Digital calliper comparison - Mitutoyo Brand name VS Cheap Brand

In this video, I'll compare digital Mitutoyo Brand Name Calliper vs Mastercraft / Import for Canadian Tire, or any budget retailer like Harbor Freight, Princess Auto, Busy Bee, Grizzly, Shars, Accusize, etc.... That will import and sell them with their name printed on them.

In my own conclusion, those imports are good purchases as the price is attractive to most of hobbyist and for roughing purposes, for more precision and closer tolerances, brand name is a must, though callipers aren't to be used for very high precision work or exchanging close tolerance measurements...

Hope you enjoy and please help to make more and better videos by subscribing...

Pierre Beaudry

[ctbram]

I always measure with calipers, mark with chalk, and then cut with a hatchet and things always come out fine.

[delmarrey]

As a toolmaker for 45 years I mostly used the cheap ones for common everyday use but for close tolerance the Mitutoyo have a better railways, which wear better. But calipers where for .002” tolerance or more. Micrometers were always for under .002”. It all depends on pressure, which calipers do not have unless they are special order, spring loaded inspection calipers. When I started out there were only veneer types, which required proper pressure. Also, temperature can effect the accuracy. SS expands and contracts with temperature.

[jackfrost]

`I prefer to use a micrometer because if I make something 4 or 5 thou oversize, I just keep twisting the barrel until it reaches the right size. It saves a lot of machining time.

[allenmays]

Thanks for the demo. Like others have said, I keep the Mitutoyo for when it really matters. I have also noticed that the biggest differences come from using the thumb knob to roll the calipers tight. The cheaper versions seem to lack the rigidity, so the error seems to come from a "bowing" of the caliper. Using the tips of the calipers worsens this effect. When I seat the workpiece deep and grasp the calipers closed around my workpiece, I get more consistent results, and my cheap calipers stay usable for longer.

Thanks again! I'll be perusing through more of your posts to see what other interesting tidbits you have!

[scottvincent]

Using my cheap calipers for more precise work and my mitutoyos for the dirty stuff. My harbor freight calipers are more accurate than my mitutoyos. Anything precise gets measured with micrometers. Thumbs up!

[russcattelli]

Back in the day on my engineering training I had a mitutoyo mechanical imp/metric vernier, some years later in the age of digital my nephew was an apprentice at a Kawasaki hydraulic motor factory, I gave him my old fashioned vernier, told him, any time you are stuck with a flat battery the old standby will serve you well. He is now in South Africa servicing those motors, first in the gold fields now offshore oil exploration. Nice to know that tool investment is still with him if he needs it.

[kinkhorse]

Here's a thing you might not know about the cheap calipers. They have a port on them that is beneath a plastic cover, that gives outputs from their quadrature encoders. With some very basic wiring and know how, a cheap caliper can be used as a linear encoder, and they are surprisingly good at that duty. My 3d printer project uses three HFT calipers for its X, Y, and Z stages, and it is very precise and repeatable. Food for thought (especially given the price of a real linear encoder - heheh)

[mrmidnight]

Good to see the off brand is calibrated perfectly for what I need. Been using those for the last 10 years for all sorts of things like welding, reloading, cutting and random house measurements. That’s 100% with in tolerance of my uses at home. Looks like I’ll keep buying them haha

[maksberlec]

I agree with your final conclusion. I would like to notice that the cheaper one are much more battery hungry and a jaw movement speed can be an issue also.

[em_tion]

"Good, not great" - just like like my caliper budget xD

[aceroadholder]

If it's important that a dimension that has to be held within +/- 0.005", a caliper, no matter who made it is not the tool to use. You can use a caliper if you need to measure closer than that if you do what was done in the video... zero the caliper to gage blocks set to the required and you can get to +/- 0.0005" .
 It is important to note that even the Mititoyo doesn't read to "tenths" of a thousands of an inch. It can be anywhere in the range of +/-0.00025 of the indicated dimension.
Like others have noted, I have both Mititoyo and Harbor Freight mystery calipers. I stoned the sharp edges on the HF's when I got them and it smoothed them up considerably. The batteries last about 3 years of daily use.. I do turn them off every time I use them. The HF calipers are the ones I use all the time.

[xgamer]

Thank you very much I just started a new job in a medical company. It isn't my first medical company it's actually my third. I've been Quality Control, QA Inspector. for all three companies. Yet in different departments from customers complaints to proof reading of manuals. I've been working in manufacturing since the late 80ies. Now I'm in the manufacturing department.
Awesome! This video helped me plenty. In my measurements.

[pjoneal]

Gauge blocks are good if you have them but you can also compare the calipers directly by utilizing both outside and inside measuring arms. Half a thousandth is worth probably $40 to me. Also, a $15 dropped caliper often turns out to be more accurate than a dropped $150 caliper so you'll end up upside down then. You're micrometer is in perfect condition... all is good.

[ChrisB]

Top quality is always nice if affordable but for sure, the ''cheapo'' ones for most part do come out fairly well. I have had to rely on some of those and unless tolerances super tight they do for me. A mic in the end is the most reliable, along with telescope gauges.
Now you gotta grow that fungus again!;;

[PiefacePete]

Fifteen to twenty years ago I bought some NSK digital calipers for NZD200 (USD145 at todays rate). I loved them and treasured them, and they are still as new. More recently, I have been doing less engineering, and more woodworking... I noticed the number of people on Youtube using throw-away cheap chinese calipers, so I bought some rather than use the NSK's. For this purpose THEY HAVE BEEN BRILLIANT! They far exceeded my expectations, with excellent repeatability. Your test with the gauge blocks is the true test of accuracy; for woodwork or checking bolt/screw sizes the cheapies are way more than accurate enough, at less than one tenth of the cost. A HUGE plus for the cheapies... if they time-out, they retain their current position when I turn them on again, and they turn on automatically when I move the slide. The NSK's turn always turn on at zero, regardless of the actual position. A really useful review, many thanks.

[hasbeengood]

Thanks man. I own one of the CDN TIre ones. So it confirms that for the "back yard mechanic" it's good enough!

[johngalt]

I had similar results with an older (16yo +) pair from Harbor Freight (HF) vs Mitutoyo Absolute digital calipers... the HFones were either on, or off by 0.0005 or 0.001. as tested like you, with gage blocks, but I used non-whole number sizes.
I did try the newer calipers that will also do fractions. but found they would not repeat 100%, while the Mitutoyo's do.

[jeremywestern]

I made my own calipers out of wood... They are accurate to the nearest quarter inch...live long and prosper ✌️

[samrodian]

Thanks for that Pierre, an honest appraisal of your callipers accuracy. Boy am I impressed with the Mitutoyo's

[ezpz]

Brings back memories of when we had factories and real jobs. wiggle it a little bit. We called calipers “very nears“ for engineers they're worth their weight in gold.