CME tools, Complete Manufacturer's Equipment Corp. I have bought from them on eBay
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It's a Mitut.. What?? !!
- Thread starter graham-xrf
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2016
- Messages
- 2,872
All true: there is risk with eBay, but if you know what you're looking at and take your time, there are good deals to be had.
I've bought a fair amount of stuff on eBay over the years and have never been scammed, and with the exception of a couple minor issues that were resolved to my satisfaction, never had a problem. I've bought some very nices tools
on eBay including a Swiss made B & S micrometer in new condition for 25 bucks. But, I pay very close attention to details and I'm never in a hurry. And, I've saved a lot of money.
- Joined
- May 27, 2016
- Messages
- 3,480
@GunsOfNavarone : There seems no limit to the depths of knock-off fakery.
From @tweinke : (our thanks) CME tools, Complete Manufacturer's Equipment Corp
At least the caliper has a brand name logo ..
The similarity, or allusion to the trading group's blue globe might just be coincidental.
When you look through the cheap calipers on eBay, excluding the all-plastic variety, and study the pictures, you eventually can spot the common manufacture between some. You find some branded ones that have a too-exact giveaway feature where the only difference is the style of the battery cover. Probably there is a factory somewhere churning out caliper parts that find their way into several generic and branded products.
Yours has a characteristic metal strap with two tiny screws on the end. It has similarities to my cheapo which was sold as "Silverline, but mine has only a small screw on the rear side as a end stop.
The buttons are re-arranged. Notice the crappy calibration. That "cheap" caliper is cheap no more, because I disassembled it, and gave it a few "improvements". I broke the sharp edges and sharp corners on all except in the jaws, using a fine slip stone that had be rubbed on another. A couple of swipes at 45° does it. Then I reworked the little copper gib in the slide and set the little screws that it had near zero clearance, but still moved smoothly, without any rocking. The error is now a bit less - in inches, about 4 to 7 tenths of thou. That is maybe OK for this grade of caliper.
I find exactly the same buttons and battery compartment style here --> eBay Cheapo
except it has the little bar end stop, exactly like yours.
We all do not have enough life left to expend on decoding the provenance of eBay and Harbor Freight calipers.
There are lots of YT videos on "How to spot a fake Mitutoyo", and disturbingly, some on discovering a not-so-cheap fake that actually performs well. The guys will even measure the micro-amps through the battery connections when the calipers are "switched off", as part of their "caliper DNA" investigations.
For me, something in the $10 to $20 range is allowed to disappoint in some way. If it "works OK" for a while, that is a bonus. Something in the $60 to $100 range is not allowed to disappoint!
For @GunsOfNavarone : See what else has the same brand.. --> CME HERE
No little strap on the end - like my "Silverline"
And in most other ways, looking like the "other" thing that lurks at my place.
.. which is so known for chewing batteries that I just keep it (the battery) laying about in it's (also cheapo) plastic case.
From @tweinke : (our thanks) CME tools, Complete Manufacturer's Equipment Corp
At least the caliper has a brand name logo ..
The similarity, or allusion to the trading group's blue globe might just be coincidental.
When you look through the cheap calipers on eBay, excluding the all-plastic variety, and study the pictures, you eventually can spot the common manufacture between some. You find some branded ones that have a too-exact giveaway feature where the only difference is the style of the battery cover. Probably there is a factory somewhere churning out caliper parts that find their way into several generic and branded products.
Yours has a characteristic metal strap with two tiny screws on the end. It has similarities to my cheapo which was sold as "Silverline, but mine has only a small screw on the rear side as a end stop.
The buttons are re-arranged. Notice the crappy calibration. That "cheap" caliper is cheap no more, because I disassembled it, and gave it a few "improvements". I broke the sharp edges and sharp corners on all except in the jaws, using a fine slip stone that had be rubbed on another. A couple of swipes at 45° does it. Then I reworked the little copper gib in the slide and set the little screws that it had near zero clearance, but still moved smoothly, without any rocking. The error is now a bit less - in inches, about 4 to 7 tenths of thou. That is maybe OK for this grade of caliper.
I find exactly the same buttons and battery compartment style here --> eBay Cheapo
except it has the little bar end stop, exactly like yours.
We all do not have enough life left to expend on decoding the provenance of eBay and Harbor Freight calipers.
There are lots of YT videos on "How to spot a fake Mitutoyo", and disturbingly, some on discovering a not-so-cheap fake that actually performs well. The guys will even measure the micro-amps through the battery connections when the calipers are "switched off", as part of their "caliper DNA" investigations.
For me, something in the $10 to $20 range is allowed to disappoint in some way. If it "works OK" for a while, that is a bonus. Something in the $60 to $100 range is not allowed to disappoint!
For @GunsOfNavarone : See what else has the same brand.. --> CME HERE
No little strap on the end - like my "Silverline"
And in most other ways, looking like the "other" thing that lurks at my place.
.. which is so known for chewing batteries that I just keep it (the battery) laying about in it's (also cheapo) plastic case.