I Gave Up.

[PugetDude]

…for the difference in price you could hire the pimply-faced kid with a dozen piercings stocking shelves at HF to come over and change them for you.

 

[American Locomotive]

I keep calipers at every machine, and we mostly use digital Mitutoyo for the ease of use. 6" and 12". I have dial calipers all over the shop though. Always something being measured quick.

I leave the Mitutoyo calipers on 100% of the time. The only thing the power switch turns off is the LCD, the absolute measuring head is always on. The LCD uses so little power its negligible. I have only had to replace batteries maybe once in the 3+ years i've had the 6" caliper. Have yet to replace the battery in one 6", or the 12".

Calipers are only trusted to +/- .005", but they're so much faster than a mic that we use them almost like a tape measure. Important measurements get taken with a mic, bore gage, indicator, etc.

Mitutoyo's actually turn off when you turn them off. The beauty of Mitu's is that their absolute system is actually absolute. The track they encode into the caliper actually tells the exact position of the head. You can take the batteries out of a Mitutoyo, move it to a new position, and it will know exactly where it is.

 

[dr_clyde]

Mitutoyo's actually turn off when you turn them off. The beauty of Mitu's is that their absolute system is actually absolute. The track they encode into the caliper actually tells the exact position of the head. You can take the batteries out of a Mitutoyo, move it to a new position, and it will know exactly where it is.

Neato. Good to know.

Either way, I don’t turn them off and the battery lasts years.