Calipers without battery cover

Were they 6” ?
https://www.amazon.com/Mitutoyo-500-196-30-Advanced-Measuring-Resolution/dp/B00IG46NL2/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Mitutoyo+calipers&qid=1629850478&sr=8-3
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Or 8” ?
https://www.amazon.com/Mitutoyo-500-197-30-Advanced-Measuring-Resolution/dp/B00I3UA89C/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Mitutoyo+calipers&qid=1629850560&sr=8-4
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New looking or worn ?
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If new they are calibrated at the factory. Just turn it on, close it, then set zero to use. :wink:
Mitutoyo are one of the best you can buy, you are lucky to find it. :wink:
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Strangely I have witnessed another employee find 2 new Mitutoyo 6” calipers in the steel dumpster a company had thrown away with missing battery and cover. When you first put a new battery in, it can be tricky to get it to come on. I think they were frustrated and tossed them. LOL.

very lucky

i;da bought 3 or 4

and i already have a set of mitutoyo

and 3 or 4 of whatever harbor freight sells

and craftsman analog ones made in germany in the 80s metric and english

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This 8” caliper from Harbor freight for $30.00 is a good buy. I have several calipers from 6” to 24”, Brown & Sharp mostly, but this one is my workhorse. It needs de-burring out of the box new, but its accurate for any caliper job. Great for around the house and the 8” is easier to handle. :wink:
I have used this one for 10yrs already !! Auto on and off saves battery life, Mitutoyo always stays on.
https://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-digital-caliper-63712.html

that is a good one, they used to have them on sale a lot for $9

You should have bought all of them! You could 3d print battery covers and sell them for way more than you paid for them.

just cut a piece of plastic the same size as the battery, tape it over

I got a set of cheap (ie, plastic) calipers, slide-on battery cover.

Parasitic drain killed one button cell in a few months, so since then I always remove the battery and stick it in the packaging (plastic + cardboard insert). Lately, found that the cover is hard to get on or off. Hmm, wonder why.

The f’n button-cell is bulging at the back. Still full voltage, but the back ain’t flat anymore.

My guess is that a lot of these cells suffer the same fate, and pop off the covers.

In mine, the thing works fine without the cover, as it holds the cell around the periphery.

Neither, it’s 500-709-11, worn.

Only has one Origin button.
Doesn’t have on/off, but it turns itself off after a few minutes.
To set to 0 you have to hold Origin button.

I think we have uncovered some conspiracy here. Maybe machinists do take battery covers off before throwing them away?

None of the machine shop guys that i know and work with would take the time to re-assemble a broken or swollen-battery cover on a pair of calipers before throwing them in the trash—they would just pitch it, cover and all.

Likely the dumpster diver didn’t get the covers.

i’ve tried to repair calipers that had alkaleak battery damage with limited success. Most use a COB and the corrosion is fatal.

I don’t use alkaleak cells in my Mitutoyo calipers; I use 1.55V SR44 silver oxide cells. I believe they are designed to use this type of cell.

I prefer IP67 calipers. Lower rated, less “industrial” calipers always seem to die after just a few months use.

FWIW, some cheap calipers are non-linear.

But, very generally speaking, digital calipers when “calibrated” they either work and are accurate or they’re trash.

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BTW, there are knock-off Mitutoyos out there in the wild so just having a Mitutoyo logo on it doesn’t necessarily mean it is one.

Should contact Mitutoyo and ask them to send you a battery door.

Yeah, I am pretty sure the cover would cost as much as a new caliper :slight_smile:

I actually ordered a cover from Aliexpress but it doesn’t match, it’s too small.

kat,

I am the Mitutoyo Factory Sales Specialist for all Mitutoyo capital equipment in the Pacific Northwest USA, but started out years ago specializing in small tools… Regarding the battery cover, in many cases someone would break one or both ear tabs off the battery cover and throw it away. Without a cover the battery would probably get dislodged or come loose. This would be/is frustrating. Instead of purchasing new battery covers or making one in house they threw the calipers in the trash or gave them to a surplus type store. The calipers you have may be discontinued and the battery covers might be no longer available. I see you are in Europe, I would contact a large industrial supply house like MSC or Grainger or similar to your area that could possibly still have some older covers in stock. I would see if we still have them here at our USA Corporate Headquarters but getting them to you would be the challenge. I’m happy to help out in any way that I am capable of.
Let me know what you find out.

You made a great find.

LT

Nah I’m fine with my metal strip, and I think it’s more durable.



I was just curious why were so many covers missing. If they are so easy to break, perhaps Mitutoyo should fix this design issue?

We have been seeing some counterfeit products pop up on various sites and do our best to track them down. We have some information regarding counterfeit products on our website. In short, all our digital calipers, when in inch mode, have at least 4 full numbers to the right of the decimal. Counterfeit products only had three full numbers for quite some time and now have 3 full numbers and 1 half size number to the right of the decimal point.
Hope this helps.

LT

Thanks for the pictures, I like your battery holder, nice and sturdy. We did have a battery cover re-design on newer models which has reduced cover breakage to nearly zero.
LT

Counterfeit products from Aliepress… Now thats a surprise… lol

I’m shocked! SHOCKED, I tell you!

Weird. That’s a “shop hard” IP67 caliper but no in/mm button.

That’s basically my all time favorite digital caliper. I got mine many years ago from Enco for ~$120 or so on sale.

Yours looks like someone was very hard on it as mine doesn’t look anywhere near that bad after probably 10 years of use.