Your Favorite Micrometer?

The digital depth mics make the most sense to me. So much easier to use and calibrate. Mitutoyo of course.
The new electronics are amazing. Mitutoyo is making it more difficult for counterfeiters too. The electronics on Mit gages are going to
get smaller and lighter. That's what I would like to see in my lifetime. Not crazy about the bulkiness of the mics., but they are nice., especially if you need to work fast.
 
To answer darkzeros' question I liked "feel" most of the time but I do remember in some cases needing the ratchet . OK I know it's not a mic. but my first ever dial cal was a 6"Craftsman it felt OK but what did I know ? We had a Sears close by so I would get my stuff there . This was back in the early 70s' when I was first starting out and I was not aware of any other place to get machinist tools . Later at my first job I was introduced to the SPI catalog and I bought a 6" Tesa caliper , oh baby talk about smooth as butter feel .
 
My Quantumikes are ratchet type, odd thing is they are only ratchet, the thimble does not allow you to use it direct. But the ratcheting mechanism is lighter than any other ratchet type mic that I have personally used. I own only 1 Starret & it's ratchet mech has a harder clicking action, well I would say almost normal (slightly harder) with the other mics I own & have used. But I have used mic where the ratcheting action was so hard it could be an inpact driver, haha. Not sure how well or bad that mic was cared for though.

Is the 3 click thing something that is standard? That's how I was taught, 3 clicks is all you need & to always use the same number of clicks for consistency. But I've seen people ratchet away excessively. I've always wondered.
Have you ever worked in a government contracted shop. If so your mics are ok if your parts pass , all our tools were calibrated I think monthly. It's been thirty plus years since I worked there.
 
Up intel 3 years ago I worked in a shop that was government contracted. All gauges had to be company owned and assigned to specific jobs. Personal gauges could not be used. But I could use my gauges when working on machines. Calibration was done once a year or when a gauge became in question.
 
Up intel 3 years ago I worked in a shop that was government contracted. All gauges had to be company owned and assigned to specific jobs. Personal gauges could not be used. But I could use my gauges when working on machines. Calibration was done once a year or when a gauge became in question.

This is not just Government contracted it is any company that has to meet one of the ISO standards like the ISO 9000 ISO 90001 ect. They do this so they can prove that the tools maintain repeatable accuracy, it also is a great reduction on their insurance so if there was a major failure of a product they can show exactly how the part was made and inspected and they have all the documentation to back it up.

Etalon Swiss micrometers. I own 3 260 series and looking for more in 3-4, 4-5, 5-6. The only Starrett I would buy is the anvil multi mike.
The Etalons will last a few lifetimes and are super accurate. I believe they are the best. Tesa and Mitutoyo are others that I would buy.

Etalon is owned by Hexagon Metrology, they make Etalon, Tesa, Brown & Sharpe, Interapid and several other brand names, they are all good tools.

I avoid electronic instruments and prefer an analog tool myself, but only because I had a beautiful B&S digital mic break after 13 months of ownership. Cost to repair was almost what the mic cost originally (over $200.00) so that was it for me; no more electronic measuring devices.
Well it is easy to cheat with digital mic or calipers. When I first started getting interested in machining to turn a new shaft for a bearing I zeroed the mic on the old shaft and checked the new shaft to see how much to take off. :laughing:

I have worked in several large shops that have banned Digital measuring tools completely I mean banned, they are no longer allowed in the facility. The biggest reason for this is the human factor, I have seen people in a production line, accidentally rezero the mic something like .01 and then proceed to run a 10 hour shift making bad parts, I mean they are measuring in the .875 range why would they want to spin it all the way down to zero and recheck it.... The last time I saw this the company lost several thousand dollars in both time and materials having to remake several jobs that had already had 2 or 3 previous operations done before several individuals(both night and day shift) touched those parts.

I have found with digital tools people become too dependent on what is showing on the display, even though there is a Vernier scale on the micrometer most people will ignore it and still just read the digital display. Honestly for the most part I think its human nature, I do know when I was working on high production runs I would find myself even becoming dependent on the digital displays especially if you are checking multiple features on a part I mean why would you check the digital display and then check the reading on the side of the mic I mean after all they are the same..... aren't they?
 
I have found with digital tools people become too dependent on what is showing on the display, even though there is a Vernier scale on the micrometer most people will ignore it and still just read the digital display. Honestly for the most part I think its human nature ...

Mark, I agree with the human being the confounding factor. Personally, I don't need a digital display to screw up. I've made parts that were exactly on size ... except they were one revolution of the handwheel off. The ability to set zero wherever you wish is probably the digital version of this. Fortunately, I am the foreman in my shop (actually, I'm the only one in my shop) so I get to do all the yelling when I mess up. It can get pretty colorful when that happens.
 
Thats what I would like to see in the digital gauges. make it hard to reset the gauge accidentally. Maybe a ridge around the button, or be required to hold the button for a few seconds.
 
my favorite mic is the one that always shows my work to be right on size. haven't found it yet so for now I use mitutoyo bill
 
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