How many of you still use these?

I keep verniers in places where they are used occasionally. They do not need batteries, and batteries go bad every time you don't have a replacement available. I also have one dial caliper which is kept in a spot where I would use an electronic caliper if not for the battery problem. I use micrometers when I need to be precise.

An old machinist I knew when I was young called them "very-nears."

My Starrett 3-inch 425 slide calipers are in my pocket everywhere, every day. They are my most-used tool.
 
In the mid 70's I got a entry level job in a tool/die mold shop , I had some tools . The owner , a (Euro dude) wanted to look in my tool box . He saw my Craftsman 6" dial caliper (no digital back then) , he wouldn't let me use it in his shop . I asked why , he said " if you drop them they will skip a tooth and you will be making bad parts". I got a Mitutoyo 6" vernier , I still have it today but it stays on my boat . It refuses to get rusty .
Mark .
 
I have 12" 24" and 36" still . No batteries to die , the gears never jump , heavy duty beams . The prices of these have gone up vs the dials and digital units . Cabin Fever last year was loaded with them but dayumm were they expensive . We'll see tomorrow what they bring up at the Fever .
 
I have two pair of 6" imports. I keep one in the house to do semi precision measuring in the house and one in the shop for semi critical precision as well. I also have the old spring inside calipers and a Marfadite pair for marking. Next step up is dial calipers and also a pair of Digital ones. My go To's are the dial ones because I don't need to worry about low battery charge. I also have Vernier Mics. All my mics are calibrated to .0001. I also have a digital that is supposed to be accurate up to 1/2 of 0001. It also repeats on the gage blocks. Of the vernier mics my faves are an older than dirt Starret and next in line are B&S then Shars. There just seems to be something about the Starret feel over the rest. I have high confidence in all of them since i keep check on them and I am the only one that use them. I guess my 70-year-old arthritic hands just like Starret the best. LOL
 
I mostly use digital calipers but I have an old B&S 6", a Sarrett 12", and an old B&S 24". The 6" B&S has dimples on the back for setting dividers. I use that feature quite a bit. I don't use calipers for precision work, preferring micrometers.
 
RJSakowski said:
Measuring .001" with one is possible but one has to be extremely careful to avoid parallax and good at evaluating the centering of the two lines.
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Reminds me of a ChemE PhD candidate in the early 70's who used a magnifying glass to read his slide rule from two vantage points, then averaged the readings to resolve parallax. But then he always aligned the slot-head screws on his experimental setups so they were vertical to avoid dust collecting in the slots and introducing error.

I, too, have several old school vernier calipers; this 24" one states that it can resolve 0.05mm/0.002":

24 in Vernier Caliper.jpeg
 
NCjeeper said:
I have a 4 foot Starrett I picked up at a flea market. I couldn't just leave it there. I have not used it yet.
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Sadly, I know the feeling . . . Either tomorrow or Sunday I'll post the items that I just couldn't leave without from this year's Cabin Fever.
 
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