I would appreciate some recomendations for Digital Caliper(s). Will use mostly for woodworking measuring. Not cheap but not too expensive.
Thank You
Discussion Forum
Get It All!
UNLIMITED Membership is like taking a master class in woodworking for less than $10 a month.
Start Your Free TrialCategories
Discussion Forum
Digital Plans Library
Member exclusive! – Plans for everyone – from beginners to experts – right at your fingertips.
Highlights
-
Shape Your Skills
when you sign up for our emails
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. -
Shop Talk Live Podcast -
Our favorite articles and videos -
E-Learning Courses from Fine Woodworking
-
-
Replies
I have a $25 dollar 6 inch digital caliper from Rockler, a roughly $50 6 inch made by General tools and a 6" set of Mitutoyo (about $130). The Mitutoyo is my gold standard but the General and Mitutoyo are dead on with each other. The cheap set from Rockler may be off by a couple of thousanths from the other two. That's plenty good for a woodshop.
I used the General Brand I purchased at Lowe's and for woodworking, it was perfectly fine. Having said that, I switched to an analog pair of calipers because of imperial units. If you use metric system, the General brand works well.
For imperial units, I hated digital calipers. Often the units would show up in 32nds or 64ths and what I really wanted to know was I a skinny or fat relative to my target measurement and the 64ths were drive me crazy having to mentally convert.
The iGaging 6" Fractional Dial Caliper ($40 from Woodcraft) have hour hands in 1/16ths of an inch. The minute hands are in 1/64ths. It is amazingly fast to see how far off I am in terms of say a 3/8" thickness. In the center of the dial, they have the decimal factions of an inch. Again, if you are metric, the digital calipers are fine. There aren't a lot of tools that bring me extra joy but these iGaging 6" Fractional Dial Caliper are fantastic for woodworing.
I always buy calipers that simply display in thousandths of an inch rather than fractional as well. All three that I have work that way. My main reason for digital is I can see them better. The old vernier type I learned on work fine otherwise. I just can't see the lines well anymore :) Also a whole lot cheaper if you're willing to learn to read the vernier which isn't difficult.
Like others, I have a non-digital (no batteries) that is low cost and accuracy is perfect for the shop. I prefer no batteries because I hate it when I need it and the battery is dead. I have another with metric increments that I got from Ebay for a nominal cost. It is also stainless and well made.
I have the igauging brand EZCAL digital. Believe this Model was recommended in a FW article by someone who teaches. I use them only occasionally, but very handy to have.
Rob Cosman neophytes use what Cosman use, a Fowler. No batteries required.
Fowler makes digital, dial and vernier calipers over a broad price range but they are good tools.
A vernier is the simplest and least likely to go wrong. Digital in particular is too full of unfixable tiny electronics and a battery inclined to rot its recess if left degrading for any length of time. A dial also introduces additional teeny-weeny mechanical process parts into the instrument. A vernier is just slid to get the reading.
Although poor eyesight is going to be more of an issue for a vernier scale, it would help to use a metric version (which can measure to 0.05mm accuracy). Imperial, especially fractional, scales are far too confusing and easy to misread. But many vernier callipers have both metric and imperial scales (also adding the additional function of calculation of equivalent values between the two measuring systems).
***********
Another poster mentions that they use the instrument infrequently. Personally I find I use it a great deal, especially for those tasks where a very close fit of one piece to another is required and/or metal parts are involved. For example, its a very good instrument for transferring hinge dimensions to both the tools used, to mark then cut the recess.
I paid about £12 ($15) for a no-name but well-made item about twenty five years ago. It still works perfectly as the scales on it never change or wear out or suddenly stop working, see? It did exhibit a small loose screw once, about 15 years ago. I tightened it. :-)
***********
Incidentally, its worth understanding the many modes in which such an instrument can be used, as well as how to read a result from the scales.
https://www.accu.co.uk/p/463-how-to-use-vernier-calipers-like-an-engineer#TypesofMeasurementsVernierCalipersAreBestAt
https://youtu.be/8X5ONpM5GJw
Do not buy the point that a digital scale is not reliable. Yes it will need batteries, like a three pack for $6 US. In my work I am comparing dimensions, that is, will this fit into that the way I need. I need precision not accuracy. Does it look and fit well not, OMG this stretcher is 0.001 thicker than that one. Do I start over, sharpen up my card scraper, or do nothing - pick one.
Agree that digital scale are very reliable. I've never had one fail and I've never had a coin style battery leak so I don't even think about it. I'm used to imperial vernier scales so I don't think about those much either (just can't see thm anymore). Metric or Imperial is whatever you like (or your country uses).
I worked for 30+ years in labs and used the metric system all day everyday at work (not to mention 4 years in college) so I am very comfortable with it. But I live in the US and when I go to the store the drill bits, router bits, etc are in imperial units. A router comes with 1/4 and 1/2 inch collets while metric router bits usually come with metric shanks so I need new collets for a brand new router. Scales on my tools are in imperial units as well. If I measure things in mm or cm, I need to convert to imperial to use those scales. And it goes on and on.
Aye, King George still has a hadden o' ye all, one way and another! Chuck all that imperial nonsense into the harbour with the tea, man, and join the rest of the now sensibly metric planet. :-)
But most of the simple vernier scale callipers of this type come with both scales included. Here's a link to a pic of one, although there are hundreds of others of every quality:
https://www.chronos.ltd.uk/wp-content/uploads/1110-3115-1.png
This adds another function of metric imperial conversion of any value you read from or set it to. Digital will do the same, mind. Maybe not so common with dial versions?
Igaging.
I've got a few of their products and have no complaints. They sit in the drawer mostly, but they work when I need them. They also have a quality feel.
They are affordable and get the job done just fine for woodworking.
I'm not sure how they would hold up in machinist circles. (likely perfectly fine)