[Farmall] tools

[farmallgray at aol.com]

John,
When you say single revolution vs double revolution; you mean the needle makes one revolution per .100" vs one revolution per .200"?
I perfer the ones that make 1 rev per .100". Since the marks a further apart it makes it easier to read.

I get Encos sale fliers too. All I did was go to their website and sign up. Unlike McMaster-Carr, they will send their catalog to anyone.


I also have a question on using a dial caliper for you machinists; how much pressure should you use when closing a caliper to take a measurement? I have noticed that if you put more pressure on the thumb wheel you can spring the mechanism to get a different reading.
On a micrometer you have the ratchet knob that limits how tight you can make it, but a dial caliper doesn't have this.


Todd Markle 

Spring Mills, Pa.



-----Original Message-----
From: John Hall <jthall at worldnet.att.net>
To: Farmall/IHC mailing list <farmall at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wed, Nov 25, 2009 7:50 pm
Subject: Re: [Farmall] tools


With apologies as to the length of this reply, here is my $.02
I have used about every size and brand of caliper out there. Here are my 
ecommendations.
For 6" dial, get Brown&Sharpe
or 12" dial get Mitutoyo.
or 6 or 8" digital go with Mitutoyo.
Only buy single revolution dial calipers. I don't care how good you are, 
ou'll eventually make a mistake due to the double revolution. Stay away 
rom Starrett dials--that open gear rack makes them fit to only use in an 
nspection lab. In 20 years I have never seen a machinist use them as his 
rimary measuring instrument.
Fowler makes a decent digital but the battery saver feature required 
esetting zero every time you pick them up if it has been sitting a few 
inutes.
Brown and Sharpe and Starrett digitals are OK but just don't hold up like 
itutoyo. I'm on my second pair and unless they get damaged, they have 
lenty of life left in them. I got my first pair about 17 years ago. They 
re still useable but just not for what we do at work. Oh, I NEVER cut mine 
ff. I probably get 2 years of battery life. Some other brands don't do that 
ell. I know the new water resistant ones have a sleeper mode that wakes up 
nce you move them about a 1/4".
A note on digitals--There are now a couple levels of water resistant and 
ater proof calipers. These are pretty much designed for guys running wet 
rinders and CNC machines. For anyone else they are just a waste of money. 
lso stay away from SPC output--runs the price up about $30.
If these are too expensive then get a good brand of Chinese made. Some of 
hem are pretty decent but just don't hold up in an industrial environment. 
 have seen quite a few guys start to use these for general work with good 
uccess. You just know ahead of time they aren't going to last a long time.
As was stated in another post, for measuring cranks and bores at home, a set 
f Chinese mikes works fine. I can't justify having a set of top of the line 
ikes at home, although I do have a good set of calipers. One thing I would 
tay away from is the cheap Chinese telescoping gages. Those tools are hard 
nough to use accurately and when they are poorly made, it becomes a waste 
f time. One other Chinese tool that is worthless is their bore gages. Those 
ieces of junk aren't fit for anything closer than .002"--they just won't 
epeat.
MSC and Enco seem to always have these types of tools on sale, but 
nfortunately only machine shops get the sale flyers. If you have a friend 
hat works in a shop maybe they could get you a sale flyer.
John Hall
----- Original Message ----- 
rom: "Bob Currie" <tracturs at att.net>
o: "Farmall List" <Farmall at lists.antique-tractor.com>
ent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 1:33 AM
ubject: [Farmall] tools

I would like to upgrade some of my hand tools and was wondering about a 
good, hand held, caliper micrometer for measuring OD, ID, and depth. I've 
seen various brands, various prices, and stainless steel ones, plastic 
ones, titanium ones, dial readouts or LCD readouts. I would appreciate your 
input/comments. Thanks.

 bobcurrie,
 Greenwood, CA
 
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