Was dead set against spending on a digital caliper until my old one cost me a job

Honestly, I always thought a $20 caliper was good enough for drafting. But last month I messed up a set of dimensions on a cabinet plan in Nashville and had to re-print everything. Picked up a Mitutoyo for about $110 and the precision saved me from re-doing another job last week. Has anyone else had a cheap tool backfire on them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

henrycooper1mo ago

Bought a $15 caliper off Amazon a few years back and it worked fine until it didn't. The battery door popped off while I was measuring a steel frame, and I ended up with one side a full millimeter off. Had to scrap the whole thing and start over. That's when I switched to an iGaging, which has been solid ever since.

avery_lopez1mo ago

So did the battery just fall out mid-measurement, or did the whole door come off and mess with the jaw alignment somehow? I'm trying to picture how a loose battery door throws off a reading like that.

patriciareed1mo ago

Hold on @henrycooper, are you seriously telling me a flimsy battery door caused a whole millimeter of error? That sounds more like user error or a defective tool than a universal problem. I've had cheap calipers for years and the worst I've dealt with was swapping batteries.