Aldi Calipers…

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

Just bought 2 sets of their digital calipers, a good price @ £8.99 but you do get what you pay for, both are slightly curved (bent) and have the same crunchy feel as the ones I bought from China for a fiver.

Seem to have repeatable accuracy but still dissapointing, as they have a three year guarantee I will just use them until they die.

Paul

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Shame. I bought anAldi one several years ago and it is as good as any I have, no bend or 'crunchiness'. I imagine they just buy a batch at a time so quality is possibly hit and miss.

Neil

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

I have a pair and they are pretty poor.
I keep getting different measurements on the same diameter.
The better set that I have. Mitutoyo are really good and it was worth paying the extra for them. Bri

[MICHAEL WILLIAMSParticipant @michaelwilliams41215]

These very cheap calipers often come with the little springy gib strip at the top out of adjustment .

Doesn't always work but a good clean and proper adjustment of these strips can sometimes improve performance considerably .

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

All the pairs I have give repeatable readings regardless of make, and read 25.00mm on my test bar. The only problem I get is if (when) the calipers are dirty.

Neil

[Stewart HartParticipant @stewarthart90345]

Nice and cheep just the job for cutting the legs back to make a pair off odd legs for marking out, yoy can't lose at that price.

They also have spray can of paint from Germany I was tipped off that its good stuff by a spray painter friend so I've stocked up with a range of colours.

Stew

[TakeawayParticipant @takeaway]

I bought one of these from ALDI a year or so back and I have been very pleased with it – no complaints. Alright the battery went flat quite quickly but thats no big deal. A while back I was talking to a bloke who sells second hand tools and he told me that ALDI had a lot of returns on these. He explained that they can go dead if kept in a cold workshop hence the returns. All I can say is that mine is kept in a fffffreezing workshop and it is working perectly.Stuart

[Stewart HartParticipant @stewarthart90345]

Posted by Stuart Chesher on 10/02/2013 17:22:20:

A while back I was talking to a bloke who sells second hand tools and he told me that ALDI had a lot of returns on these. He explained that they can go dead if kept in a cold workshop hence the returns. All I can say is that mine is kept in a fffffreezing workshop and it is working perectly.Stuart

I've noticed some of my digistuff is sensititive to cold as well, this includes my shop calculator, warm them up a bit and they start working Ok, funny enough though I have the oposit problem with my DRO on the mill if it gets too hot in the summer (remember those we had one 4 or 5 years back) it stopes working

Stew

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

I remember it well Stew, i bought a small air-con unit because it was getting over 30c in my shed. So you can all blame me for the lousy weather we have had since then.

Cheers Derek.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

It's the batteries. They have far less capacity at low temperatures so even the minute drain of a digital caliper with the screen off can flatten them. Take them out of equipment in the winter.

Neil

[Brian WarwickParticipant @brianwarwick88192]

Posted by _Paul_ on 10/02/2013 13:10:14:

Seem to have repeatable accuracy but still dissapointing, as they have a three year guarantee I will just use them until they die.

Paul

SO DISAPOINTING AFTER ALL YOU DID PAY SO MUCH AT £8.99

[jim’Participant @jim11037]

I had some years ago from Aldi, the ones that switched on when opened an

d never need rezeroing, never given any trouble and now the prefered caliper in the shop!

[Keith Wardill 1Participant @keithwardill1]

I haven't seen one of these caliipers, but I am assuming they have an LCD digital display – LCD displays commonly 'fade out' when they experience high or low temperatures (depends on the LCD, but down to 0C or above about 35C). They should recover when the temperature returns to normal, but some don't. I have a wristwatch which is absolutely useless when I go ski-ing!

[Stephen BensonParticipant @stephenbenson75261]

I Found a good use for mine

 

Edited By Stephen Benson on 10/02/2013 22:09:39

Edited By Stephen Benson on 10/02/2013 22:10:10

[Brian WarwickParticipant @brianwarwick88192]

Clearly works well Stephen else you wouldn’t have gone to the bother of fitting it to the machine. I have at least half a dozen of these as well as a couple of Mitutoyo and sorry but they have been a great buy they are accurate give the exact same reading as the Mitutoyo, and at the price ideal for laying around the factory where as the Mitutoyo need to be locked away at almost ten time the price.

Again it’s down to fit for purpose and they are more than that in my application. I don’t see how a £8.99 digital venire that gives a repeated accuracy and a 3 year warranty can be considered disappointing.

[Stephen BensonParticipant @stephenbenson75261]

Hi Brian, I have found that the Aldi type need switching on all the time and eat batteries, one of the least best kept secrets of model engineers is Kennedy Calipers are excellent quality and often go for under £20 on Ebay some even say they are made by Mitutoyo I have several and can vouch for their quality

[JonParticipant @jon]

Coincidental i had my IP67 Mitutoyo nicked Saturday and in a frenzy couldnt do any work until replaced.

My son nipped to Aldi yesterday and bought one as a surprise. It will do the job but wouldnt like to use every day. Soon as i can stomach coughing up £140 for the Mitutoyo it wil be relegated to the spares bag.

Bought a couple of Aldi quite a few years ago when was a fiver, great for repairing some cheap scales of caliper style like above tailstock jobby. They held zero when powered off and on, most cheapies dont and gets very annoying. Moore and Wright was one, made in china.

Wrecked loads of decent calipers with coolant all 10 times dearer than the Aldi.

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

Have a couple of 2 year old Aldi calipers, they are still working well and have a nice smooth action. A third one was used on the quill of a mill/drill.

Have had one fail after a couple of years use.

Bought a couple of the latest batch, and they feel quite rough in action compared to the old ones, and are a slightly different style. I think it is down to roughness on the edge of the bar. They are straight enough though, and the readout is fine, as is the accuracy.

Overall quite happy at the price.

Phil

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

Jon,

Moore and Wright sell quality calipers at a much more attractive price than you quote for Mititoyo, I was lucky to get some 1/2 price [£25] at the Harrogate Show 2 years ago from the Allendale stand, they were flying off the shelf at that.

Much better made than the cheapos.

This thread does though remind me of the much larger debate ongoing on precision vices. Pay rubbish price, expect rubbish. Why waste the time and trouble?

Brian

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

> Why waste the time and trouble?

Model engineering can be a very expensive hobby, but even those of us witha family to support can afford it if we are prepared to put up with a few foibles and make improvements. Treat it as part of the hobby and a way to improve skills.

I remember having a big argument with the publisher of a national wildlife magazine. It was about a 'get into birdwatching' article that said it wasn't really worth buying binoculars for less than £300 – this was a good twenty years ago. At the time nearly every professional conservationist I knew wandered around with a £30-£40 pair of East-German Zeiss binoculars, and perfectly servicable second-hand ex-service ones were available for a few pounds. It was all about keeping advertisers happy, at the expense of frightening off potential new recruits to the conservation cause.

On the other hand I spoke to a professional wildlife photographer before Christmas. The kind of person with £4,000 of 60-megapixel camera around his neck. I said I was planning to buy my daughter a bridge camera – and he said it was abrilliant idea and he was planning to get one as they are now better for macro photography than SLRs.

Much as I woudl love to have a superbly finished, silky-smooth lathe, I have got tremendous satisfaction from a workshop fully stocked for less than the price of a second-hand Super 7.

We need to manage the expectations of those who can't afford the best, and help them avoid frustration and to get the most from their limited resources, but they should never be left feeling this is just a rich man's game.

Neil

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

Hello Neil,

I am like you in wishing to get the best from my hobby interest and at a realistic cost, but this thread started from comments on Aldi purchases that were 'a bit bent and crunchy' and 'maybe not very accurate'

The point I was trying to make was that fundemental measurements are made with these tools and it should not come as any surprise to find they frequently don't work as one might hope. It is possible to get better without paying a King's ransom for it and for gear that will last a lifetime if cared for.

I get huge satisfaction making my own equipment where I can or modifications to suit my purpose and knowing you can trust the measurements is a part of that.

Brian

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

A few years ago, I noticed a discrepancy between my metric micrometer and the "slipstick" gauge I was using at the time. As a result I started comparing all my measuring things both amongst themselves and eventually against a 25mm, 50mm and 75mm Mitutoyo calibration thingy. (Sorry about the poor language – it's because I can't at the moment remember the corect terms and am too lazy to look them up!)

What I found was that of the 6"/150mm rulers I had, one by Rabone Chesterman was wildly out on it's metric range. "Wildly" is just a description to denote lack of precision in our terms. Unless, of course, the Rabone Chesterman was spot on, and all the others incorrect.

I had a metric and an imperial micrometer (25mm,& 1inch ) a 150mm slide vernier with a 0.05mm resolution, a 150mm dial caliper with a 0.02 resolution, a Ronson (??) 150mm digital caliper and an Aldi 150mm digital caliper. Both of the digital calipers measure to 150mm with a resolution of 0.01mm. The metric micrometer read slightly high, the slide vernier appears spot on, the dial caliper and the Ronson (??) digital caliper were both reasonably consistently low whilst the Aldi was all over the place, both high, low and inaccurate. So much for Aldi!

Regarding cells. Again I have suffered poor cell life, however I did make two discoveries. One was to use the correct cell. There two types of button cell which appear satisfactory being the same size and having similar voltages. They are often sold as being equivalent. They are not – the correct one being the one with the slightly higher voltage. The second point I discovered (from someone else actually) was that the "Off" button does nothing of the sort – it merely switches off the display and leaves the rest of the circuitry still active and draining the cell. The same article also did some tests and discovered that Mitutoyo digital calipers had the lowest drain of all when supposedly switched off. This was by a factor of 10 I think.

As a result, I have bought a Starrett 150mm dial caliper with a resolution of 0.01mm and only use the digital calipers if desperate. Furthermore, I never leave cells in them – this also applies to the Wixey digital angle measuring device I have.

I should point out that I am not an expert in any of this, merely someone who has discovered these problems, in effect by accident.

Furthermore, I have reported on this elsewhere on this forum.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

All edit to correct the text.

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 13/02/2013 13:14:21

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 13/02/2013 13:15:03

 

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 13/02/2013 13:16:52

[HomeUseParticipant @homeuse]

Dont realy know about the Aldi calapers, but have a couple of the ones from Lidl which have srrmed to be fairly accurat – but they are only used for the initial sizing – the final sizing being done the oldfashion way with a micrometer (both inperial & metric) Is it that the modern "swarf" makers dont know how to use a mic. and must rely on visual electronic displays

I know you are going to say that I'm old-fashon, but some of the old ways take a lot of beating.

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Posted by Stub Mandrel on 10/02/2013 14:28:36:

Shame. I bought anAldi one several years ago and it is as good as any I have, no bend or 'crunchiness'. I imagine they just buy a batch at a time so quality is possibly hit and miss.

Neil

I think the problem is that the newer ones are made with 50% horse meat

Regards,

Tony

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