digital caliper with fractional readout

[JimH74]

I'm looking for a 6" higher quality digital caliper that reads in mm/inches, and also can display fractional inches. Would like to stay under $200. The cheap ones that I've had from HF eat the batteries. Thanks for any insight!

 

[BLUE72CAMARO]

Why display fractional inches? Just curious what your working on that you would want fractional display since it is much lower accuracy than decimal.

 

[454ragtop]

Sounds like a unicorn to me, be real surprised if that even exists. If you're working with thousandths, usually don't care about fractions of an inch.

 

[M6erfan]

Sounds like a unicorn to me, be real surprised if that even exists. If you're working with thousandths, usually don't care about fractions of an inch.

They exist, I saw one in passing while surfing the web recently. Don't recall where. AMZN perhaps?

 

[454ragtop]

Oh, I think I've seen some too, but the ones I saw I wouldn't classify as high quality. Seems to me they were more for wood workers than machinists.

 

[Rabid Badger]

These are generally regarded as the poor man's Mitutoyo:

https://www.amazon.com/iGaging-ABSOLUTE-Digital-Electronic-Caliper/dp/B00KDUD67G/

 

[RKA]

Yeah, I believe iGaging offers one through your typical woodworking stores or Amazon.

*edit* Rabid beat me to it, that's the one.

 

[JimH74]

I do some woodworking also, which is why I'm asking. Thanks!

 

[454ragtop]

These are generally regarded as the poor man's Mitutoyo:

https://www.amazon.com/iGaging-ABSOLUTE-Digital-Electronic-Caliper/dp/B00KDUD67G/

I don't think that is high quality.

 

[engineer2]

For the HF ones, it's best to take the battery out when not using it. Same for a 25 year old Mitutoyo I have.

 

[BukitCase]

I have a couple of the iGaging ones, they eat batteries too - near as i can tell, that's true of anything under a couple hundred. They're always "looking" for you to use 'em, so batteries always have a small draw on 'em.

I keep thinking I'm gonna put a new battery in one, then turn it on once a week and see how long it takes to die; yeah, right... Steve

 

[Rabid Badger]

I don't think that is high quality.

They are the highest quality option I'm aware of with the feature the OP is looking for.

If you know of something better feel free to share.

 

[littleboss]

They are the highest quality option I'm aware of with the feature the OP is looking for.

If you know of something better feel free to share.

Starrett makes one. Woodcraft sells it

 

[johninct]

I have a Sterrett for precision work. I have not used it in years. I bought a HF one for junk jobs rather than using my good one. Just for fun, I borrowed some precision blocks and the HF one was + or- one or two thousands, well within the margin of error for my measuring skills or even temperature.

 

[littleboss]

I have been using one from Highland Woodworking for over 10 years. Works fine for me. I also have some Starrett and a Mitutoyo stuff

 

[dr_clyde]

Fowler makes one I believe.

Although I don’t understand why you would would want a caliper to read out like a tape measure.

 

[littleboss]

Fowler makes one I believe.

Although I don’t understand why you would would want a caliper to read out like a tape measure.

Woodworking. We measure stuff in inches and fractions of inches. If I am planing a board to thickness I want it 3/4". If I measure it with a fractional caliper this requires no calculation. If I am 1/64" off I can see that on the dial and then remove that much material.
If I measure it with a digital I read .82". So how much do I take off to get to 3/4"? This takes math and conversion.

 

[dr_clyde]

Woodworking. We measure stuff in inches and fractions of inches. If I am planing a board to thickness I want it 3/4". If I measure it with a fractional caliper this requires no calculation. If I am 1/64" off I can see that on the dial and then remove that much material.
If I measure it with a digital I read .82". So how much do I take off to get to 3/4"? This takes math and conversion.

If you’re doing precision woodwork, you should already be measuring in decimal inches.

I guess I never thought of basic fractions as difficult math to do quickly. It would take me longer to convert the fraction the caliper gave me into a decimal for me to know what I need to do.

 

[littleboss]

If you’re doing precision woodwork, you should already be measuring in decimal inches.

I guess I never thought of basic fractions as difficult math to do quickly. It would take me longer to convert the fraction the caliper gave me into a decimal for me to know what I need to do.

1/64" is about as close as you need to get with woodworking as wood is constantly moving anyway.

I don't convert between fractions and decimals. Everything in the wood shop is in fractions. For rough carpentry you shoot for 1/4". For woodworking I shoot for 1/64"

 

[nutjob]

I have one that reads in fractions, but it measures in 1/128" So I read 95/128" how much more to 3/4"?

Most woodworking machines that I have with some type of scale are in fractions, table saw, router, thickness planer

Kevin

 

[dr_clyde]

A caliper is usually considered to be good to +/- .005" or so. Most calipers that read out in fractions only go down to 64ths, or .015" That is 3x what the caliper can read out accurately as a decimal inch.

Typically you want the accuracy and resolution of your measuring tools to me a factor of at least double the the part tolerance.

Using the planer example. If you measure your board for a really precise fit, and you want to hold 1/64" thickness, how do you know what end of that 1/64" the encoder is at? If its at the wrong end, you could end up accidentally taking a double cut and then ending up with a pretty undersized board, or an oversize board.

 

[dr_clyde]

It just seem silly to me to have a precision tool and only use it as a ruler, basically.

 

[davethorik]

The fact that you can only buy fractional digital calipers that are cheap imports makes me think that there is almost no demand for this product. On the plus side, you probably won't wear a caliper out measuring wood.

 

[Citation]

Igaging calipers are very good. I prefer them to Tesa/B&S and they are almost as good as Mitutoyo.

 

[knobby]

It just seem silly to me to have a precision tool and only use it as a ruler, basically.

Wait till you get a few years on the clock,once your vision gets bad for close up you will have a better understanding of the usefulness of this.

Haven't seen any fractional calipers with a absolute encoder myself but any "old school" vernier (non electronic) would probably work and never need a battery

 

[kythri]

Bought myself a "Calculated Industries 7408" off of Amazon for about $30 nearly three years ago.

Liked it so much, as did my pops, so I bought him one, too. Still using the original batteries, still working great. Measures fractional to 1/64" (in addition to decimal SAE/metric).

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like these are available on Amazon any longer...

 

[dr_clyde]

Wait till you get a few years on the clock,once your vision gets bad for close up you will have a better understanding of the usefulness of this.

Haven't seen any fractional calipers with a absolute encoder myself but any "old school" vernier (non electronic) would probably work and never need a battery

I just don't understand why you don't use the decimals and skip the fractions entirely.

I just use a dial caliper for most things, so I don't really care, but it just seems like a lot more mental gymnastics to be dealing with 64ths of an inch vs just reading direct decimals for anything under an inch.

 

[TalonFE]

C'MON, MATH IS FUN!!!!!!..........https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/math/decimal-to-fraction-calculator.php

 

[SARG]

Woodworking. We measure stuff in inches and fractions of inches. If I am planing a board to thickness I want it 3/4". If I measure it with a fractional caliper this requires no calculation. If I am 1/64" off I can see that on the dial and then remove that much material.
If I measure it with a digital I read .82". So how much do I take off to get to 3/4"? This takes math and conversion.

Having trouble figuring this one out .... why not just work with the decimal target. If it is say 7/16" that you want ... then divide the 7 by the 16 and get the decimal target i.e. .4375.

 

[M6erfan]

Because machining in decimal, woodworking in fraction. It's the rule.

Personally I like metric

 

[Dumber than lumber]

Let me translate some of these comments:
You are stupid. Because you don’t think like me.
No I am smart. You are stupid.
No!! Wood is stupid. Machine work is better.
I don’t care what works for you. You aren’t allowed to think like that.
Rounding is bad.
No!! Precision is bad. 1/32nd is good enough for brain surgery.
Maybe for your brain you *****.
Your mother says it is time for dinner. Now run along home.

 

[Air21]

Christ was a carpenter because a machinist wouldn't have had the tolerance.

 

[TalonFE]

Air21, you "nailed" it..

 

[Git]

I use this one from Wixey for woodworking

And when I can't find those, I have a cheaper pair from iGaging

 

[wolf_from_wv]

I used the fractional measurement sometimes when trying to figure out what size I need to drill a hole.

 

[metaleltr]

It may not meet the quality issue but I have a general tools caliper purchased at Lowe’s about 4 years ago. Still on the original battery and it has met all off my needs for non machinist tolerances.

 

[Dingleburry]

The PA pro-point ones read fractions. In 128ths
Seems decent quality.
I use them sometimes for standard size stuff, shafts, metal thicknesses, metal rods/twist drill and random ****.
I dont order a 0.296875" drill.

Edit: pro point calipers. Not titan.

 

[PBCampbell]

I've had an Igaging brand electronic caliper for over a decade. It does the job of checking dimensions just fine and the convenience of being able to flip through decimal fractions to common fractions to metric is great. It eats a battery about every year or so. It's much easier to read than a dial or especially a vernier.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

I don't understand the issue, I thought that all digital calipers could do this. My cheapo HF does as well as my Mitutoyo and Starrett.

 

[454ragtop]

I don't understand the issue, I thought that all digital calipers could do this. My cheapo HF does as well as my Mitutoyo and Starrett.

Did you miss the fractions part? My Mitutoyo's don't do fractions.