Micrometers- So Many Choices

[Tony Wells]

Perhaps it's the other way around. Or not.

I had a Central bore gage made for automotive work and gave it away. Too much trouble to set.

 

[Tony Wells]

Pretty handy, those disc mics. I wish I could find one of those for $10!

 

[Tony Wells]

You tried calling them directly? Number is on their contact page:

02 9620 6944

Hard to believe that no one reps for them in Au. Tell them you're going to have to buy Mitutoyo if they don't come around.

 

[Tony Wells]

You'd think so, if your economy is like ours. Have to spend too much time with sales guys now peddling their wares.

If you want a catalog, someone over here could mail you one, I'm sure. Or put in a materials request at the US site and see if they are smart enough to pass it on to the Australian branch.

 

[Ed.]

Just recently bought my first Mitutoyo digital Micrometer, Digimatic Model no. 293-330, it's an used one from ebay, $110 plus $22 delivery to Oz, , coolant resistant to IP65 and much more accurate than my vernier caliper, actually has much more accuracy than I will ever use. .001mm or .00005", it is nice to use and I am happy with it, there were a couple of cheaper ones on ebay, even new ones for about the same price but the sellers wouldn't post to Australia. So this one will do me, now looking for the next size up as well... it never ends! :biggrin:


Cheers

Ed.

 

[Tom Griffin]

Here are a few more to add to the pot. They are all American (past and present) and European made. I don't care for the Asian brands, including Mitutoyo because the frames never seem rigid enough. My absolute favorite is the Swiss made Etalon. It is super rigid and will read reliably to tenths all day long. I still have and use the first Etalon that I bought 40 years ago.



I have a thing for Lufkin tools. Something about the old German craftsmanship. I have a tool box full of NOS Lufkin tools that I've collected over the years. Don't use them much, just keep them around to look at.



Etalon is by far the best micrometer on the market. It has a super rigid frame carbide faces and silky smooth operation. It's only drawback is that it's a little difficult to get in tight places, so it's nice to have a backup Starrett or Lufkin on hand.



Not sure where the Scherr-Tumico came from. I don't care for it and wouldn't recommend it.



This Lufkin I actually use. It has large thin faces on the spindle that are handy for measuring the distance between slots. It's also good for measuring soft materials like paper or cork.



I'm not a huge Starrett fan, but this solid frame mic is nice. This one happens to be metric.



This one is very handy for measuring in tight places. I use it quite often.



You need a depth mic as well. This Starrett has a thin, non-rotating rod that is very nice to use.



This is the Starrett Mul-T-Anvil micrometer, a very handy mic. It can be used to measure height, wall thickness, and outside diameters. Mitutoyo makes one called the Uni Mike but it's not as compact as this one.



This one is for measuring the width of a slot or the thickness of a ridge. Handy when you need it.



This is a screw pitch micrometer with interchangeable anvils. It's the only Mitutoyo micrometer that I own at the moment.



This is the Etalon I bought when I started college 40 years ago. It's been used steadily over the years, often daily. It's works as well today as it was when I first bought it.

Tom

 

[KevinL]

I have a complete set 0-6” Starrett but if I was doing it today I think I would get Mitutoyo mics. Was kind of hard when I started buying all my tools years ago when there was a sign outside in the employee parking lot asking if you drive an American made car…..The one exception to buying Mitutoyo would be the Starrett No. 449 Non Rotating Blade Depth mic; this is the one to get in my opinion. I do like my Starrett tools though as you can see from the picture at the left.

That being said I worked with a guy in the toolroom that all of his mics said made in Poland on them. With our 10[SUP]th[/SUP] reading mics, they had to be calibrated every six months by the Quality Dept. and they would only be good for three years top and would not hold calibration for parallelism on the faces.

I know that about fifteen years ago I toured the Scherr-Tumico (S-T Industries) facility in St. James MN. According to them at that time they and Starrett were the only American made manufacture of mics left. They made it sound like the only reason that they still made mics was because of time of war, they federal government wanted these to be available within our borders.
I know at that time they still engraved the entire mic because that is what the government required. After the engraving, they ran them through a laser to darken the lines.

Also at that time they were making mics and combination squares for Sears, B&S, Napa, and Snap On. As a matter of fact, they were making a lot of tools for B&S.

Got to see them making a 6’ mic something that I will always remember, beating the two halves together and welding them up. Really brings it home on how it’s just that 1” that matters the most.

On a side note, I have to provide tools to my high school students if they wish to use college owned tools, and I do not buy very high quality tools for them. Something about when someone else owns the tools, they don’t get taken care of very well. The last couple of .0005” test indicators I have bought from Enco, they have had Fowler on them? Paid like $28 for them……..Did these not pass quality, being made off shore, or both?

 

[ChuckB]

I know that about fifteen years ago I toured the Scherr-Tumico (S-T Industries) facility in St. James MN. According to them at that time they and Starrett were the only American made manufacture of mics left. They made it sound like the only reason that they still made mics was because of time of war, they federal government wanted these to be available within our borders.
I know at that time they still engraved the entire mic because that is what the government required. After the engraving, they ran them through a laser to darken the lines.

Also at that time they were making mics and combination squares for Sears, B&S, Napa, and Snap On. As a matter of fact, they were making a lot of tools for B&S.

Got to see them making a 6’ mic something that I will always remember, beating the two halves together and welding them up. Really brings it home on how it’s just that 1” that matters the most.

Speaking of Scherr-Tumico.. I missed this bargin craigslist sell by hours a couple of weeks ago.. Both for 120.00!! I still haven't gotten over it.. I am still feeling sick. Tell me something that might help so I can quit feeling so bad.. :angry:

 

[darkzero]

I buy Mitutoyo as first priority whenever possible & 95% of my measuring tools are Mitu. I only own a handful of Starrett tools but most are not for measuring. Not sure if it's still the case these days but for digitals Mitus have far better battery life over Starretts. The tool room keeper at the local CC always complained about this. Nothing wrong with Starrett and other quality brands, I'm just a big fan of Mitutoyo.

Most of the mics below are all ebay steals.


0-1" & 1-2" QuantuMikes. These I bought new but with discount codes. The main feature of the QuantuMike is that the spindle feeds at a faster rate than conventional mics. I love using these.



0.2-1.2" inside mic.



0-6" depth mic w/ data output. This was one of my best ebay scores, it was brand new, the original battery wasn't even used.



0-1" pitch mic.



The two older digital mics don't have as great as battery life as my QuantuMikes or Mitu calipers. Those have excellent battery life!

 

[toag]

Mics are easy to collect and justify (i just need to measure it!!!)

I have Brown and sharps for 0-2", set of NSK for 0-6" and a pair of Starrett multi anvils for 6-9" and 9-12". I recommend getting a few different mics til you find the one you like. I personally love my B&S (swiss made, slick, accurate). and i really like the NSK's. I like the starretts, mainly because they take up less space, and i dont use them all the time. I like the analogs, but would get a set of digitals if they were cheap and available.

I would recommend getting a cheap set of jo blocks to calibrate your mics yearly. i absolutely don't trust my old beat up, rusty cal rods, i do trust my new cheap, certified chinese blocks.
Also a mic vise is awesome if you do alot of QA work.