[How-To] Clean and read Your vernier caliper

[Norppu]

I bought a vernier caliper cheaply from the local flea market.
This instrument is robust and accurate but it has stains that make it difficult to read.
I will take the caliper apart, clean it and put it back together.
After that I will show what this vernier caliper has to offer and how to read it.
Reading the metric scale is a no-brainer to me but the imperial scale is confusing.
I will try my best to explain reading of the imperial vernier scale as well.

In this video I am using:
- Common sense

 

[Chewy]

My Verniers go to .001. Interesting to see how you do one in 1/16s inch. The trick to reading a vernier as I was taught was to look and see the best guess. Then look at the marks on both sides. They should be an even distance from the adjacent marks. They should both be say a hair on the inside. If both marks are not evenly space then you have the wrong one picked out. Stop the video in the metric examples and you will see what I'm saying. The real challenge is to have the eyeballs to see the marks!! Nicely Done!!

 

[RJSakowski]

I have two German made vernier calipers. One reads to .001" and 1/128 inch and the other reads to .05mm and 1/128". The first has .025" divisions on the beam and 25 divisions on the vernier. The 1/128" scale has 1/16" divisions on the beam and 8 divisions on the vernier. The second vernier has 1mm divisions on the beam and 20 divisions on the vernier.

I also have a 24" Starrett vernier which reads to .001". It also uses the .025"/25 division scheme.

For cleaning up a vernier, , I clean up any obvious bumps and corrosion on the edges of the beam and check for evenness of travel along the beam, adjusting the gib, if necessary. If there is a tight spot, I will stone that area checking with a micrometer and for smooth travel as I go. The jaw facing edge is the reference surface so I try to avoid anything but a very light stoning on that edge. Once I have smooth travel along the entire beam, I polish the edges with a .5 micron diamond paste. I use this method for my dial calipers and digital calipers as well.

 

[Parlo]

A tip to easily read a vernier scale is to tilt the scale away from you and look along the lines instead of looking square onto them. I use white scotchbrite ( non abrasive ) and WD40 to clean tools.