Digital calipers

[fisherman]

in lidl.
I now know the diameter of the average biro tube or jam pot lid.

 

[Martin_J]

I bought a set of them in Lidl about three years ago. They are still working well and on their first battery.

Nice that once you've made a measurement - rolling them back to closed, they do show 0.00

Measurements seem consistent - at least they do in the set I bought.

 

[VicS]

in lidl.
I now know the diameter of the average biro tube or jam pot lid.

I think they were one of last weeks offers, so hurry if you need to measure your biros!
Garden gadgets and cycling gear now on offer.

More DIY tools, including a 5" angle grinder, detail sander and planer, coming on Thursday.

 

[NickRobinson]

Bought the Aldi ones last week, to measure square plug on boat anode..
Now using them to teach my students-
I'm left handed... they're not!

 

[EdWingfield]

Also available in Aldi

 

[DinghyMan]

Bought the Aldi ones last week, to measure square plug on boat anode..
Now using them to teach my students-
I'm left handed... they're not!

You can get left handed calipers, really useful when working on a lathe: http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catal...ft-Hand-Digital-Calipers-Not-just-for-Lefties

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

You can get left handed calipers, really useful when working on a lathe: http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catal...ft-Hand-Digital-Calipers-Not-just-for-Lefties

It's amazing that you can struggle away with something just because that's the way it is. I'm ordering one (a pair?) of those. And will be cursing this afternoon as I have a job to do on the lathe...

 

[Neil]

I bought some Aldi ones: they failed and I took them back. They dug a set out of the store room and exchanged them, but they failed after a few uses.

Bought an analogue dial set - less to go wrong since they're mechanical

 

[fisherman]

A left handed story. Carpenters habitually use a pencil in the right hand, tape in the left which is therefore upside down and back to front. I found a man who sells left handed tapes, which he marketed on a site for left handed people, but of course he agreed that he didn't sell any, because a left hander is perfectly happy with a RH tape. There are tapes with metric top and bottom which is better, read either way.
There are many errors due to the tape issue, and when I showed my 'LH' tape to a uPVC window manufacturer he ordered forty, he said the miscuts cost him a fortune. The other problem is that we use mm, there are too many of them, a French person said they use cm.

 

[DinghyMan]

It's amazing that you can struggle away with something just because that's the way it is. I'm ordering one (a pair?) of those. And will be cursing this afternoon as I have a job to do on the lathe...

I use mine all the time, the right hand versions are all sat in the toolbox.

Other problem is if you look around the website it ends up costing a lot more than you intended as they do some good stuff, especially their serial taps: http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogue/Cutting-Tools/Taps/Serial-Hand-Taps-Metric-Coarse these are brilliant for hard steels as they work differently to normal taps.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Thanks for the warning - but you know it's hopeless. Mmmm more tools.

 

[sarabande]

Because I am nearly three hours away from the boat, I try to have a pretty serious collection of tools on board. The steel verniers corroded in weeks despite swimming in WD40, and I found some brass ones on ebay. Precision and accuracy seem to be more than OK for boaty use.


And thanks Fisherman, I bought the Lidl ones today

 

[TRUNDLETRUC]

For your interest - always buy electronic calipers that switch themselves off when inactive. You will forget to turn the off and the battery will be flat! I have done it a few times.

 

[reeac]

Reverting to tapes, I once picked up a bargain tape at a jumble sale ...one of those cloth tapes that wound up into a circular leather case. It was marked in Imperial units on one side and metric on the other. When trying to set out shuttering for a concrete base for a garden room I had problems getting things square as determined by measuring diagonals and also comparing with a big set square that I had made. I eventually noticed that on one side the tape started not at zero but at about 10 cm. The other side was correct.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

The steel verniers corroded in weeks despite swimming in WD40,

Good vernier calipers should not rust. I have had my Mitutoyo for over fifty years now and there is not a speck of rust anywhere. They have seen constant use both at home and on the boat; before I retired they were also used at work. Get some stainless ones... and avoid the stink of WD40! (I can't stand it).

 

[savageseadog]

I bought some Aldi ones: they failed and I took them back. They dug a set out of the store room and exchanged them, but they failed after a few uses.

Bought an analogue dial set - less to go wrong since they're mechanical

When I took an engine block to be rebored I noticed the manager used vernier, non digital calipers.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I've got an Aldi one I bought a couple of years ago, it started misreading a few weeks ago and I fitted a new battery and it cured the problem. An excellent piece of kit for the price.