Micrometer

[Mush]

Hi, just need a bit of advice, I'm looking to get myself a micrometer but know nothing about them. I'm not going for anything expensive I just need something for hobby work mainly finding metal thicknesses with occasional use for other things.
My question is, should I get one with a digital read out or a manual one?
Appreciate any help.

 

[chrismac]

You will pick up decent analogue one for buttons, only issue is how many will you need, 0-25, 2-50 and so on.

I am sure more useful advice will be along soon.

You want a mic and thats fine, depending on what uses you have for it have you considered a Vernier, it has many uses, depth measurement and a larger measurement range from one piece.

 

[daleyd]

Micrometer or calliper?

A micrometer comes in a range of sizes eg 0-25mm, 25-50mm etc and so on so if you want measure more than 25 mm you’d need a second, more than 50 another one etc etc - plus they tend to be metric or imperial and you don’t get both scales (obviously for a digital you can)

You can however pick up a cheap digital calliper from Lidl/aldi for not a lot of money and they would be accurate enough for measuring metal thicknesses from 0 to 150mm in one device and also do metric and imperial.

A micrometer is very accurate but might be overkill for what you want. If I was starting out and just wanted something more accurate than a rule then I’d be looking at a calliper rather than a micrometer.

 

[voipio]

What thickness are the bits of metal that you want to measure? If it's foils and shims, then a micrometer would be handy. For most other things, like 3-10mm bar or sheet, box sections, and the like, then a caliper type gauge would be much faster. These normally have a resolution of 0.01mm, and half a thou in imperial, and accuracty is pretty good. A micrometer only comes into its own if you want to go to 1/20,000 inch, or 1 micron resolution. Even the cheapy calipers are normally quite good. It's also worth getting a calibration slip (also known as gauge block, or slip gauge) to check the caliper or micrometer calibration occasionally.

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Micrometer-Calibrator-Calibration-Calibrating-Micrometers/dp/B0C6J8SKHP

An imperial gauge block or rod is even better than metric, since it's far easier to check that the caliper/micrometer gives a reading of 25.40mm or 1.0000", rather than 25.00mm or 0.98425"

 

[Mush]

Thanks for all the good advice, great forum for giving help

 

[brightspark]

get a digital caliper far more usefull and faster.converts from metric to imperial measurements at the flick of a switch. a decent 6 inch one will be rite

 

[Barking Mat]

Hi, just need a bit of advice, I'm looking to get myself a micrometer but know nothing about them. I'm not going for anything expensive I just need something for hobby work mainly finding metal thicknesses with occasional use for other things.
My question is, should I get one with a digital read out or a manual one?
Appreciate any help.

It's always nice I find to have a micrometer just for double checking vernier critical(ish) measurements, I don't have any digital micrometers, all old school.

Nice skill to have to replicate the reading on a micrometer.

 

[Agroshield]

It is difficult to use a micrometer to scribe a line parallel to the edge of a sheet of metal.

It is also difficult to use a caliper as a G-clamp.

 

[Barking Mat]

It is difficult to use a micrometer to scribe a line parallel to the edge of a sheet of metal.

It is also difficult to use a caliper as a G-clamp.

You've just got to apply more pressure to your calipers and tighten them till they bite.

 

[RichardM]

You've just got to apply more pressure to your calipers and tighten them till they bite.

I thought that was why the had the little knurled screw so you could lock them off.

 

[Munkul]

It is difficult to use a micrometer to scribe a line parallel to the edge of a sheet of metal.

It is also difficult to use a caliper as a G-clamp.

You can also use a caliper as an adjustable spanner

 

[Munkul]

Hi, just need a bit of advice, I'm looking to get myself a micrometer but know nothing about them. I'm not going for anything expensive I just need something for hobby work mainly finding metal thicknesses with occasional use for other things.
My question is, should I get one with a digital read out or a manual one?
Appreciate any help.

In all seriousness... For general use, a 6" digital or vernier caliper is far more useful IMHO.

 

[MikeBs]

I got a Parkside 6” vernier for about a tenner and it’s brilliant for my needs. It’s also a depth gauge.
Downside is it switches ‘on’ if the scale is even slightly moved. Hence if I forget to lock it when I put it away in the box, it switches on whenever the box is moved and the battery is flat when I need it. It’s only a watch battery.
I can still use the printed scale, but it’s not as accurate.

 

[caprinut]

Worse are those blink out if they're not touched for ? mins, you put it down after a taking a careful measure, leave it 'to put out a fire' come back and the measure is gone, s*&t, I stick to my trusty Mitutoyo no fooling about. When we all used buy are own 0-25mm Mics, you used get a small amount of tax back for those kinds of purchase, company said oh we want that which they could claim if they bought us that equipment, we all took our 0-25s back home that weekend there was a panic on Monday when work would stop due to too few Mics.

 

[minimutly]

In all seriousness... For general use, a 6" digital or vernier caliper is far more useful IMHO.

Vernier no good if you're over 50...
I gave mine to the apprentice - had to explain what it was though...

 

[addjunkie]

Vernier no good if you're over 50...
I gave mine to the apprentice - had to explain what it was though...

They should come with a magnifying glass for old folk!

 

[caprinut]

Vernier no good if you're over 50...

Am I the only septuagenarion still using a caliper working on my classic car, wouldn't give it to snotty nosed apprentice tell the company to buy them one as I passed out the door for the last time, best thing about calipers is you can use them as a comparator off a mic and you can 'zero off' it anywhere.