Aldi Calipers…

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Posted by Tony Jeffree on 14/02/2013 09:37:47:

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

Hi Tony, perhaps they have found that they could actually recycle all the redundant horse shoes.

Peter, your calibration thingy is called a standard, but you should avoid direct contact with them, because the heat from your figures can expand them. I found that out with my Strarrett ones when I was checking my Starrett No.224 0-4" mic.

Regards Nick.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

My imported calibration standard has a thick plastic sleeve fited to it. I thought it was to stop me losing it thinking it was an offcut! Now I realsie its for insulation. Came with a 1-2"/25-50mm mike.

Neil

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Nick,

Thanks for reminding me of the correct name for the standards. You see, it's been too darned cold & damp to do anything other than skulk in the house!!!

Anyway, what I actually did was to bring everything into the house and leave overnight so that they were all at the same temperature. Since we have storage heaters, the temperature is reasonably constant around 60 or so degrees F which is what the standards were marked as being correct at. As was the Rabone Chesterman rule. Everything was then checked as quickly as possible and the results recorded. Now ok it won't be up to laboratory standard, but at least it won't be at one or other unacceptable end of the temperature range.

I think I either placed then on something and relied on the jaw pressure to hold them or held them by the plastic bits in the nylon jaws of a small portable vice. Probably both as to measure 100, 125 & 150mm I used them in series. I also carefully wiped each measuring face before using them.

I've got to say that this experiment, as much as anything brought home to me the inherent inaccuracies of our measuring gear.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

This document has some interesting specifications and comments on calipers: **LINK**

Six inch calipers should have a maximum error of 30 micron ( just over 1 thou) for outside measurement and 50 micron ( 2 thou) for inside or depth measurement.

As they say, don't trust calipers with no maker's name on them.

Having said that I use Lidl ones for quick and dirty measurements.

Russell.

[Tony JeffreeParticipant @tonyjeffree56510]

Cheap calipers make excellent back scratchers…

Regards,

Tony

[jim’Participant @jim11037]

sod's law!! dropped a good caliper at work last night. Lucky for me Mitutoyo coolant proof ones are on offer, still £100 i could have done without spending…………………..

[jim’Participant @jim11037]

sod's alive and well, just bust the £100 caliper by dropping a gauge on the scale.

Back to cheapo ones for me!

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Broke the scale on my first calipers, was using them on the lathe, and bumped them on the tail stock, cracking the glass cover, glued a bit of plastic over it and they carried on for quite a while till I bought a new set. Ian S C

[jim’Participant @jim11037]

the caliper loses/gains up to 8mm over the damaged part. Mituyoyo say it can't be fixed……….

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Hi Jim,

I suspect most faile because of damage to the head not the scale. You might be able to get a scrapper with an OK scale of fleabay or thorugh a wanted ad?

Neil

[Chris123Participant @chris123]

I have used some black calipers from Aldi 'on-machine' for a few years, they've been dropped hundreds of times, been covered in oil, had smashed screen and they are only 0.02mm out.

The blue ones I've seen in Aldi recently were terrible though.

[Stewart HartParticipant @stewarthart90345]

One morning last week it was a bit chilly in the shop, this makes my nose run, I was using my aldi caliper when said dew drop dropped on to caliper and it started to go hay wire, I was snot amuzed, I put them to one side and used my spare set, a couple of days later I tried the snotted up set and they were working fine.

So having tested them I can say they are snot proof.

Stew

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I think they all work on a capacitive principle, so conductive fluid like snot would upset any make, until it dried up.

Neil

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

I have a few Aldi digital calipers, as they are cheap they can be left in various locations, and used for rough checking, eg odd bits of precious metal (otherwise known as scrap), preliminary measurements etc.

When it comes to the final measuring, it has to be the mike and the dials. Calipers, having a knife-edge on their legs, are prone to inaccuracy as they have to be held perpendicular to the workpiece. Mikes having a flat anvil naturally find the right-angle.

HomeUse……. there are old swarf makers who use digital devices, because they can no longer see the tiny engravings on the old-fashioned kind, without the use of a magnifier – which is where a 3rd hand would be useful.

Phil

[Chris HeapyParticipant @chrisheapy71135]

I bought a relatively inexpensive 8" calliper recently which suffered an unfortunate accident, I smashed the screen! I had not even realised it was glass and a minor impact – the sort that can be expected in a workshop, broke it. It should not have been made of glass, and to make matters worse the screen is somewhat convex thus standing proud and the first thing that will make contact. A poor buy then…

A better purchase to help a pair of aging eyes was a new Mitutoyo mic to replace my 45-year old Moore&Wright imperial mic (which I bought new ) Not only does the Mitutoyo have a large, clear display, it converts between mm/inches, has 30mm capacity, and is very quick to operate – taking just 10 turns to cover the entire 30mm range.

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I use a cheap plastic/nylon dial caliper for all "rough "jobs. These are very easy to read, don't have batteries and are accurate enough for stock measuring etc.. Resolution 0.1mm. and accurate.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

The Mitutoyo will also have a glass display, although it may well have a plastic sheild in front of it.

Neil

[Chris HeapyParticipant @chrisheapy71135]

That may well be true, but the Mitutoyo display is also well recessed and far less likely to be impacted. I'm looking whether I can remove the shards of glass from the callipers with a view to replacing with a glued-in perpex insert of some sort. I've had 2 Jocal callipers for donkey's years that have been badly treated on occasion – dropped, knocked, stuff fallen on them… they have resolutely survived all.

[Brian WarwickParticipant @brianwarwick88192]

Chris I have several pairs of cheap Aldi / Lidl callipers that are in a production environment and are abused regularly (that's why they were purchased) and they have lasted very well. I think you have just been unlucky and should be grateful it was a cheap set rather than a Mitutoyo set. I accept what you're saying about the screen being recessed on your mic but it's still possible to strike and break it relatively easy even on Mitutoyo products.

[brickyParticipant @bricky]

Hi

I use dial calipers in the workshop for roughing work and a Baty digital for more accurate measurements.I have a cheap digital that I find brilliant for scaling down when doing drawings and converting metric to imperial,also the points are useful for transferring directly to the drawing that i,m working on.

francis

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

I dug out two of these aldi calipers today while tidying up my toolboxes, they both had dead batteries so i replaced them, they came to life alright but neither will zero, switch between metric and imperial or turn off except by auto-off. Is there anything that can be done with them or are they only fit for the bin ? I have a mitutoyo caliper that is brilliant and never gave any problems and they are all stored in exactly the same toolbox.

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Ronan,
I suspect the switch contacts are dirty. These are the conductive rubber type found on TV remote controls etc. It is probably worth cleaning the contacts. If they are the type with the 4 pin output connector that uses the 2 x 24 bit protocol then pulsing the clock line to the + 1.5 volt line performs the zero function. (Even if they use a 3 volt lithium battery they work internally on 1.5 volts.)

Les.

[Alistair Robertson 1Participant @alistairrobertson1]

I bought a couple of these digital verniers from Aldi in April/May last year. model No.94154. I don't have the receipt as it was on the good lady's shopping trip and her purse has a clear-our every few weeks.

I wasn't really worried as they were just for spares and they were CHEAP!

I used one last week and noticed that the display was adding 0.200" to the total when I moved over about a 18.5mm reading. By opening and closing the vernier it was possible to get the reading up to nearly a meter! The increase was always 5.08mm (0.200&quot which makes me think the error may be in the conversion part of the chip.

I took it back to the store but with no receipt then no refund. The manager said it could be more than 3 years old but when I pointed out the production date of 02/2017 he said it was working OK and just to use the zero button as that is what it was for!!

Anyone else have similar problems or is it just a one off problem and I should probably put in our electronic waste box.

Alistair

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Alistair Robertson 1 on 23/03/2018 15:43:18:

I used one last week and noticed that the display was adding 0.200" to the total when I moved over about a 18.5mm reading. By opening and closing the vernier it was possible to get the reading up to nearly a meter! The increase was always 5.08mm (0.200" which makes me think the error may be in the conversion part of the chip.

.

Alistair,

You may be interested in the link that I posted in this previous thread:

**LINK**

http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=103411

MichaelG.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Alistair Robertson 1 on 23/03/2018 15:43:18:

I bought a couple of these digital verniers from Aldi in April/May last year. model No.94154. I don't have the receipt as it was on the good lady's shopping trip and her purse has a clear-our every few weeks.

I wasn't really worried as they were just for spares and they were CHEAP!

I used one last week and noticed that the display was adding 0.200" to the total when I moved over about a 18.5mm reading. By opening and closing the vernier it was possible to get the reading up to nearly a meter! The increase was always 5.08mm (0.200" which makes me think the error may be in the conversion part of the chip.

I took it back to the store but with no receipt then no refund. The manager said it could be more than 3 years old but when I pointed out the production date of 02/2017 he said it was working OK and just to use the zero button as that is what it was for!!

Anyone else have similar problems or is it just a one off problem and I should probably put in our electronic waste box.

Alistair

Clean it with meths You may be pleasantly surprised (…or not, but worth a try).

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