Stahlwille or Gedore Thread Pitch Gauges

[Joe Piro]

Before I posted this I tried to read most all of your GJ posts about thread pitch gauges. It's pretty clear that with just two Starrett catalog numbers you can pretty well cover most American and metric as well as Whitworth fasteners. (I have a 1953 MG TD project that I hope to finish before I die. so I need Whitworth.) (Starrett #476 covers most Whitworth, 156M is a good choice for metric? and 474 or 6 cover most American?).
On the internet there are several obviously really cheap gauges made to lower price points and I have no interest in those.
However as I searched the net it became obvious that Gedore and Stahlwille offer thread pitch gauges that at least cover metric and Whitworth threads.
Both of those companies have good reputations and both products are "made in Germany."
If you are reading this, do you have experience or opinions about either of these German products?
There is also a Seednew gauge (S-PIT8 cost is Y1516 at Ehime Machine, (about $14 and not much shipping if included in another order.) that clearly says "made in Japan."
I have looked for used Starrett, but unless you're as lucky as some of you have posted about, they still bring a good price even used, and I guess it's not just about the money is it?
Thanks,
Joe Piro

 

[seber]

It's not like they wear out or fail. Just get the cheapest steel gage you can find.

 

[Vicks]

I fully understand your desire to own something that is of high quality (even if it doesn't wear out or fail), something that is not made out of cheap chinesium. something that has decades of excellence in manufacturing, design and innovation in its essence, even if it is a simple feeler gauge or a thread pitch gauge.

I have no experience with the Gedore or Stahlwille gauges, but i vote for Stahlwille just because i love their Stabil 20's. Have you looked at Niigata Seiki gauges ? here

 

[dutchgray]

I would bet neither are in house products and there is a small German tool firm that makes that type of tool for whomever wants their name on one.
Get what ever you want, all the not cheap options are usually decent but nothing is as good as they once were.
I have old Moore and Wright's

 

[Tools4Me]

Be a bit careful with Stahlwille and other German rebranded thread gages. Many have round black screws grips that look like my first attached image. The black screw grips are actually plastic and they will often crack over time like my second image shows (image taken from ebay). Whatever you buy, make sure every part of the gage is metal and you will be happier in the long run.

I have used a couple cheap thread gages. They work okay, but they often don't work well enough to identify fine threads confidently. Cheap thead gages have punched threads and it's hard to punch fine detail well. Better quality used gage sets have threads that are punched much more accurately or else they have machined threads. That being said, there are lots of other brands besides Starrett that are good, so even though selection on the used market is quite poor right now due to the pandemic and other issues, your options for finding a good deal are greater than you might think. Look into Lufkin, Union Tool Co, Goodell-Pratt, Brown & Sharpe, Mitutoyo, PEC (Products Engineering Corp), etc. Like most machinist related hand tools, older used versions of their stuff will usually be better quality than their newer stuff.

The thread gages I have and use are listed below. They are an assortment of brands, all purchased over time as I found them for good prices on Ebay. I consider them all equal in their ability to identify threads confidently. Most GJers would have no use for the large metric set I have, so that one could be skipped.

Whitworth- Starrett 476
General use "beater" tpi gage (22 most common tpi pitches in compact form)- Goodell-Pratt 135
Complete 4-84 tpi set- PEC 5651
Small metric (0.25 to 2.5) used for M22 and smaller bolts - PEC 5626
Large metric (1 to 11.5) used for M24 and larger bolts - Union Tool Co. 50MM

 

[Joe Piro]

something that has decades of excellence in manufacturing, design and innovation in its essence, even if it is a simple feeler gauge or a thread pitch gauge.

I think that is how a lot of us feel about out tools and other things as well. There are a few products that have improved... digital flat TV'S for example, in my opinion (your opinion may vary.) but many have not. But most of us select for quality if we're old enough to remember when quality was more prevalent and a corporate philosophy.

Be a bit careful with Stahlwille and other German rebranded thread gages.

Thanks for the heads-up on that, and the rest of your detailed post. As a result of your experience, I just scored a good condition Starrett #476 Whitworth on ebay. I also made a couple of offers on 156M and #6. The metric gauges seem to be bring top dollar (I guess since so many cars and other products have gone metric).
If the offers are not accepted I'll go ahead and pull the trigger at an internet source which is reputable and beat Zoro on all but one item. BTW my 20% zoro discount code was not accepted on the Starrett products, or it might have just tilted the other way by a few dollars, but just barely. If the choice is close I support small business.

 

[Steve_P]

There was a thread on this a few months ago. Most people said Starrett. I have one SPI and one generic one from Enco; both are accurate and the leafs are well cut. However, neither have Whitworth

 

[dutchgray]

^ you don't actually need Whitworth specific gauges, Whit is imperial so standard inch ones will work fine, its just they won't fit as well as Whit is 55deg and rounded root, nice to have the real Whitworth ones if you do much of it though.

 

[humber2]

The Whitworth versions are unlikely to have 13TPI as found on 1/2”UNC

 

[Joe Piro]

both are accurate and the leafs are well cut

It appeared like that visually to me too, in internet photos. The German ones "looked" pretty good as did the Sunflag Japanese device.
There is definitely an advantage in buying from a source with a good return policy.

nice to have the real Whitworth ones if you do much of it though.

Right! and over the last thirty years I have tossed lots of fasteners from my '53 MG TD project in the same box with everything else I intended to sort out later.... so I guess I'll need one.

 

[Joe Piro]

The Whitworth versions are unlikely to have 13TPI as found on 1/2”UNC

So I checked and the Starrett #476 includes 13TPI, at least in the current catalog I found online.