Heck of a deal--Well, Uhh--Maybe

[Brian Rupnow]

Two weeks ago I got a flier in the mail from Princess Auto. They had a sale starting in 5 days that had a 24" Vernier caliper for $9.95!!! Okay, okay--I know that you get what you pay for. --But then again, I'm not building medical devices or parts for the space shuttle. As it is, anything longer than 8" I have to use a tape measure for. So---I sent my good wife out on the appointed day, because I was busy, and sure enough, she brought home this humungous Vernier caliper. Now really, for the price, I'm certainly not going to complain too much.---But wait---Whats this I see??? One side is marked out in millimeters. That's okay, I can work with that. But the other side, (inches) is marked out in increments of 1/128ths!!! Well Damn me for a sinner--I've never seen that before. All of my Verniers are marked out to measure thousandths of an inch. I haven't thought too much about this yet, and maybe its a lot simpler than it seems.--Otherwise I'm going to have to measure everything with the metric side and then convert to inches. Fortunately, I will only use this big bugger 2 or 7 times a year, so its not a big deal. Has anyone else seen this, and do you have any insight to measuring in 128ths of an inch??---Brian

 

[enfieldbullet]

you can use the 0.05mm as 2thou.

mine is graduated just like yours but i'm a metric guy, and i only use the inch side for full inch and 1 1/8, etc. the 1/8 graduations are pretty easy to read.

 

[canadianhorsepower]

Hi Brian, this is pretty common it is more work but more precise then using the other scale
I did put some pictures of how it works hopefully it will be usefull. BTW my chemio treatement
or going fine still sleeping more then my dogs, but getting there.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Thanks Luc. I'm machining something right now, but will study this closer when I get a moment. Good luck, get better soon.---Brian

 

[OrangeAlpine]

I have one and never paid any attention to the vernier scale, other than it reads in 128's. I am just tickled to be able to accurately measure to a sixteenth. So many things in that size range have irregular, or rounded edges.

Don't use it a lot, but I'm not anxious to get rid of it.

Bill

 

[Tin Falcon]

I think ten bucks for a two foot verier you can not beat it.
Tin

 

[Philjoe5]

Tin, I agree. Making measurements over 6" with anything approaching even 0.005" accuracy with a $10 instrument is great!

If you used it every day, OK, the translations would be a pain, but for many of us taking an accurate measurement above 6" is not that common.

I'd say you got a good deal

Cheers,
Phil

 

[MachineTom]

For ten bucks yeah. Interesting that in the how to photos, is the unit marked in. 001" on one scale and128s on the other .

That one is likely 30 bucks LOL.

 

[canadianhorsepower]

it's only because my caliper does not have metric on it

 

[Wizard69]

Two weeks ago I got a flier in the mail from Princess Auto. They had a sale starting in 5 days that had a 24" Vernier caliper for $9.95!!! Okay, okay--I know that you get what you pay for. --But then again, I'm not building medical devices or parts for the space shuttle. As it is, anything longer than 8" I have to use a tape measure for.

This is a very nice find.

So---I sent my good wife out on the appointed day, because I was busy, and sure enough, she brought home this humungous Vernier caliper. Now really, for the price, I'm certainly not going to complain too much.---But wait---Whats this I see??? One side is marked out in millimeters. That's okay, I can work with that. But the other side, (inches) is marked out in increments of 1/128ths!!!

This is due to the scale being marked in fractions. It would be very useful in wood working where fractional measurements are common.

Well Damn me for a sinner--I've never seen that before. All of my Verniers are marked out to measure thousandths of an inch. I haven't thought too much about this yet, and maybe its a lot simpler than it seems.--Otherwise I'm going to have to measure everything with the metric side and then convert to inches. Fortunately, I will only use this big bugger 2 or 7 times a year, so its not a big deal. Has anyone else seen this, and do you have any insight to measuring in 128ths of an inch??---Brian

Somebody already covered use really well so I won't go into that. Another way to look at this is that every two 1/128th's is a 64th of an inch. If you look at it this way you can see that it would be rather quick to use in a wood working shop or other venue where fractions are common. A real pain in a machine shop though.

It would be interesting to calibrate this against something, I have to wonder how much error is in a 10 dollar caliper.

 

[Tin Falcon]

Harbor freight has the same one here in the US for those interested

http://www.harborfreight.com/24-inch-jumbo-aluminum-caliper-96509.html

This one is aluminum fine for occasional use.
Tin