What Did You Buy Today?

[SouthernChap]

Why not just go digital? What is the advantage of a dial caliper? (other than needing a battery one a year)

To be fair, my Mitutoyo digital calipers' battery shows no sign of running out (the expected lifetime of the supplied battery with a genuine Mitutoyo digital caliper is supposed to be about five years; the power usage on genuine Mitutoyo kit has shown to be very efficient), so the most regularly reported downside you hear about with digital calipers, namely of them always running out of battery and being dead when you go to use them, isn't really a problem for me.

That said, I just like dial calipers. I reckon there's a fair old chunk of our preferences, as hobby machinists, that comes from not entirely rational sentiment. Dials on calipers are one of mine.

(also less importantly, as efficiently as the Mitutoyo stuff is with batteries, they won't last forever and sooner or later, I will pick up the calipers and the battery will be dead, and I will have to remember where I put the batteries and then hope I have remembered to ensure I actually have one )

 

[Ultradog MN]

Yesterday I bought two 50' lengths of good, clean 1/0 welding cable with a rod holder on one and connectors on both.
$100
Now I can reach from my welder out to about 60' from my shop.
Will make it easier to weld a bracket onto my trailer today for the new jack.

 

[woodchucker]

Uh, Amazon. But I did shop around a little.

a link?
I have a set of numbered screw. But would like a set of fractional.

 

[Mauzinette]

A bunch of keirin themed Japanese phonecards to decorate my shop with



This stuff is peak visual I’ll post more, once I receive the cards.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

Yesterday I bought two 50' lengths of good, clean 1/0 welding cable with a rod holder on one and connectors on both.
$100
Now I can reach from my welder out to about 60' from my shop.
Will make it easier to weld a bracket onto my trailer today for the new jack.

Nice! I got a couple of those free with my welder which was a very pleasant surprise

 

[yota]

To be fair, my Mitutoyo digital calipers' battery shows no sign of running out (the expected lifetime of the supplied battery with a genuine Mitutoyo digital caliper is supposed to be about five years; the power usage on genuine Mitutoyo kit has shown to be very efficient), so the most regularly reported downside you hear about with digital calipers, namely of them always running out of battery and being dead when you go to use them, isn't really a problem for me.

That said, I just like dial calipers. I reckon there's a fair old chunk of our preferences, as hobby machinists, that comes from not entirely rational sentiment. Dials on calipers are one of mine.

(also less importantly, as efficiently as the Mitutoyo stuff is with batteries, they won't last forever and sooner or later, I will pick up the calipers and the battery will be dead, and I will have to remember where I put the batteries and then hope I have remembered to ensure I actually have one )

if you do end up with a dead battery, I have to think you have other, manual calipers that will do until you get a battery. unless civilization ends and batteries are no longer made. in which case you will likely be hand cranking your lathe.

 

[SouthernChap]

if you do end up with a dead battery, I have to think you have other, manual calipers that will do until you get a battery. unless civilization ends and batteries are no longer made. in which case you will likely be hand cranking your lathe.

Yeah of course. But my dial calipers won't solely 'do', they're my preferred option.

The main reason I pick up my digital calipers is for when it's handy to switch between metric and imperial; unlike my late father, I can't do an instant conversation (what seemed like anyway) in my head between thous and hundredths of a mm.

Like I said, my main reason for preferring dial calipers over digital is sentiment. And all things being equal, that's fine. When I have a use case where the digital is superior, I use that.

 

[ChazzC]

Yeah of course. But my dial calipers won't solely 'do', they're my preferred option.

The main reason I pick up my digital calipers is for when it's handy to switch between metric and imperial; unlike my late father, I can't do an instant conversation (what seemed like anyway) in my head between thous and hundredths of a mm.

Like I said, my main reason for preferring dial calipers over digital is sentiment. And all things being equal, that's fine. When I have a use case where the digital is superior, I use that.

I fully understand: I like mechanical digital micrometers - easy to read and you have a continuous readout.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

It works well but there are some awful casting defects, and the paint and body filler are terrible. that's the spindle behind that jaggedety ass void in the cast iron.

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My 940 is the same, works well and I like it; but same issues. Mine actually came with the shaped accordion cover for the ways between the table and the column which I like better that the rubber sheet and is has held up very well so far. I hater the mud flap in front of the table so I bought a smaller accordion style cover and installed it, I have to machine an extension for the y-axis crank to make room for it but I was tired of the mudflap being on top of the crank all the time so it was a good modification.


Original Mud Flap.



Accordion modifications.

If you look close you can see the body filler issues, one dropped tool will peel/break off pieces.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

@yota

Holy crow thats bad for a casting to be that rough, hidden or not!! Why do I get the feeling the castings have a porosity issue?

They are fine grain castings, I used an ultrasonic gauging tool on mine and found no significant issues, it gauged very solid, it is fit and finish rather than structure.