Budget Micrometer

[gmm213]

I am looking for a good budget micrometer. I am not a professional and it will get used only once in a great while. Id like to keep it as cheap as possible but still accurate, say $40 or less if thats even possible.

It will be used to measure wire gauges for maille. I tend to forget to label them. It needs to be accurate enough to give me the difference between say 14 or 16 or 18ga.

If anyone has any other suggestions to figure this out Im all ears. Im not set on a micrometer, I just know thatll do what I need.

Maille is a historical armour of interlocking rings.

 

[Superbec]

you need a cheapo digital caliper , it will do more than what you need

 

[gmm213]

you need a cheapo digital caliper , it will do more than what you need

Ok I just wasnt sure if it would be accurate enough. Thank you.

Any specific recommendations? I like USA made and will pay more for one.

 

[Superbec]

Ok I just wasnt sure if it would be accurate enough. Thank you.

Any specific recommendations? I like USA made and will pay more for one.

he's plenty accurate , can't help you with US made , even if you find one the price will be multiple of a cheapo that will work just as good for you.

 

[gmm213]

ok thanks. Probably just amazon one with good reviews.

 

[dadsEH]

Cheap accurate US made???? Oxymoron.
just hit up HF.

 

[6PTsocket]

ok thanks. Probably just amazon one with good reviews.

The up side of a micrometer is it uses no batteries and is more accurate, no warm up drift, smaller. But as the other poster said, even a cheap digital caliper will be good enough for what you want to do. An analog dial caliper would work too.

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[gmm213]

Cheap accurate US made???? Oxymoron.
just hit up HF.

I didnt know if a simple one could be had, even regularly on ebay. When I say accurate btw Im saying .01 accurate, not .0001. I know some are very very precise therefore very expensive. As I stated Im always willing to drop some extra on USA made, ie over my budget. However on this tool for the amount of use I cant justify $200 on it.

 

[6PTsocket]

I didnt know if a simple one could be had, even regularly on ebay. When I say accurate btw Im saying .01 accurate, not .0001. I know some are very very precise therefore very expensive. As I stated Im always willing to drop some extra on USA made, ie over my budget. However on this tool for the amount of use I cant justify $200 on it.

Not even close. Find a clean used Starret 0-1" Micrometer on ebay. I just saw a clean used one for $45. New it is on Amszon for $ 169. There are much cheaper Starrets on Amazon but I don't know if they are still US made. Call Starret.I think their higher end stuff still is but not as sure about the cheaper ones. One of the best brands is Mitutoyo. They are Japanese but I think their low end stuff is Chinese too. This is all such overkill. The hardest thing to match is US made. I think your best bet is a used Starret dial caliper or micrometer on ebay. They are the premier US measuring equipment company. Brown and Sharp is very good too but I think their stuff is European.

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[Evilunclegrimace]

I am looking for a good budget micrometer. I am not a professional and it will get used only once in a great while. Id like to keep it as cheap as possible but still accurate, say $40 or less if thats even possible.

It will be used to measure wire gauges for maille. I tend to forget to label them. It needs to be accurate enough to give me the difference between say 14 or 16 or 18ga.

If anyone has any other suggestions to figure this out Im all ears. Im not set on a micrometer, I just know thatll do what I need.

Maille is a historical armour of interlocking rings.

Send me your shipping address and give me a few days and I will send you a mic that fits your needs. I scored a few extras at an estate sale and have more than I need.

 

[T45]

It will be used to measure wire gauges for maille. I tend to forget to label them. It needs to be accurate enough to give me the difference between say 14 or 16 or 18ga.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002SG7R2I/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Todd.Brock]

I have the HF digital caliper. For ten bucks , it will measure random things I need to do. It works fine for what I need, which is nothing to precise !

 

[maxpower_hd]

If you are only using it occasionally I would recommend a dial caliper as opposed to the digital one. I have a cheap digital and a nice dial. The digital one has dead batteries almost every time I go to use it.

There is also a cheap slide type like this you should be able to find even cheaper. They have them in all different materials and measurement. This one is just one sample.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004T7UH/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[maxpower_hd]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002SG7R2I/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Eastwood has one of these too for about $12.00. I use one for sheep metal often.

 

[Bruce Amacker]

I gave up on digital calipers as it seems the battery is always dead when you want to use them. I converted back to all dial style calipers, they're cheap and accurate to a few thou. The only benefit of a digital cal is it converts mm to " instantly if you need to.

 

[APEowner]

For what you're doing this Ebay Link is all you need

 

[bczygan]

HF $8

 

[6PTsocket]

I have the HF digital caliper. For ten bucks , it will measure random things I need to do. It works fine for what I need, which is nothing to precise !

I do not own one but have heard that the HF digital only shuts off the display when not in use but the electronic measuring circuit continues to draw a small amount of current, contributing to a rather short battery life. This is not the case with more expensive digitals. How often have you changed batteries?

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[Todd.Brock]

I have had it probably 5 or 6 years and not used it for a year or so at a time. I think I have been through 2 or 3 batteries in that time. If I remember right, it came with an extra battery in the case.

 

[ihateminimumwage]

I've had great luck with the Neiko Digital Caliper 01407A. About $20 through eBay, and also does fractions. I have one at work and one at home, both are rarely off when closed to 0.0, but easy to reset. Also comes with a spare battery.

 

[6PTsocket]

If you are only using it occasionally I would recommend a dial caliper as opposed to the digital one. I have a cheap digital and a nice dial. The digital one has dead batteries almost every time I go to use it.

There is also a cheap slide type like this you should be able to find even cheaper. They have them in all different materials and measurement. This one is just one sample.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004T7UH/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I just posted on the battery issue. The HF and presumably other inexpensive Chinese imports only shut off the display when "off". The measuring circuitry continues to draw a small amount of current, contributing to short battery life. I have a more expensive one that lasts years on a set of batteries. I can't remember the last time I changed them. I agree that a dial caliper is a good choice, anyway.

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[IndyGarage]

I find the digital calipers to be just about as accurate as a micrometer and about 10X as easy to use. I have a couple expensive Brown and Sharpe ones and a couple cheap harbor freights. The cheap ones are just as good as the expensive ones.

I have a bunch of micrometers that haven't been used in years. Yes, you can get more accurate readings with a mike, if you know exactly how to use one and you take your time.

If you really need a micrometer - I see nice ones cheap fairly often on craigslist.

 

[rlitman]

I didnt know if a simple one could be had, even regularly on ebay. When I say accurate btw Im saying .01 accurate, not .0001. I know some are very very precise therefore very expensive. As I stated Im always willing to drop some extra on USA made, ie over my budget. However on this tool for the amount of use I cant justify $200 on it.

.01 is EASY to measure for even the cheapest of calipers. There's no need to look at a micrometer for this. In fact, the cheapest and easiest tool for your purposes might be this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-thickness-gauge-66319.html

That crappy plastic gauge goes on sale for less than the $10 HF calipers, and is still more than sufficient for your needs.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002SG7R2I/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Well, technically that is for standard ferrous sheet metal gauge. Sheet metal gauge is kind of close to AWG wire gauge, but not quite, though for 14, 16, and 18 gauge, it should be able to distinguish the wires just fine.

This is the proper tool in AWG (used for non-ferrous wires):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VRRIVX8/?tag=atomicindus08-20

And this is if you need SWG:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005XPSZYU/?tag=atomicindus08-20

If you are only using it occasionally I would recommend a dial caliper as opposed to the digital one. I have a cheap digital and a nice dial. The digital one has dead batteries almost every time I go to use it.

There is also a cheap slide type like this you should be able to find even cheaper. They have them in all different materials and measurement. This one is just one sample.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004T7UH/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I actually have a stainless 3.5" slide caliper like that marked in AWG, but I don't know where to find another.

I'm not a fan of the plastic stuff, unless you need it to be non-marking.

 

[ptgarcia]

I wanted decent calipers for home and one for my office so I bought two used for about $30 each (I believe), an old Brown & Sharpe and an old Mitutoyo. Even though I didn't need the best I wanted something "better" than the Chinese offerings out there, but couldn't reconcile spending $150+ each on new calipers. So the used tools have been great for me.

 

[californiaHank]

Traditional (non-digital) micrometers from decent manufacturers are often available on eBay at surprisingly low prices. The decline in US manufacturing has caused resale prices for machinists' tools to drop sharply.

I have bought Mitutoyo 'new old stock' quite cheaply, and also NSK. Both are first-quality Japanese brands. NSK (also known as Japan Micrometer) no longer manufactures them, but there still a lot of NOS ones for sale.

Starrett is another good brand, but they don't seem to go for bargain prices as often. High-end Starrett mics are still made in the US, but their economy line is now outsourced.

 

[928'er]

I've had the Harbor Freight version sitting in my tool bag for a couple of years now - just checked and the battery is still good... Plus it comes with a spare battery.

For the kind of stuff I do, it only gets used a couple of times a year. Should be just fine for what you want it to do.

 

[6PTsocket]

Traditional (non-digital) micrometers from decent manufacturers are often available on eBay at surprisingly low prices. The decline in US manufacturing has caused resale prices for machinists' tools to drop sharply.

I have bought Mitutoyo 'new old stock' quite cheaply, and also NSK. Both are first-quality Japanese brands. NSK (also known as Japan Micrometer) no longer manufactures them, but there still a lot of NOS ones for sale.

Starrett is another good brand, but they don't seem to go for bargain prices as often. High-end Starrett mics are still made in the US, but their economy line is now outsourced.

My caliper is an NSK. Fowler distributed them. Some, like mine,have General tool's brand on them. I still see them on ebay once and a while. NSK is still around but have gone on to other products. Without checking, i think they used the name NSK AccuCal for that series. It is missing the dust cover for the data port, with a non standard plug for some long obsolete recorder. I could never find the dust cover and it bugged me. Silly,I know.

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[6PTsocket]

Traditional (non-digital) micrometers from decent manufacturers are often available on eBay at surprisingly low prices. The decline in US manufacturing has caused resale prices for machinists' tools to drop sharply.

I have bought Mitutoyo 'new old stock' quite cheaply, and also NSK. Both are first-quality Japanese brands. NSK (also known as Japan Micrometer) no longer manufactures them, but there still a lot of NOS ones for sale.

Starrett is another good brand, but they don't seem to go for bargain prices as often. High-end Starrett mics are still made in the US, but their economy line is now outsourced.

That 0-1" mic Starret on ebay looks like the $169 one on Amazon. It has the big thick anvil with the tables on it. They were twenty something up to 45 for a clean one on ebay.That seems like a pretty good saving over a new one.

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[Citation]

I strongly recommend the igaging calipers with the very large digits for about $20-25 on Amazon or eBay. Very nice for the money. MUCH better finish than the HF ones. They also have good battery life thanks to the larger 2032 coin cell battery.