Calipers vs Micrometer
What is the difference in these (other than appearance)? Read an article regarding reloading where the reader was cautioned to use calipers instead of a micrometer. Why? Curious minds want to know.[:o)]
It's not what you know that gets you in trouble, it's what you know that just ain't so!
Resident Pyrrhonist
It's not what you know that gets you in trouble, it's what you know that just ain't so!
Resident Pyrrhonist
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Dial calipers look like a "measuring wrench", and are useful for determining thicknesses, small/short lengths and gaps. Dial-type calipers are easy to read. Micrometers look like C-clamps, and are essentially only useful for measuring thicknesses. Plus they have a scale which is a pain in the a** to read because you have to do this Mickey-Mouse routine of "if the line lines up with this mark then it's so many thousandths" and blah-blah-blah.
Me, I find a caliper does essentially everything I need it to. Don't see any need for a micrometer.0 -
Micrometers are more accurate. You can read down to the ten thousandth (.0002) with them. A dial caliper and a vernier caliper only goes to the thousandth (.002).
Also many calipers flex giving different readings. Try a caliper reading using the very tips and then try the same measurment but farther up the jaws. Mitutoyo are notorious for flexing and giving two different readings. Starrett are almost alswys the same reading.
You can get digital micrometers if you don't know how to read a venier scale very well.
There are many different types of micrometers made. You can get a type to measure just about anything.
Dial calipers are the most handiest to use.
I dial caliper and a digital micrometer will serve almost any measuring project you have. If you buy the cheap ones you can get both tools for around $30.00
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Wow! This is going to be a good thread---but kind of like the Ford vs. Chevy arguement, and I predict it won't be settled to anyone's satisfaction! I'll go along with trstone's general description of what they look like, but not his conclusions. I believe that you will find that most machinists find the micrometer indespensible for their work, and often preferable to the vernier caliper. It's only been in the last 15 years or so that a good dial caliper became cheap enough for the average garage-type hobbiest to buy, and during about the same time period for the inexpensive ones to become accurate enough to rely on. Used to be that the calipers had no dial and their scale was just as hard to read accurately as the micrometer, as to which line was closest to which line, etc. Also, let's not forget depth micrometers (so the only use is not measuring thickness)and the fact that dial micrometers now also exist. When I got my intoduction to machining in the early '80s my instructors insisted that the best measurements were obtained by micrometers and that calipers could be off by .001". I'm not sure that is true anymore; I believe that both tools are much improved.[8D](I added this guy to remind you to wear your safety glasses!) 0 -
HEY! Mountain Hunter! Good to see you again.
I know a quick way to settle this issue....I think....
For a gun-owner or gunsmith, and for anyone who does their own reloading, how much precision do you need? (Serious question, not a sarcastic rhetorical one.) I hereby contend that with any halfways decent caliper, an accuracy of +/- 0.001" is MORE than sufficient for ANY gun-oriented real-life application, be it machining/reaming a rifle-chamber, determining head-space, cutting cartridge cases to length, or even determining bullet diameter. In fact, I contend that the "slop" in rifle and cartridge dimensions is at LEAST that much, and probably TWICE that much, so the humble (but good-quality) dial caliper would be a sufficient tool.
Micrometer!
Caliper!
MICROMETER!
CALIPER!
(Insert old-fashioned saloon brawl here)
So, unless you're making a space-probe or a racing engine, *I* say: Caliper.
Nyaaaah.
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Your dial calipers are more versitile. One can do I.D. ( inside diminsions) O.D. ( outside diminsions ) and also depth readings off of the other end. I have to agree that in typical gunsmithing only calipers would be most the time used BUT it is always a good idea to have a set of Micrometers to check your diminsions TWICE if needed. 0 -
For general reloading, or other rough measurments (rough=give or take a couple thou) than a Caliper is good enough.
If your doing "Presure ring expansion" measurments to gauge pressure (see Ken Waters book "Pet Loads" for explaination) or any kind of precision work you want a Micrometer that lets you get within .0001 (one tenth of a thousanth).
Calipers are useful over a larger range (0-6" being the most common), while a Micrometer is more precise over it's range (normaly 1", 0-1, 2-3, etc).
If I want to get nuts, I break out one of my Interapid .0001 dial indicators after roughing it in with a .0005 indicator.
Some guys like a mag full of lead, I still prefer one round to the head.0 -
If the original question was about what a caliper IS, one type has not been discussed here. There is a common caliper that comes in two basic types, inside and outside. This simple caliper is a measuring device that spans the width of something that cannot be measured directly with a ruler. The inside caliper can reach down a few inches into a shotgun barrel and be set to span that width. You then take it out and measure how wide the measuring points are, probably with a micrometer and get an approx reading. The outside caliper reaches across the round item, is set to that dimension and then measured with a conventional scale or ruler. You can also set that caliper to a desired dimension and work the material down to fit. It is a major tool in wood lathe work. The above discussion by various people is correct but about a different caliper type that is capable of precison measurements in thousanth of an inch or less. Hope my explanation only confuses the issue a little more. 0 -
Hey there, trstone, good to run across you also. Just sent you an off the board e-mail about the using wax on guns thread, which was locked. Anyway, as pertains to reloading, I can't fault a thing you say. Calipers are plenty good enough for the reloader; and in fact that's exactly what I use myself--$15 Chinese dial calipers. Peace, Brother! Just the ramblings of an old gunsmith..... 0 -
Dito.... a micrometer is overkill. Use a good dial caliper. Mitutoyo makes a good one.
"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood!"0 -
Dial calipers are required to hold .001 error per inch and .0015 accumlative in 6 inches. They are a multi function tool that will measure I.D., O.D., length, step, and depth. The micrometers are required to calibrate at .0002 per inch and .0005 accumlative in 6 inches. They will measure either length or O.D.. Inside micrometers are required for I.D.'s, and depth micrometers for depth and step measurements. The dial caliper is handy, quick to use, and easy to learn. It is not generally used for tolerances closer than .002 to .003. It does require some touch to use, but not much. The micrometer is generally used for tolerances of .0002 to .0005, and requires touch to be accurate. You would use a micrometer to measure the sizing diameter of a case, and a caliper to measure the case trim length ot the overall lenght of a loaded shell.
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