digital vs dial calipers for reloading

[Blacknsilver]

My digital ones have failed. As they are still under guarantee they are getting returned.
What to by now?
Mitutoyo are up there with the best by the look of it and plenty good enough for reloading.
What do you guys use?
Digital or dial?

 

[takbok]

I'm happy with £10 digital ones I got from a supermarket in France years ago.

 

[stubear]

I got some digital ones for about £15 on Amazon - they do the job well and are accurate down to thousands of an inch which is plenty for my needs.

 

[JohnT]

Whichever you feel most confident in using. I have calipers in digital, dial and vernier format and use the ones that are to hand, but then I'm an old fogey who served a traditional engineering apprenticeship.

 

[Alantoo]

I have vernier, dial and digital callipers.

Vernier have become less convenient as my eyes refuse to focus close to now.

The Dial ones I have are okay-ish from that point of view, sometimes I misread the actual linear scale without glasses though the dial is fine.

Digital are idiot proof and easy to read and so far I have not been able to catch them out...although I am sufficiently old school that I would rather trust the direct mechanical system of the vernier rather than the witchcraft of the digital sensor. I still pick the digital ones up first in preference however.

If you decide on digital...look for ones with auto off...the number of batteries I have gone through by forgetting to turn it off would have paid the premium for auto turn off easily...let alone the annoyance of finding the things dead when you want to make a measurement.

Alan

 

[hybridfiat]

Always buy the best you can afford.

 

[Chasey]

It depends what you want accuracy wise? A vernier capabul of reading to 0.01mm will set up back over £500

http://www.mitutoyo.co.uk/small-tool-instruments-and-data-management/calipers?small_tool_accuracy=222

Most will do 0.05mm but a good one will set you back a few hundred quid

http://www.mitutoyo.co.uk/small-tool-instruments-and-data-management/calipers?small_tool_accuracy=268

The 15.00 ones? if they are accurate to 0.1 id be surprised?

Personaly I find digital or dile much easier to use, but ironicly my Mitutoyo one is old school manual

 

[Tim.243]

My digital ones have failed. As they are still under guarantee they are getting returned.
What to by now?
Mitutoyo are up there with the best by the look of it and plenty good enough for reloading.
What do you guys use?
Digital or dial?

I have just bought a 200mm digital pair for use in my work shop they were £12.50 delivered.

We checked them against some slip gauges with them coming up very well. The dial ones can slip a tooth in time but don't suffer with any splash from coolant.

One thing is for what you are doing is get a piece of stock file the ends flat, note the length as it wont change then you can use it as a reference.

It matters not what length it is but something around a measurement you use a lot.

I have range of Mitutoyo mics up to 100 mm from when I did my apprenticeship all in very nice condition, however the vernier is quick and gets me close enough for my 90 year old lathe...lol

Tim.243

 

[old_n07]

I've got a dial version and digital ones, if you are using a comparator insert with your calipers the digital ones are great as they can be zeroed easily where the dial version needs some calculations performing to allow for the insert, I recently replaced mine and had a set from Moore and Wright that came with calibration certificates - dearer than the cheapy ones from the likes of Aldi but loads cheaper than the Mitutoyo version.

 

[Gunner223]

Dont know where some of you get your prices from but Cromwell tools sell 150mm mitutoyo digital calipers for around £65
way good enough for reloading, I use a set everyday with work.

 

[Alantoo]

snip...
One thing is for what you are doing is get a piece of stock file the ends flat, note the length as it wont change then you can use it as a reference.

It matters not what length it is but something around a measurement you use a lot.

snip...
Tim.243

Although I did do a test filing up a 1" cube in my dim and disty youth...I would rather use something like the stock of an engineers square to use as a calibration reference...

Your mileage (my filing) may vary!

Alan

 

[Leadwasp]

Accuracy and repeatability are important in any measuring tool. Just because a £15 digital caliper gives a particular reading to 4DP doesn't mean that it is reading correctly each time. Nor does a calibration certificate or CE mark mean a thing to the Chinese. As always buy the best tools you can afford. Your budget being related to the importance to you of the reading.

Annoyingly now even quality manufacturers are omitting an analogue scale on the bar which was always a good rough check.

Old_no7's steer towards Moore and Wright is a good one for optimum value.

 

[Southern]

Thread on this last year
https://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/showthread.php/118237-best-caliper-Digital-or-Dial?highlight=digital+calipers

 

[weejohn]

I was in the same position as yourself .
I settled on igaging digital calipers from woodworkersworkshop.co.uk , I think they are excellent value.

 

[Tim.243]

Although I did do a test filing up a 1" cube in my dim and disty youth...I would rather use something like the stock of an engineers square to use as a calibration reference...

Your mileage (my filing) may vary!

Alan

I was going to suggest facing a piece off a piece using what all blokes should have in the work shop

A Lathe........!

However after reading how many book their stalking then a lathe would be out of the question lol

Tim.243

 

[Alantoo]

I was going to suggest facing a piece off a piece using what all blokes should have in the work shop

A Lathe........!

However after reading how many book their stalking then a lathe would be out of the question lol

Tim.243

I agree every home should one...or...

Having inherited my dad's Union Graduate wood lathe I now have three to my name! A gap bed, change wheel Woodhouse, and a 4.5 tonne greyhound of a beast, a Ward D7 prelector!

But as they are all almost as old and worn as me, I would probably still use the stock of an engineers square! Although somewhere I have a Ø1" go-no-go gauge.

Actually as its consistency rather than arbitrary dimensions we are concerned with, keeping a freshly trimmed cartridge case to one side would be effective as a datum...I have a dummy round for each bullet and seating depth to set up the seating die. And ensuring you use the same device for all measurements should reduce any variations.

But I guess every reloader will have a machined die to hand which could be used...

Alan

 

[BladeRob]

Cheap verniers are OK - generally quite accurate but seem to eat batteries, even when they are switched off.
I don't think you can beat Mitutoyo for the money - brought my last set about 2 years ago for £50ish I have had them covered in oil, filings, swarf etc and they are still going strong. Think they are still on the original battery as well.

 

[Whitebeard]

Mitutoyo are as good as they get, they are now the world leaders in measuring equipment and have been for quite some time, i have a mix of M&W and Mitutoyo, when i did my apprenticeship M&W were the bees knees but they were overtaken by mitutoyo in terms of quality and precision back in the mid 1980s, Cromwells own digital calipres are actually rebadged Mitutoyos and are around 20% cheaper.

Ian.

PS Tim, i have a lathe and vertical mill in my garage and none of that chinese tack, Colchester master and Elliot Omnimil

 

[Tim.243]

I agree every home should one...or...

Having inherited my dad's Union Graduate wood lathe I now have three to my name! A gap bed, change wheel Woodhouse, and a 4.5 tonne greyhound of a beast, a Ward D7 prelector!

But as they are all almost as old and worn as me, I would probably still use the stock of an engineers square! Although somewhere I have a Ø1" go-no-go gauge.

Actually as its consistency rather than arbitrary dimensions we are concerned with, keeping a freshly trimmed cartridge case to one side would be effective as a datum...I have a dummy round for each bullet and seating depth to set up the seating die. And ensuring you use the same device for all measurements should reduce any variations.

But I guess every reloader will have a machined die to hand which could be used...

Alan

I was in my mates work shop using his mill as the bits I am making out of EN 24T need a lot of hours put in them, so the power feed and suds are most welcome,
At 55 and my mate 44 we both served time in top machine shops in Chelmsford, back in the day this whole area was a mass of engineering. Marconi ( who has not heard of him) RHP " Hoffman's " who made ball bearings for war production, EEV English Electric Valve to name just a few.

As we both eat on the run a rare 10 minute chat about what we do and how much it means to us was very humbling, We both like making and repairing stuff, never going to be rich at it but I always fall back to what I learnt......


Tim.243

 

[Whitebeard]

Tim, 3 of the lads i was at college with on the first year off the job training were apprentices from RHP in Northampton, IIRC they were bigger them Timkens but they closed down the Northampton works in 1980 half way through their time,
Timkens were in Northampton and Daventry and my best mate was an apprentice their and the father in law was a cup honer, both works have been gone for many years now and after at least 6-7 years the land at the Northampton works is still too contaminated to build housing on.

Ian.