Harbor Freight Calipers on Sale

I live a stone's throw from harbor freight. They do sell some junk but 90% of what i've bought works extremely well. The 6" calipers are one of the best returns on investment i've gotten from harbor freight. Whatever you do, don't buy punches from there! I was taking my AK bolt apart and the punch actually broke off inside the ejector pin hole. No damage to the bolt, but I should've known better. Most stuff that takes high impact is where you'll find faults. Hmm, although, the letter punches have held up for a LONG time and they were only 4.95 for the entire alphabet @ numbers! At their prices, you can afford to experiment.

On the other hand, the new oscillating tool they have is the bee's knees, I LOVE it! Plunging holes into drywall without any starter holes or corner holes, just awesome!

Yep. zeroes the dial but not the caliper and now the markings in the beam mean nothing.

If you then measure something else more than one complete turn of the dial, a DIAL caliper does not read a plus or minus like a DIGITAL caliper.
Of course someone would have to have used a digital caliper to know this.

This will be the third last and time I try to explain the benefits of a digital caliper over a dial caliper to those who have never handled one.

I'll go away and take my concieved sarcasm with me as I don't want to affend anyone.

By, Tilos

The Harbor Freight calipers I have are great. Well worth the $10 I paid for them.

Tilos

If I am measuring across a 200mm surface that can be +/- 20 micron from the spec then a dial that has 1 micron tics is by far more convent for me. I don't have to take the time to read it just see that it is within the spec & it is zeroed from the master.

That is at work & I don't have the time to take exact readings because I have more to do then time allows to start with. At home I use a digital but I only go as far as a .5 thousandth" most of the time. If I need to be closer then that then a calper won't do & I use micrometers but I don't have the tools here to do that kind of work so I take things to my uncle's shop.

I have a 6" set of these Cen Tec and they tend to drift a little, especially if it is cold. Another issue, I was leaving mine in the garage which is not heated, they would turn on by themselves and I would actually have to heat them up before I could turn them off. I leave them in the house now and I make sure have a space heater nearby so they will stay warm. As long as I do that, they work pretty good. Granted, at the price you can buy a few to keep around.

I think the HF calipers are a great deal. I bought 3 of them when they were on sale a few weeks ago for $10. Also bought several of their 7-function multimeters for $2 and a couple infrared thermometers for $30. They all get the job done and it doesn't hurt so much when I forget who I loaned them to...

Art, I'm with you on that, and had to laugh. Wondering how many newcomers are so uneducated with measuring devices, and in fact, know so little about basic measuring, that they rely on digital readouts in numbers they really don't comprehend. Anyone wanting to discuss measuring anything should first learn, and use, a basic, old fashioned micrometer. Which is still the standard..and most accurate.. instrument available to average shooters, machinists, etc.

I agree with Offfhand's comments. Not knowing how to PROPERLY make the measurements necessary during the reloading process can be very dangerous.

As far as battery life, replace the lr44 with a sr44. The later puts out the same voltage over 95 percent of life, better chemistry. As said above energizer 357 is a silver oxide chemistry, same as sr44. Most all calipers including my mitutoyo digimatic stay on constantly, only the digital display turns off to conserve battery life.

marchboom
4Shooters
This thread is 7 months old

But hey, they could be on sale again, you never know

"experience with Harbor Freight (brand)... It's the same ones I've seen packaged as Franklin Arsenal, and others."

So far as I can tell, HF's calipers (and micrometers) are made in the same Chinese shop that makes them for all the reloading brands, from Midway to RCBS, but sold at vastly higher prices. HF commonly has the more handy 6" size on "sale" for as little as $12 and with one of the common -20% coupons it sells for under $10!

I have a few professional quality mikes and calipers. I generally USE HF's mikes and calipers because they read the same - or virtually the same - when tested on my precision Johanssan blocks. If I drop one they are damaged no matter the origianal price, and it's much less costly to replace HF's than my more expensive gages!

How fast those little button batteries die is often as much a refection of the battery's age and quality as the instrument. I prefer to rely on dial calipers rather than digital but both have uses.

Zero a dial caliper by loosening the little thumb set-screw than locks the bezel and turning it where ever you want it to be.

Find a HOT ROD magazine. Mine is Oct 2010. They have a coupon for this digital calipers for $9.99 inside.

+1 for dial calipers - call me old school, but I never have to say, "****, the battery is dead and I can't get a reading!"

If you have hard time reading the small numbers on the slide, you can always mount a hands-free magnifying glass thingy on the bench, which you probably need for other "small tasks" anyways.

"If you then measure something else more than one complete turn of the dial, a DIAL caliper does not read a plus or minus like a DIGITAL caliper. Of course someone would have to have used a digital caliper to know this."

I have both types, use both types for different reasons but have never found using a dial caliper for +/- readings to be any challange. But I can't imagine why a reloader would want to read such a difference over more than a .1" range.

Anyone thinking of a challange to old eyes needs to try a vernier caliper! Mine is Swiss made and dead on ... but I can't read it well in less than bright light any more!

Never thought of holding a different opinion as sarcasm but people can get touchy on the web. ??

marchboom:
good find on that coupon...and this old thread.

You have re-awakened those who enjoy sawing sawdust by repeating the same posts, again, 7 months later.