Why Digital Caliper?

There are several reasons why you should consider using a Digital Caliper instead of Vernier or Dial Caliper:

1. Cost Effective

A Digital Caliper is not an expansive tool, you can get one for as low as $49.90 to a few hundred dollars depending on the size and maker. For Vernier and Dial Calipers, the prices are not much different from Digital caliper, maybe a bit less. Even though a battery is used to power up the digital caliper, the battery life is very long. Some of the digital calipers come with battery power-conserving design permitting 3 - 5 years (20,000 hours) continuous operation with a single battery. With more advantages compare to other types of caliper, the Digital Caliper is worth buying.

2. Reading your measurement is easy

All you need to do is measure your workpiece, then the measurement is there on the large electronic digital display on your digital caliper, saving you from reading and deciphering the measurement from a printed scale or dial yourself. This means that you can reduce the chances of reading error. (But, please remember to always check your zero point whenever you want to start using your digital caliper.) Since you can take measurement just by reading the number on the digital display, this digital caliper is suitable to be used in the area where visibility is restricted. And, some of the digital calipers contain a "reading hold" feature, allowing to hold the reading for later view, when the caliper is used in locations where the display can not be seen.

3. Digital Caliper has high accuracy

Most of the digital calipers have the accuracy of +/-0.02mm or +/-0.0008". I have been working at a precision machine shop for 10 years. We use CNC turnings and CNC machining centers to produce our precision parts. Digital caliper is the main measuring instruments we used at our factory. Many of our jobs require tolerance of +/-0.05 mm and above, and this is just perfect task for a digital caliper. Of course for a more precise measurement (eg. +0/-0.017 mm) we must use micrometer or digital micrometer. With Vernier caliper it is almost impossible to measure your workpiece with tolerance +/-0.05 mm.

4. Digital Caliper has many advance features

• Many of the digital calipers today have a conversion button which can switch between metric and imperial unit. With this feature you can easily convert your measurements from millimeter to inch or the other way around just by pushing a button.

• A digital caliper display can be set to zero at any point along the slide, which will enable differential measurement. Differential measurement is the measuring of the difference in sizes between 2 measurement points. Using a digital caliper, you can automatically calculate the difference, saving you from manually calculate using calculator.

• Some digital calipers come with data output connection which allow them to be interfaced with a personal computer. You can use spreadsheets or other similar software to instantly store the measurements taken. This will reduce the time taken to manually record the series of dimensions as for preparing your inspection report.