Low cost readout for digital caliper

[eganders]

I am looking for a LOW COST remote readout (single, not 3 axis) that can be used with the low cost calipers such as Harbor Freight sells for $15.99. Don't kid youself if you have not looked at these, they are a terrific deal! Accurate, precise and well made. They even have a communication port.

if you look for a readout for them, you find places like the Little Machine Shop that have the 3 axis type of readout or someone that possibly has a kit, but I have not seen a readout that is ready to go for a decent price. Too bad you can't just buy a second caliper and wire it to the first just using the readout from the second.

The reason for the remote readout is that I could use it for applications such as the height reading in a router table or other uses.

By the way, has anyone tried this caliper?

would like to have someone compare this to the $15.99 caliper. This caliper would allow me to drill into the jaws for mounting. Try to do that with the $15.99 caliper and you will see why I see them as one of the best deals going in measurement tools.

[Han]

"eganders" wrote in news:1131364946.229605.306630 @g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

There seems to be a typo in the purported accuracy. I would have thought that 0.001 inch would be 0.001*25.4 mm=0.02 mm. If it is 0.2 mm, that would be lousy accuracy

[Larry Bud]

The description says: "Accuracy: +/- 0.001'' (0.2 mm), Resolution: 0.01'', "

How can something be accurate to 1 mil when the resolution is 10 mil?

[Greg G]

The wonders of modern marketing. If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, buffalo 'em with B.S.

Greg G.

[David Merrill]

Try the links from this thread on rec.crafts.metalworking.

have been other threads there on related subjects, one linking to this site. Merrill

[eganders]

This is a good piece of info. I guess I am lazy, but I would like to just buy a commercial product that has a single readout instead of putting one together. About 20 years ago I would jump right in, but now I would just like to "use" it and work on a wood project!!

[CW]

The output is not for a readout. It's for interfacing with an SPC recorder or PC.

[John Thomas]

"eganders" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Yeah, those are great calipers for the price; I bought one for SWMBO for last Christmas, I think. I've got one of their regular dial calipers for myself that I paid about that much for, a couple of years before. I wouldn't buy Starrett for my use in the shop ... but they are awfully handy to have at that price-point.

Communications port? I wasn't aware that it had one, but I didn't look too closely ...

[eganders]

The little cover opposite the battery cover is where the port is. The catch to the whole thing is that any readout appears to be 3 axis and the cost soon makes you forget the deal you got on the caliper.

[John Thomas]

"eganders" wrote in news:1131712428.896342.239680 @o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

Thanks for the followup; our use is just as a digital readout caliper, so it was still a heckuva dea ;-).

As a geek, though, I have to admit I'm intrigued by the communication possibility ...

[tim124c41]

About three years ago I bought some of these generic Chinese digital calipers for a measurement fixture I was building. The instructions that came with them said there was an optional data cable available, so I called the dealer to get some. After going through much of their technical support office, I finally got someone who explained it to me this way:

The innards of these calipers are a copy of the Mitutoyo. Since Mitutoyo has a data port (used for data collection in industrial SPC systems), the Chinese calipers also come with a data port. Unfortunately, the port doesn't work. The caliper manufacturer(s) in China copied the text from the Mitutoyo manual, including the bit about the optional cable, but they don't even sell a data cable at the wholesale level. Thus, no dealers have cables to sell.

I'm sure it'd be a good market niche -- these things are so cheap that wherever you've got a scale on a machine, why not slap on a dedicated digital readout for less than $20?

Tim