Mitutoyo, wares the quality gone?

[Spark plug]

Not having a good day again, this seems to becomeing a very common theme recently.

Any way I bought a second hand mitutoyo digital caliper about 10-12 years ago and it's been one of the best and most used items in the workshop. It's realy been through the wars, I've dropped it thousands of times, soaked it in coolant, got weld spatter all over it etc etc. It's realy had a hard life and only many had 2-3 batteries in that time and it never gets turned off.

Couple of months ago I decided it was time for a new one to keep in the draw for use when I wanted something more accurate that the old faithful. So I bough a brand new one without a second thort.

When I revived the new one it did not feel as high quality as the old one, didn't think mutch about it.

Tonight I've been doing some turning and as I was picking it up I doped it from wrist height and to my horror the LCD display has bust and one of the internal jaws has bent. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement.

I don't suppose the warranty is going to cover it but ile have to call them and find out. Has any one had any experiance with their service department?

After this I will think twice about buying mitutoyo kit.

 

[daleyd]

Are you 100% it's original - I believe they have had a big problem with fakes (obviously if bought from a big supplier you can be reasonably confident but eBay can be fraught with danger).

 

[brightspark]

stop using them as an adjustable spanner then

 

[Spark plug]

Are you 100% it's original - I believe they have had a big problem with fakes (obviously if bought from a big supplier you can be reasonably confident but eBay can be fraught with danger).

It was from Cromwell when they had a 20% off offer on.

 

[daleyd]

It was from Cromwell when they had a 20% off offer on.

You'd probably be safe then, it was just a thought. Most of my mitutoyo gear is second hand so I can't comment on the newer stuff unfortunately. I'm on Lidl digital calipers (not to mention their beans ....) cos I'm not flush enough for a posh set

 

[ronan]

I have a set of the old mitutoyo (made in england) digital calipers, which i bought secondhand as an apprentice, great bit of kit, still have them and they are perfect. Anything i have every bought by mitutoyo has been brilliant, but they have had problems with counterfeits and fakes in the past few years, hop onto ebay and you can buy calipers and micrometers with their name on, but they are obviously fakes.

 

[Rocketman]

Isn't there different ranges, not bought any for a few years but even then in the office I had the much more expensive ones compared to their budget versions other people had and there was a noticeable difference in quality.

 

[Spark plug]

Just looked on the mitutoyo website and the model number on mine is not the economy model in the 200mm range, but the graphics on mine are the same as the economy model. But the pictures may not be absolutely correct.

I'm wondering now weather it could be a fake, the main thing makeing me think this is the way the inside measuring jaw has bent from a fall from 36", as the old one has a pice snapped off how I would expect quality hardened stainless steel to behave.

 

[julianf]

I had a 300mm unit repaired. Metal was fine, just bad electonics.

Yours however - not a lot that is still OK. They have an irritating policy that you have to OK their maximum charge, and if it works out less, supposedly they charge you less...

Your job will be the maximum charge though - just ask them what that is, and you will know what you're looking at.

 

[optima21]

stop using them as an adjustable spanner then

many years ago (mid 1990's) I was watching a co-ordinate measuring machine being installed at the company where I worked. all the companies verniers were mitutoyo ones. the engineer installing the machine saw the engineering director using a vernier and said the director was the only person he had seen using a vernier as an adjustable spanner.....of course when you are working to a standard you can get the vernier to read what you want so that components are "made" to the tolerance on a drawing.

I've also got a genuine Mitutoyo dti from china via ebay......I think it was cheap because there is a spelling mistake on it.

 

[Rig Pig]

My dti has died as well, I got it out to clock up a shaft and it is on a go slow - push the plunger and a few moments later the needle slowly moves up ??
It's not that old, I will probably get a Starret or Moore and Wright instead.

 

[Richard.]

As said loads of fakes kicking about and from what I've seen some of these fake copies ain't far off the quality of the genuine items.
That doesn't help you but there are ways to tell ....
Remove the steel slide to expose the reader strip underneath. A genuine absolute like your old one will have many more points closer together on the strip that it takes its reading from.
A fake will have less and more spaced out. It's a good way to check.

 

[Mee]

Their quality has dropped off and I have been led to believe they manufacture at least a few of their components abroad and ship them in for assembly.

 

[ronan]

Starrett stuff is good quality too, and as far as i know is not being faked.........yet. Its a pity there is so much fake mitutoyo tools around though, the real stuff is seriously good and not overly expensive for the quality you get.

 

[Henrik]

Sadly I don't think buying from a 'real' company makes you immune to fakes... Even big companies would not be buying directly from Mitutoyo I would have thought. There'd be some kind of supply chain in between the end retailer and the maker, and who knows how honest every company in-between is, so to speak.

Some of the fakes are so good nowadays (at least from a visual point of view) that it'd be hard to tell unless you really knew what you were looking for, and the margins for those kind of items must be enormous (buy cheap chinese stuff, sell as high end japanese), so there's at least incentive for companies to try to do this (not saying that all companies would, but undoubtedly there are some that would).

 

[Paul99]

Not sure that all mitutoyo are hardened steel... I have an old non digital Vernier made by them that has a bent tip on the internal jaws rather than it having snapped off. In my case it's bent outwards right at the tip and so I think with some very careful lapping on an oil stone may just be salvageable.

 

[Rannsachair]

My old Japanese made calipers are hardened - brittle fracture to internal jaw, the English made digital set I have are doing well, now 20 plus years of use.

 

[pedrobedro]

I can't follow your reasoning that it shouldn't have broken when dropped from x height. I'd be disappointed if it had happened to me but if I had dropped it and it broke I would accept it was my fault. Ask if it can be repaired under warranty by all means but don't be surprised if they refuse.

 

[Kent]

They fake pretty much anything today. I have a set they are slightly older than 31 years old having been bought when I was in the machine shop

 

[gaz_moose]

I have one that is like the top one in rannsachairs picture and when I first switch it on it adds about an inch to the measurement so I have to press the yellow reset button to get it to read properly.
is there a way to recalibrate them permanently? I don't have the instructions.