Dial Caliper or Digital

I have bought 2 cheap ones in the last 12 months and both not very good so hope these will be better and last longer
 
Just received my iGauging digital
Very impressed give it a good try out and seems very good and accurate
 
Trick is to take the battery out between uses, if not they are constantly measuring as the ‘off’ button apparently only turns the display off. I do this and batteries last ages
I am using these things daily, so they would be pretty knackered if I did that. (And I'd loose sooooo many batteries.)
Verniers take a little getting used to, but always work. Yes they need good eyesight, or having your glasses. But if doing engineering work, reloading etc. you really need to be seeing properly.
 
I am using these things daily, so they would be pretty knackered if I did that. (And I'd loose sooooo many batteries.)
Verniers take a little getting used to, but always work. Yes they need good eyesight, or having your glasses. But if doing engineering work, reloading etc. you really need to be seeing properly.

Fair enough, I'm only using once or twice a week and the case has a handy holder for the battery so I don't lose it!
 
Grab a steel drill bit. 8mm, 13mm, 1/2 inch etch then measure the unworn part of the shank the chuck hasnt spun on.

I don't think drill bits are considered a good idea for calibration...the shank of some twist drills are undersize by a few thou presumably for clearance. If you don't want the expense of gauge blocks, a few single ball or roller bearings from simplybearings.co.uk would get you to within a few microns.

For most measurements in simple reloading though it is precision rather than arbitrary accuracy that is more important. As long as each one of your cartridges ends up with the same dimensions as the next, those dimensions do not need to conform to a calibrated dimension standard, they just have to work with your rifle....so as long as you always use the same calliper and it always reads the same dimension on the same point of the same drill bit it should be fine.

Alan
 
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I don't think drill bits are considered a good idea for calibration...the shank of some twist drills are undersize by a few thou presumably for clearance. If you don't want the expense of gauge blocks, a few single ball or roller bearings from simplybearings.co.uk would get you to within a few microns.

For most measurements in simple reloading though it is precision rather than arbitrary accuracy that is more important. As long as each one of your cartridges ends up with the same dimensions as the next, those dimensions do not need to conform to a calibrated dimension standard, they just have to work with your rifle....so as long as you always use the same calliper and it always reads the same dimension on a drill bit it should be fine.

Alan

I understand that, we paid a specialist to calibrate/certificate all equipment in the workshop. My reply was to accuracy of cheaper items. They are alegedly calibrated but it’s still nice to check it on something readily available. Even if an 8mm bit reads 7.98 if it reads that ten or more times times I think most would suss it as fairly repeatable for the money. Just compare a good unit on the same bit if you can borrow one to prove.
 
I understand that, we paid a specialist to calibrate/certificate all equipment in the workshop. My reply was to accuracy of cheaper items. They are alegedly calibrated but it’s still nice to check it on something readily available. Even if an 8mm bit reads 7.98 if it reads that ten or more times times I think most would suss it as fairly repeatable for the money. Just compare a good unit on the same bit if you can borrow one to prove.

Yes agreed. I think my point about using the drill shank as a gauge was that you could be mislead into thinking a perfectly accurate cheap calliper was inaccurate if you tested it on a 0.500" drill shank and it read 0.498".

For most of us though the simple routine of a wipe across the jaw faces and check it reads zero each time you pick it up is enough.

Alan
 
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Calibration for re-loading purposes, to be honest I dont see that they need to curate, just that they repeat, which can be checked with many things, just use the same thing each time.
The only time it would need to be accurate is if you use more than one measuring device, the rest of the time whatever you use is really just a comparator.
Also not, if checking accuracy or zero is a concern for you, a proper vernier calliper is the answer.

Neil.
 
Buy once, cry once.
I’ve had a few and the only one that’s stood the test of time over many years is the Mitutoyo.
One of the biggest advantages is the ease which you can swap between metric and imperial.
 
I have 2 Swiss Tesa dial since about 20 years in our workshops in daily use. Quality gear. I was never lucky with digital, even Helios which we brought back to the manufacturer a few times to check.
edi
 
I find that the aldi/lidl ones come back around often enough that I buy one, use it 'til the battery runs out and then buy another one next time they're on offer.
As luck would have it, the last set I bought seems to be only displaying "half digits" now (onles you tilt it, then you can see the full reading), and they're back on offer next week in Lidl.
£8 a pop, they last me at least a year, what's not to like?
 
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