Fractional Digital Calipers
By Eric Dykstra
With digital calipers you can take quick measurements of any number of things. Unfortunately, most digital calipers only display in metric and decimalized Imperial units — not fractions. That’s fine if you’re good at on-the-fly conversions, but what if you’re not? Several manufacturers offer digital calipers that’ll display fractions, for error-free measurements.
You can get these stainless steel calipers in 6″ and 12″ lengths. They’ll measure metric units with an accuracy of .01 mm or 5 thousands of an inch. They’ll display fractions of an inch as small as a 64th. You can get these fractional digital calipers from several sources, and no one seems to have an advantage over the others, so just go by price. They usually start around $30.
Fractional Digital Caliper [MicroMark]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon
February 19th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I picked up a set at Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=95846).
Really nice to have in the shop for matching a drill bit to a screw etc.
February 20th, 2008 at 2:34 am
I just printed out a list of the decimal equivalents (in 32nds) and pasted it to the inside of my digital “real number” caliper.
(ie: 1/32 = 0.03125, 1/16 = 0.0625, etc)
February 20th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Kinda lame if you ask me! If your using calibers you want accuracy. measuring to the closest 64th is not!
February 20th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Wixey makes a dual display fractional caliper, which shows the digital and fractional reading at the same time. Seems to be a great idea for conversion, easy reading, and precision.
August 13th, 2008 at 4:34 am
I just bought a 4 inch digital calipers at tresnainstrument and it is really very useful.