PSA Digital Calipers £2.79 delivered

Neil

thermionic said:

Well, that’s it - I have a set of plastic ones. Proper vernier, not digital. A freebie from a magazine years ago. I don’t think these £2 ones would be an improvement, and I’d be better off looking at ones around £15.

LidL and Aldi often have proper metal digital vernier calipers that are very good for around eight quid in a case. Bought a set years ago and still use them.

If you are measuring minuscule increments I wouldn't trust plastic to be honest. 

BigMonka

Did no one else read all the Amazon Q&A of people saying that it never turned up?? 

FelineGuitars

Trouble is that they are only one decimal place or to 1/10 of an inch

OK for certain uses but would need that decimal place to be truly useful
PS - I know this because I bought a couple of pairs

roberty

BigMonka said:

Did no one else read all the Amazon Q&A of people saying that it never turned up?? 

I like those odds!

roberty

FelineGuitars said:

Trouble is that they are only one decimal place or to 1/10 of an inch

OK for certain uses but would need that decimal place to be truly useful
PS - I know this because I bought a couple of pairs

How about mms?

m_c

The biggest problem with cheap callipers, is often the internal jaws. They all use the same measuring internals, so are reasonably accurate, provided you calibrate them correctly. Calibrating the external jaws is simple, but on cheap callipers the internal jaws don't line up the same as the external jaws.

I got a cheaper than normal set from somewhere (can't remember where!), and I only realised the internal jaws didn't line up when I measured a bearing, and realised it was about a quarter millimetre of what it should be. That set quickly got chucked in the scrap. Talking to other people, they'd had the same problem, and the general consensus was buy from a respected source, not the cheapest you can find.
You don't have to buy a known brand, as with callipers, a reasonable generic Chinese set does just as good a job as known premium brands.

Maynehead

As long as it’s more accurate than me holding something in front of a ruler, closing one eye, and trying to line up both edges against the markings, then it’s £2.79 well spent.

crunchman

I spent £15 on a set of calipers a few weeks ago.  Proper metal ones.  Came with a spare battery.  Probably worth the extra.

CloudNine

My happiness at the prospect of receiving these calipers has been completely destroyed. 

Maynehead

CloudNine said:

My happiness at the prospect of receiving these calipers has been completely destroyed. 

Are you saying you need sub-millimetre capabilities to measure your girth?

Gan_Ainm

I bought one of these off eBay a while back. Mine automatically switches on with any movement of the slide, but is so sensitive that it will inadvertently switch back on, just from putting it away in a drawer, so when you next take it out to use it the battery will be flat! So probably best to remove the battery before putting it away. 

crunchman

Gan_Ainm said:

I bought one of these off eBay a while back. Mine automatically switches on with any movement of the slide, but is so sensitive that it will inadvertently switch back on, just from putting it away in a drawer, so when you next take it out to use it the battery will be flat! So probably best to remove the battery before putting it away. 

The better ones turn themselves off after a few minutes.

Gan_Ainm

I’ve just checked and mine does actually auto turn off after a while, so not sure why the battery went flat. Maybe, being in a drawer that is opened and closed a lot meant it was turning itself on and off quite often. 

SNAKEBITE

Working in an engineering company I wouldn't touch these with your barge pole, let alone mine.

This is the measuring equivalent of "I'm fine with this budget version of an Encore strat, I only use it occasionally so I don't need to waste my money on a fancy Squier".

Or something like that.

Look it's still early and I'd rather you not judge me.

roberty

I'm guessing it'll be accurate enough for selling guitars two or three times a year on eBay.  Plus it has an analog ruler if the digital one fails

sunshinewelly

how would you actually measure string height with these. I have a set of gauges ie push them under the strings . those work very well. 

roberty

sunshinewelly said:

how would you actually measure string height with these. I have a set of gauges ie push them under the strings . those work very well. 

More neck thickness I'd say, 1st and 12th.  I am particularly nerdy about this

crunchman

roberty said:

sunshinewelly said:

how would you actually measure string height with these. I have a set of gauges ie push them under the strings . those work very well. 

More neck thickness I'd say, 1st and 12th.  I am particularly nerdy about this

I bought mine to measure neck thickness.  I'm going on a Crimson guitar building course soon, and I wanted to take some measurements of my favourite necks.

Now I've got them though, I'm finding all kinds of uses for them.

roberty

crunchman said:

roberty said:

sunshinewelly said:

how would you actually measure string height with these. I have a set of gauges ie push them under the strings . those work very well. 

More neck thickness I'd say, 1st and 12th.  I am particularly nerdy about this

I bought mine to measure neck thickness.  I'm going on a Crimson guitar building course soon, and I wanted to take some measurements of my favourite necks.

Now I've got them though, I'm finding all kinds of uses for them.

Too much information...

fretfinder

roberty said:

sunshinewelly said:

how would you actually measure string height with these. I have a set of gauges ie push them under the strings . those work very well. 

More neck thickness I'd say, 1st and 12th.  I am particularly nerdy about this

Wis’d. You and me both.