Cheap digital calipers vs. Mitutoyo

[Olafur]

Measuring shims today. $40 digital caliper says 0.16-0.28mm depending on how much pressure you apply to it. Granted, these shims were partly destroyed by air hammer chisel and slightly rusted. So I had to try to find unspoiled areas to measure. A bit tricky to do. I wanted the exact thickness so I could order new shims in a hurry.

Thankfully I bought 200mm Mitutoyo from Japan last year and it said 0.20-0.22 across different areas. So the shims were indeed 0.20mm

Not the first time or second the Mitutoyo saves me time.

Don't tell me they are equal in real world applications. They are NOT!

 

[jmarkwolf]

I use dial and digital calipers (Chinese knock-offs, and Mitutoyos) around the shop all the time, depending on the task at hand.

But if I'm doing "class-of-fit work" (fit between shaft and bearing for instance) calipers won't do. You need sub-thousandth resolution and accuracy for that.

 

[Citation]

Some of the Chinese made digitals are very good, many are junk. Even the junk ones can be useful but they aren't as good as Mitutoyos. HF are basically as bad as I've seen with very poor surface finish on the surfaces that count. I'm a big fan of iGaging's digital calipers. There's a detailed caliper review on Youtube where the reviewer shows what makes for good and bad digital calipers. The iGaging calipers did just as well as the Mitutoyos. Depending on features they are between $20 and $40 for the 6" models (with or without absolute position memory).
Personally I've got a set of Mitutoyo 8" (about 10 years old), a Tesa ShopCal and the iGaging absolute calipers. All of them give good readings. I'm half and half on the Mitu's vs iGaging simply because one is 6" and the other is 8" with the longer jaws. The Mitutoyo slides still feel better.

Anyway, yes, you can get good Chinese calipers but the generic or Mitutoyo fakes are not it.

 

[udderlyoffroad]

Holy thread revival Batman!

Don't tell me they are equal in real world applications. They are NOT!

Hmmm, so as a result of the Ave's Vidjeo (The OP), I added the Mito's to my Amazon Wishlist a couple of years ago...and they appeared underneath the hallelujah pine from my good lady, quite unexpectedly as they are not cheap.

What a difference - But it's a slow burn realization. My Aldi calipers were pretty reliable, but chewed though batteries, and could be finicky if the battery was low, resulting in a wrong reading more than once.

It's just one of those things not to cheap out on, even if you think you don't need the accuracy. How much is your time worth to you? Too valuable to spend putting mistakes right as a result of an incorrect measurement, in my case.

And yes, I am aware that most of the time, the root cause analysis points to the nut between the steering wheel and the seat being at fault.

One thing though, the boxes the Mito's come in is....well, keep the box your cheap calipers came in and swap them over, put it that way.

Matt