Re: [alfa] Broken electronic toys

[James Montebello <jamesm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've found the super-cheap Harbor Freight digital calipers to be
reliably accurate to 0.001", which for $25-30 is hard to beat.
One could keep one around just to use as a medium accuracy beater
and only pull the expensive ones out of their box for the few
tasks that really require accuracy below a thou.

I've also found the digital jobs to be very helpful for a mixed garage:
metric for the old Italian stuff, inch for the old British stuff.
For nearly all of the British stuff, one thou is more than accurate
enough for anything unless you're trying to build some hyper-dollar
racing hand grenade.

jamesm

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003, Mark Denovich wrote:

> alfacybersite wrote:
> > What's in your tool box and are you happy with it?
> >
> > Sorry, don't want to hear from the non-electronic guys. After all you
> > determined that 'merican's want their electronics and being 'merican...
>
> What if I have electronic and mechanical?   I have a 2" mechanical
> Starrett (at least 40 years old.  It's an heirloom), a set (1,2 and 3")
> mechanical digital import mics ($70), and a Fowler 1" ($60) electronic mic.
>
> I've found them all to be remarkably consistent and presumably accurate.
> I was surprised that my cheapo mechanical digital mics to give the same
> readings as my Starrett and electronic Fowler when measuring a 1" gauge
> block.
>
> The electronic mic is my favorite (I like being able to switch between
> inch and metric too) and I'd have purchased a complete set if I could
> justify the cost.  For my purposes the cheapo ones do the job, and their
> mechanical counters are a handy crutch.
>
> The guys on rec.crafts.metalworking can give you much more educated (and
> often biased) opinions if you are looking for them.
>
> --Mark
> The Alfa Wiki: http://alfa.denovich.org
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