I ordered a multimeter $8.99 shipped thanks for the advise of keeping the price down and now thinking I need a caliper?
What would one advise on a caliper?
Thanks for the help.
It might not be the best, but I picked this Kobalt up for around $30 from Lowes. Lowes takes returns for any reason on Kobalt tools.
Mine was $9.99 with coupon from Harbor Freight. Good enough for my limited use of it (not saying it's bad - seems very nice).
-Garry
Almost linked that one as well, checked it out in person last time I was there. Man, HF has BLF style prices, don't they?
Yeah, I go to H.F. all the time and now BLF has given me more excuses to go!
-Garry
I paid $10.35 for this one at Amazon. It works fine and seems pretty consistent. There are a lot of similar ones out there for around this price. If you have a Harbor Freight, that's probably a good bet.
I have a stainless dial caliper from ENCO that I have been using for years now. It depends on your preference - digital vs dial. I would stay away from any calipers that are made of a composite material, unless you want to measure batteries.
Actually, that's specifically the reason I ordered a non-metallic caliper as I didn't want to cause any shorts. Also, I didn't want to create any markings on whatever I'm measuring since I once left a little scratch on an acrylic watch face when measuring the thickness.
Any reasons for this?
Thx!,
Tim
The non metalic calipers are fine for some purposes. The tips seem to wear quickly, especially those for the inside measurements. The ends of the outside tips also seem to wear. I have a set that I used for a while, I can hold them up to the light while they are closed and see light coming through the ends. If you are not measuring to the .001 inch, composite calipers are fine. For the price, you can't go wrong. Also, they seem to have a certain amount of 'spring' that stainless calipers don't have. With any caliper, make sure they are clean, free from chips and dirt.
I have this one and it has served me well for my casual measuring purposes...
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-utility-caliper-7914.html
I worked as a machinist for a number of years. I learned on that type of caliper. These days - go for either a dial or digital.
Cheapest I could find is this, 7.72$ @ Tmart: http://www.tmart.com/6-inch-LCD-Digital-Vernier-CaliperMicrometer-Guage_p117117.html
But be advised - the box might arrive broken as they package it with a bare plastic (not bubble) envelope. (mine did, Tmart refunded the full amount).
(hmm... I see they now changed it to US/Canada only. Ah well, I got mine about a month ago, and another one about half a year ago, don't know why they changed it.)
I compared my $15 no brand I got off of ebay to my $100+ Mitutoyo. The cheapo Chinese model does pretty good.
