I liked the way those electronic calipers switched between metric and inches with the push of a button, so when the HF ad that came yesterday had ads for a couple models of electronic calipers, I bought one.
Hmmm., its Harbor Freight, so I better check it for accuracy. First I opened up my old mechanical calipers and tightened it at .310 and measured that with the HF unit. Got .314. Which one is off? So I measured my .026 leaf on my feeler gauge and both calipers showed about .028. Or .029, depending on where on the feeler gauge I measured. And I was being as consistent and as square to the feeler gauge as I could be.
Hmmm, again. So I opened up my micrometers to 1.000 each and got an error of about .003 or .004 on both calipers, but the calipers gave the same reading for each micrometer, so at least the micrometers agreed.
So take it back? Are calipers just not really accurate? Am I expecting too much? I can see the way they slide along the blade they could have some error.
Hmmm., its Harbor Freight, so I better check it for accuracy. First I opened up my old mechanical calipers and tightened it at .310 and measured that with the HF unit. Got .314. Which one is off? So I measured my .026 leaf on my feeler gauge and both calipers showed about .028. Or .029, depending on where on the feeler gauge I measured. And I was being as consistent and as square to the feeler gauge as I could be.
Hmmm, again. So I opened up my micrometers to 1.000 each and got an error of about .003 or .004 on both calipers, but the calipers gave the same reading for each micrometer, so at least the micrometers agreed.
So take it back? Are calipers just not really accurate? Am I expecting too much? I can see the way they slide along the blade they could have some error.