• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Home made caliper

#21
I made mine from a digital indicator from harbor freight (USD$30), and a scrap of 1-1/8" decking plywood that a builder was discarding. The meter is accurate to .01mm, which of course, is overkill, but the plywood has a little flex in it, so accuracy is probably +/- .1mm or maybe even .5mm. What I do is zero it with the caliper in the position in which I intend to use it, then avoid putting pressure on it. It works very well, and the batteries last a long time. You can tell when they start to go bad-- you start getting weird answers.

But $30 isn't bad for a caliper with a 16" throat.

(BTW with digital I can choose metric or SAE. The SAE goes to .001")
 
#23
I would have loved to have the dial...but I needed metric and they were only available in SAE...so, for thirty bucks...

BTW, since then, a friend retired from instrument making and sold me all his tools, books, and supplies. Amongst it all was a real dial caliper, so the Harbor freight caliper languishes, unloved, unused... :-)
 
#24
1st Bass said:
I made mine from a digital indicator from harbor freight (USD$30), and a scrap of 1-1/8" decking plywood that a builder was discarding. The meter is accurate to .01mm, which of course, is overkill, but the plywood has a little flex in it, so accuracy is probably +/- .1mm or maybe even .5mm. What I do is zero it with the caliper in the position in which I intend to use it, then avoid putting pressure on it. It works very well, and the batteries last a long time. You can tell when they start to go bad-- you start getting weird answers.

But $30 isn't bad for a caliper with a 16" throat.

(BTW with digital I can choose metric or SAE. The SAE goes to .001")
Click to expand...

Dial are very cheap I found a couple for like 13 to $20 bucks and they are metric too... digitals are not bad eigther the one in Harbor is only $30 but the Shipping is $8, I hate to pay that much for shipping, but still not bad
 
#25
Here's mine. Reads metric and imperial. I stiffened the 3/4" plywood with plexiglass. It's still not exactly ridgid but I feel confident with it within about .5mm

- Kev

caliper001.jpg


caliper003.jpg
 
#29
Hey Mat about what u said… well may be you can use a dial that the range is not that large…(Ej. 1” is large) but lets say from 0mm to 0.5mm that is a very small range and that will be a whole cycle of the dial, I am right??? Did I understand it correctly???
 
#30
Every full turn of the dial on that, if I am reading correctly, is 1mm. The small dial reads out the full millimeters, 1-25, and the large one reads in increments of .01mm, per minimum red line.

Completely equivalent to my digital, with no need for batteries and evidently cheaper. (?) Wish I had found that instead of what I got. :-)
 
#31
1st Bass said:
Every full turn of the dial on that, if I am reading correctly, is 1mm. The small dial reads out the full millimeters, 1-25, and the large one reads in increments of .01mm, per minimum red line.

Completely equivalent to my digital, with no need for batteries and evidently cheaper. (?) Wish I had found that instead of what I got. :-)
Click to expand...

You're entirely correct on reading the dial. It's quite easy to follow the measurement. 0.5mm accuracy is more than adequate for DB graduating, IMO. IIRC, the dial was about $30 on EvilBay. Works great!!
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back