Batteries

So, when did they start putting little warning labels on the coin batteries? They basically are there to remind us not to feed the batteries to babies, which I think I already knew. But if you aren't looking for the sticker you don't see them, the batteries just act dead. I tossed a couple of batteries before I figured it out... Talk about bone-head.
 
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I have a handy Chinese electronic caliper , large display , three way. It eats batteries, they never really turn off. See AvE vids. I know I should have bought a Mitutoyo , but around here they are $250. So I try to have a pack of batteries beside it. The last time I bought batteries, they were a dollar store purchase, Sunbeam brand. Even if it was only a few days, it seemed the battery was dead. This is ridiculous. This time I bought a pack of Energizers. At least the # is easy to remember, 357

If I'm half **** serious I use a dial caliper, if real serious, I mike it.

I pretty much gave up on digitals. I like dial calipers. The only real advantage to the digitals is switching between imperial and metic when yu are trying to figure out what something is. Other wise I have an HF dial 6", Fisher Dial 6", and Fisher Dial 12", in imperial and a Mitutoyo 6" Dial in metric. I do have one wide clearance digital still. I forget where I got it, but tis a cheap import. I keep it because its the only one I have that I can use to reach around a large piece of trim bead or extrusion to measure the material behind it. I don't think I have ever used it.

Oh, yeah. Speaking of calipers I have never used. I also have an HF fractional dial caliper. Not sure how I wound up with it, but I have it.

If something needs to be pretty accurate I've got an assortment of mic laying around including one cheap import 0-1 analog digital that tends to be within 1/2 thou. If I need to know closer than that I check a gage block close to the size I am measuring to determine how far off it is in that range. I've also got an assortment of Speedway (like harbor freight only different brand). Those are the ones that get left out.

I've got a bunch of ancient Starretts (some may be more than 100 years old) that came from my grandfather I use if I need to get a little closer, but not all of them have (or were even made with) a tension thimble. Again, I check them against a gage block or a standard or combination thereof to see how far off they are in the range I am measuring. I've also have a little set of Companions my dad gave me that have proven to be amazingly good except for the 0-1" which has seen some abuse and is a little stiff. My dad told me Companions were an El-Cheapo American made brand he picked up back when he worked at Lockheed (pre Martin) back in the late 1960s.

For measuring I like analog. For machining I like digital. LOL.

One of the instrument rebuilders has a bunch of MItutoyo used & rebuilt analog digitals I've been thinking about picking up a mismatched set of the next time I get paid for a big job.

... almost forgot. I have a .2 to 1.2" cheap import inside mic that has proven to be pretty good as well. Gets me very close. If its needs to be better then I need to use go-nogo gages.
 
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I have a nice Enco 8" cheapie, decades old, that I like a lot. My only caliper. Had needle sharp tips for years until I got careless with it and broke one off. Arg. But it still works great. Chinese. Batteries not included, or required.
From Enco store in San Jose, long gone. Farewell Enco, Pioneers/purveyors of Cheap N' Good.
Mark S.
 
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This chewing up batteries must be an american thing. I have two. 6" / 150mm digital callipers, one is at least 20 years old the other about 1 year old, both have auto off, and it is off. Both of them are unbranded and made in china, quite accurate with in 1/2 a thou. I dont remember how much for the old one, probbly $25-30. but the new one was about $30. don't remember when I last changed the battery in the old one and it's still good. The nearly new one still has the original battery and I never turn it off, just put it down somewhere convenient when i've finished with it.
 
This chewing up batteries must be an american thing. I have two. 6" / 150mm digital callipers, one is at least 20 years old the other about 1 year old, both have auto off, and it is off. Both of them are unbranded and made in china, quite accurate with in 1/2 a thou. I dont remember how much for the old one, probbly $25-30. but the new one was about $30. don't remember when I last changed the battery in the old one and it's still good. The nearly new one still has the original battery and I never turn it off, just put it down somewhere convenient when i've finished with it.

I understand it's quite warm in Oz. The digital caliper battery problem is well known over here where the weather tends to be more on the cool side, the one day a year when it's warm doesn't seem to help much. If I remember to take the digital calipers indoors from September to April, the batteries don't go flat but if I happen to go out to the shed I can't measure anything because the digital calipers are in the house. All in all the things are about as useful as a photocell powered torch. :)
 
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Ah, you mean a flashlight- here in the states a torch is either:
A) nozzle that burns propane /mapp gas/oxyacetylene or
B) a stick with some flaming material at the end
:)
 
I understand it's quite warm in Oz. The digital caliper battery problem is well known over here where the weather tends to be more on the cool side, the one day a year when it's warm doesn't seem to help much. If I remember to take the digital calipers indoors from September to April, the batteries don't go flat but if I happen to go out to the shed I can't measure anything because the digital calipers are in the house. All in all the things are about as useful as a photocell powered torch. :)

You must live a long way north, i've spent a lot of time in USA, In 2015 I was there for 8 months travelling around, went right up into Cananda and didn't find many cold days. Travelled through almost every state, 35,000 km by motorbike, and 10,000 by car.

Try just putting the caliper down when you've finished with it, let it turn itself off, usually about ten minutes.

I guess on average Australia is a little warmer, but not that much, what we don't have is the very cold winters. We only get snow in the mountains in the south East for about 3 months of the year. this is mainly because Austarlia is very flat our highest mountain is only 2,228m, 7,300 ft. Most of Australia is less than 1,000 ft, so it doesn't get so cold. Where I live in the south Adelaide South Australia, our climate is much like San Francisco, long warm summers and cool wet winters. Ideal for growing wine grapes. The highest altitude permanently occupied town is only 5,250ft.
 
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I have a pair of 8" Mitutoyo digital calipers I bought new twenty years ago. Most of the twenty years, they did not see any shop use, just engineering room use. About 8 years ago I notice they were not reading right. They would loose about .0015" per inch, so in 8", they lost about .012" Didn't manner if it was new battery or old. Cleaned the scales, didn't manner. Pulled them out of the tool chest a while back and tried them again with new battery, they were dead nuts on, anywhere on the scale, checking with gage blocks. About a week ago, pulled them out, first thing I do is grab a gage block and check. Hum, it's off a bunch. Try a larger gage block, well it's dead on. Go back to a smaller gage block, still reading off about .002". Jaws do have about .001" taper in them from wear, but I'm checking them in toward the scale or inner part of the jaws. Throw them back in the box and pulled my Chinese pair out, still dead on for 15 years of shop use!
 
This tells me I'm going to be careful buying. I've got a HF special; Pittsburg 6 inch; that I've had for at least a couple of years.
Still has the original LR44 battery. And always matches my Starrett mike. BUT I've got an older one that flashes random numbers
when you turn it on - totally useless - until I can figure out what to do with it. I hate throwing away tools!

Jim Korman

Took the caliper apart and found a bit of "gunk" on the battery terminals. Cleaned that all up along with replacing the battery. Working as good as new now. Put the old battery back in - flashes! So assuming that it starts to flash when the battery voltage is too low.
 
I have an igaging and have had no problem with battery usage, but it does not have auto-off and I have left it on several times overnight or more. In Dec, 2016 I found this large-print caliper, https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EEH677Y/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1, and it has auto-on and auto-off. I have been quite happy with it as I have used it for most measuring operations in the shop for over a year, unless I opt for a micrometer, and have only changed the battery once. It maintains absolute measurement so it knows where it is even if I left it open last time I used it. If you reset zero on it and it powers off it will take up the absolute measurement when it turns back on.

Chris
 
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