Let's Talk Calipers

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JonathanF1968

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Oct 7, 2018
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In your pen-making, exactly how are you using calipers? What are you measuring with them?


And do you have any features for calipers that you consider essential? Brand/model recommendations welcome.


Quick tips are fine, but I'm also hoping for some long, discursive, elaborate answers that will make most people's eyes glaze over except for the fine people in this enormously informative community....
 
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jeff

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I have a couple of these that have served me very well. The question is, what don't I measure with them. Bushings, tubes, drill bits, barrel final size, blind hole depths, and on and on. The most convenient feature for me is the fractional setting. It's nice to be able to take a measurement, then wiggle a little up or down to find a close fractional size.
 

leehljp

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I use HF simply because they can be purchased on sale for less than $10. These are ones that retail for $19.95 most of the time.

Get the METAL ones! Several models similar to this one: https://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-...SAE-and-Metric-Fractional-Readings-63731.html
I rarely use the "fraction" function except to measure a known fraction bit to determine its digital size and then move up or down a size in bits ad Jeff does above.
MM or digital Inch? I am bi-lingual in this (and have been since high school in the early 60's) and usually use the MM size, but to each his own preference.
I got started pen turning when I lived in Japan, and I had a chart on my wall with digital millimeter, inch and fractional conversions. At the time and over there, I did not have fractional inch calipers so I got used to instinctly using the chart for conversion instead of the calipers, but as Jeff wrote, that is a good quick way to measure and compare.

DON'T get the composite ones such as this: https://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-Composite-Digital-Caliper-63586.html So far, I have had two sets of composites in the past (gifts) and they were low end. Too much flex and inaccuracy.

Low end Metal ones measure to .005 and in general that works fine for pens, especially if one is working with wood. Wood will swell or shrink .001 or .002 (or more in some situations) with wide humidity swings and that is a given. IF one is making REAL high end pens, particularly metal pens or composite pens that sell for $1000 or more, then one should probably consider a higher end calipers/micrometer, suitable for use on a metal lathe.
In this case, a micrometer could or should be used: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SHARS-0-1-...lPaddedFlatRateEnvelope!38676!US!-1:rk:3:pf:0 I use this if turning a metal piece and measuring metal to metal fittings differences.

Vernier calipers can work for those that have used them for years, but the accuracy is only as good as the experience of the user.

6 inch work fine. Larger ones only get in the way for pen measurement.

BTW, I have 4 sets of HF calipers and keep two by the lathe at all times; one set in my other woodworking space and one as backup. About once a year, I will check each caliper against the others. Surprisingly to me, the HF ones measure a known size consistently accurate.
 
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MRDucks2

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A second on the Harbor Freight metal 6" ones that are on sale routinely. They are repeatable, which is what I need. I have a set at the lathe and a set at the pen bench.

I also realize these are cheap calipers, so I do not switch measurements between the two. The one set measures all tube and bit measurements. The other set I measure turned diameters if Blanks and hardware diameters for fit.

At my level of turning, it is not about absolute accuracy, just repeatability at the right times.


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monophoto

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Agree with Hank and Mike that HF digital calipers are pretty good. My only complaint is that they eat batteries pretty rapidly.

Also have an old vernier caliper that originally belonged to my father-in-law. Battery life is excellent - have never had to replace a battery in the 20+ years that I've owned it.
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With either vernier or digital calipers, it's a good idea to gently round over the very sharp tips. This can be done with a grinder, file, wetstone, or diamond card. When turning, we sometimes want to take a quick measurement of a spindle. The safe way to do this is to stop the lathe, but sometimes we carelessly just slip the caliper over the rotating spindle. Rounding over the tips helps prevent the caliper from catching and being flung across the shop.
 
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bsshog40

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I also use the HF calipers. I use them mostly in mm setting and only on my turned pens that require 2 tubes and I want both tubes at exact size. The only time I use them on bushings is if I'm using a kit I'm not familiar with.
 

mecompco

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My cheap digital calps are batteries like candy, and eventually frustrated me to the point that it "broke". I dug out my old Dillon analog set (left over from hand-loading 20 years ago) and my frustration is gone. With a few minutes spent on YT, analog calps are easy to use.
 

randyrls

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Agree with Hank and Mike that HF digital calipers are pretty good. My only complaint is that they eat batteries pretty rapidly.


The ones like this one that take CR2032 batteries last a LONGG TIME!

Along with the cheapies, I have two Mitutoyo, and two of the LMS ones above.

Put the caliper on the fitting you want to match. Without changing the setting, press "Zero". Now reading on the blank is the amount you are over the target size.
 

bsshog40

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I have the HF Pittsburg calipers. I've had them for a couple years and have only changed the battery once. It uses a button battery 303/357.
 
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I have and use basically what RANDYRLS has in his post. Has inches and millimeter measurements and zero setting. Small batteries last about a year and on Amazon I can get 3 of the batteries for just over 4 bucks. I stay away from HF, except for their tarps, as I've been burned too many times to have much of a trust in their products. I know a lot of people use HF products, it just my personal decision not to buy from them.
 

magpens

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Yup, it's just as Jeff said ... What DON'T we use the calipers for ...

... measuring diameters of kit parts, measuring bushing sizes for comparison, measuring brass tube lengths (very important), measuring unturned blank size and length, measuring blank length to get a match with the brass tube, measuring turned blank diameter as you approach the final value, measuring screw and all other thread diameters, measuring thicknesses of shims and slices for pen blank segmenting, measuring saw blade thickness (kerf) to get a match of kerf and slice thickness, ... and on it goes.

I have had pretty good luck with cheap calipers (Titan brand ?) such as you can get from HF. . They are good enough for pen work but I would love to have a Mitutoyo set or other high quality calipers.

But don't buy the all plastic ones ... they are useless except for very rough checks.

I like to have inches, millimeters, and fractional readouts.

The on/off button seems to be the weakest part of these calipers.
 

leehljp

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Some months ago on another forum, there was a discussion on the battery life of calipers. More specifically HF calipers, they use as much power OFF as when ON.

One of the engineers got frustrated with the battery life of his HF calipers and did some testing. The fact that the display is off does not mean that the operation of the electronics is OFF. They are powered up the whole time they are off.

Here is the link if any of you want to read it:

https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/d...828036-hf-digital-calipers-battery-usage-life
 

larryc

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I have two pair of the Wixey digital 6" calipers with fractions and mm/inch. I set the calipers to the size of the components and then zero them. I can then see immediately how much more material I have to remove for a perfect fit. If there is a different diameter between the ends of a tube blank I will use one set of calipers for one end and the other set for the opposite end. This works great for getting the blanks to the correct diameter since I don't use bushings when turning. (Why is a single caliper called a "set").
 
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Another vote for the HF digital. Cheap and work great. As memtioned, they drain the battery fast. I've read that the actually drain it even when turned off, so removal of the battery should help. I just keep a spare on hand. Coincidentally, I just had to put a new one in yesterday.

I recommend having a second dial caliper that measures in 1/100 and 1/64 inch increments. Sometimes it's a pain to convert an odd measurement (say 11/32) to hundreds for the digital to be accurate, where 22/64 on a dial is a breeze.
 
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