH caliper gauge.Ergonomically, it would be a bit better when measuring the diameter of something held in the lathe chuck.

Andy

Ergonomically, I much prefer a caliper with the buttons on the base of the slide; that way, they are exactly where you can most easily press them with your thumb. Putting them on the front means you have to move your thumb off the base. The early Mitotoyo calipers had this, and it was a retrograde step when they moved them to the front. My first caliper, a Mitutoyo, is the type I prefer; when I bought another one on the basis of a catalogue photo it didn't match the photo, and went back.

BTW, Ian - shops no longer have a choice about whether they take things back if you bought them online or by post - the Distance Selling Regulations oblige them to do it, within a certain time (IIRC, 14 days). All those (regrettably many) sellers who claim to make a charge for "restocking" are actually in brach of this law. They can require you to return the goods at your own expense though (unless they are defective)

David

Edited By David Littlewood on 20/09/2012 02:03:11

"One of these days I'm going to treat myself to an LH caliper gauge".

I did. Absolute boon for measuring in chuck items near the headstock.

John

In this particular case, for this particular product, they are being made to the demand of what the manufacturers main customers want. This factories main customers - distributors are in Germany, U.S.A., and their home market - China. If you visited any one of these factories, you will see so many different speficiations made for so many different worldwide 'manufacturers', that it makes you wonder. The manufacturers own branding is also greatly used for sales within the Chinese home market, where the demand is at least 10x higher then the manufacturers main foreign customer/s. This is what I have seen. Customers like ARC - are extreamly small fry , so we just take what ever comes off their standard production line, unless we can place an order for 10,000+ for a single size, at which point, we can start to ask them for changes.

Ketan at ARC.

Ketan

I did not mention who supplied the caliper that did not quite bowl me over, but you guessed right!

On the good side it is better made and finished than many other of the Chinese calipers I have bought in the past. The LCD itself has beautifully clear definition and why the designer chose to have the last two digits smaller really baffles me. I think your catalogue description states 'Large LCD display' (which it has) but its legibility is limited by the height of the smallest digits so the large display is wasted. I mentioned need to zero at every switch on but I can live with that, (it probably means that OFF is really off, so helps battery life). The buttons are in the right place and have a nice feel but are definately fiddly to operate.

I have some knowledge of the way the Chinese manufacturing and marketing works so I know a company like yours has little or no influence on a mass produced item like these calipers. My remarks really were aimed more at the designers of these modern electronic devices. they have the ability to design and make outstanding and exemplary products (importantly, for the same manufacturing cost), as a product with shortcomings. Either they do not do market research or maybe it is as I thought earlier, that they keep something back for the next 'improved model'.

I wonder if anyone actually buys, or is influenced to buy, calipers because they display fractions? American woodworkers are the only people I can think of.

Anyway I will have to wait now before I can get left handed calipers with large digit orange display!

Ian

Ian,

In general, I understand what you mean.

Indeed there are a lot of people influenced to buy calipers which display fractions. It seems to be the current buzz word with the caliper manufacturers I visited. From what I could see, demand is from various countries around the world in great numbers!

So far, I have only come across two manufacturers of left hand calipers. They are expensive to buy as demand is low. For the left hand caliper which we sell, I had to buy a minimum quantity which I wasn't happy with because of the price I had to pay in comparison to the standard 6" range,....and even then, he was doing me a favour out of 'political' respect for the buying agent I was with . Lets just say that I wasn't in a good mood when I bought these. I was cursing the factory and John S (whos idea it was that I consider selling these). Still, they seem to sell ok, so I guess that I am happy now. . The orange display manufacturer is usually the most expensive, but he has no plan at present to make a left hand caliper.

Ketan at ARC.

I have to agree wit David L that having the buttons below the machine right next to the thumb wheel make it far easier to zero while holding the jaws against the work. I still use my 20-25yrs old Mitutoyo ones all the time which have this style of button and it has a much nicer feel than the cheaper ones sold by the ME suppliers.

Actually David you can still buy several of the Mitutoyos with the buttons in this position if you have deep pockets but likely still cheaper than buying aldi type calipers every year or two when they fail.

J

Edited By JasonB on 20/09/2012 16:42:48

Jason,

Well, I wished I could have found one new, as I wanted one to have by each of two lathes! The one I referred to above which got sent back was actually a Mitutoyo one; the picture in the MSC web catalogue very clearly showed it to be an edge-button version not a face-button one, but when it arrived it was the latter. As it cost about a hundred quid, compared with the 10 or so for a cheap one, there was no reason to keep it.

I later found an old (=good) design Mitutoyo on eBay; slightly cosmetically imperfect but totally good in function. Agree with your point about the long-term value issue; buy the right stuff and the pleasure is experienced long after the credit card bill is forgotten.

It's the kind of issue that really gets my goat as I go through life - the number of times something is designed (or worse, redesigned) in a crap way just because some ignorant designer thought it looked nicer and no real user got to give any feedback (or it was ignored).

David

Edited By David Littlewood on 23/09/2012 13:07:09

Hi Ian,

one of the 'supermarket specials' I bought has most of the features you wish for, my others don't. I can't remember whether it was from Aldi or Lidl (no feedback 'click' on buttons and with small button cell.)

As far as the cell life is concerned, I have no particular problem with any of mine (three) but I use Silver Oxide button cells - SR44 - and not LR44 alkalines or the Poundland cheapos. I buy my cells from an online supplier at £2.40 for 2 including P&P and they seem to last forever, I can't remember when I last changed one. In this case cheapos really do cost more in the long run than proper reputable cells.

Regards

Terry

I'm the same as Terry, I use SR44's which i can't remember where I got them, bought a stack a while ago and they are still OK.

Probably got about 10 sets kicking about, mainly 6" ones but some 8" and 12. The plan was every machine should have one to save hunting, in truth the power saw usually has 15 sat around it !! :D

Never switch any of them off but one is an ex Aldi model switches itself off and I find it to be a pain keep having to switch it on and chances are you alter the reading anyway.

Got one old Mitutyo with the buttons underneath and that's infuriating as you catch them, much prefer the buttons on the front so you don't catch them.

End of the day given current prices these are consumables, Any job over 3 or 4 hours you could afford to throw the caliper in with the job and get a new one out.

John S.

Surprising that someone who uses machinery but can't keep track of where his thumbs are has any left!

David