Dasqua Digital Caliper, any good?

[Steve CrowParticipant @stevecrow46066]

Correction to previous post. Just checked RDG website and the same ones are still for sale. They are the absolute digital range, available in 4″, 6″ and 8″ sizes. They are a bit dearer than the rest of the Dasqua calipers but I wouldn’t hesitate to get them again.

[alan ord 2Participant @alanord2]

Regarding battery longevity, I recall some time ago watching a You Tube video of an electronics guy checking an expensive caliper (Mitutoyo) vs a cheap supermarket version. One of the things he measured was the current whilst they were switched off and both were drawing current. The Mitutoyo one was significantly less. I can only assume it was drawing current to back up some sort of memory. Unfortunately I can’t recall the You Tube guys name. it will be stored in my You Tube usage history but I’m not inclined to go searching for it.

Alan

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

Doubt your theories Dave

 

My 35 year old Mitutoyo is not sealed and stays in the shed. …

The Difference between that and all the others is that they remember zero and the old Mitutoyo does not. So when that is off it is truely off yet all the others have to use some power to keep zero in the memory.

Doubting my theories is entirely respectable.

Based on measuring the tiny current drawn by all my calipers their cells ought to last longer than they do.   Unfortunately I don’t have a Mitutoyo to measure.  If I did, I might be able to confirm it runs OK even after the cell voltage starts dropping.

Can I borrow yours?  (Might return it one day, but don’t bet on it.)

Anyone else noticed that lent tools never come back, unless broken?

Dave

 

[alan ord 2]

On alan ord 2 Said:

Regarding battery longevity, I recall some time ago watching a You Tube video of an electronics guy checking an expensive caliper (Mitutoyo) vs a cheap supermarket version. One of the things he measured was the current whilst they were switched off and both were drawing current. The Mitutoyo one was significantly less. I can only assume it was drawing current to back up some sort of memory………….

Alan

Most such devices I have seen or used have a “soft” on/off switch. That is; instead of a physical pair of copper switch contacts isolating the battery from the device, there is a press switch that bridges two tracks on the PCB with a conductive plastic pad. Via some logic circuits, this turns on a transistor, which feeds power to the device.

This sort of soft switch needs the logic part of the circuit to be permanently powered in order to sense the press switch closure, and also power to be permanently applied across the switched-off transistor. The permanently-on part of the logic circuit and leakage across the switched-off transistor is what drains the battery – there is always a current drain even when the device is ‘turned off’.

Or possibly, the whole measuring circuit is permanently powered and only the LCD display is turned on and off, which would save the cost of a power transistor, small though that component will be in a device like this.

 

I have taken to leaving the battery cover of my electronic callipers off and the battery removed unless I am actually using it. When I need it I can just pop the button battery in without the cover and make my measurements before taking the battery out again when I have finished the session.

I’ve also bought a calliper with a mechanical dial gauge which is easy to read to  0.01mm, accurate enough for my uses, and uses no batteries at all !

[John Doe 2]

On John Doe 2 Said:

On alan ord 2 Said:

…

…
I’ve also bought a calliper with a mechanical dial gauge which is easy to read to  0.01mm, accurate enough for my uses, and uses no batteries at all !

Oh no it isn’t!  Mitutoyo calipers are better than most, and their very best models are only good for ±0.02mm.  Lesser Mitutoyo calipers are an honest ±0.03mm.

Apart from the mechanical restrictions shared by all calipers, dial calipers allow extra user mistakes to creep in, such as parallax error.   Reading a pointer requires much more care than reading a digital display.

When it comes to claims of accuracy I have major doubts about the hobby.   I think we can all get close to ±0.02mm with a micrometer, but claims to be better than that are dubious.

If a hundred Model Engineers were each asked to bore a 10.00 mm diameter hole 10mm deep in a 25mm brass rod, whilst a second group of 100 were told to each make a 10.00mm diameter brass rod 20mm long, then trying to fit them together after stirring in a box would be shocking.   Only a few pairs selected randomly the box from would be a reasonable air-tight sliding fit, all the others would anything between a loose rattle fit, or a hammer required job.

Haven’t made a piston and cylinder for years.  However, although both were bored and turned initially to measurements, no measurements were taken to fit them.   The fit was achieved by lapping, removing tiny unmeasured amounts of metal, and using the piston and cylinder as comparators.   No need to know what their actual sizes are accurately,  they only need to fit together.

Dave

 

 

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

I really don’t think that precision and caliper should be used in the same sentence. A caliper, digital, vernier or whatever, is good for roughing work. If you want to get down to the last couple of thou, you need to use a micrometer.

[alan ord 2]

On alan ord 2 Said:

….I know that the U.S. are very iffy about buying stuff that has been made in China, so my educated guess is the U.S. manufacturing facility will be producing tools for their domestic market and China manufactured tools will be for Europe and the rest of the world.

Are you kidding? Last time I was in the US, about a year ago, it was hard to find a tool shop (or any other kind of shop) selling anything not made in China.

Don’t believe the political rhetoric. Supporting American industry stops short of paying more money for whatever they want want to buy. Greed is good, which means whoever offers the most for your buck, gets your buck.

 

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

Dave, yes OK I could have phrased that part more clearly. The comma was a bit too subtle – but I actually said my dial calliper can be read to 0.01mm, (which it can), and is accurate enough for my use, which I said earlier in the thread was 3D printing, and that I couldn’t comment on its fine accuracy for metalwork, nor its repeatability.

I did not mean to imply that it was accurate to 0.01mm, and wouldn’t expect it to be.

 

[alan ord 2Participant @alanord2]

Hopper, then why are tool manufacturers returning tool manufacturing back to the US. I worked for B & D / DeWalt for years and also Newell Rubbermaid who manufactured Irwin and Lenox tools. I ran factories in the UK, Italy, USA and China for both organisations. They are all returning tool manufacturing to the States because of the feedback from customers reluctant to buy none US manufactured tools. The drop in sales was hurting their bottom line and I know this first hand.

B&D closed all of their US manufacturing facilities some years ago and transferred production to China. I know that in recent years they have re opened at least two factories that I know of in the US and opened a factory in South Yorkshire producing power tools a couple of years back, which used to be produced in Spennymoor in Co Durham until they closed that facility some years ago.. Also Newell Rubermaid closed the factory producing Irwin and Lenox tools in China that I ran and moved the production back to the US.

Alan.

[alan ord 2Participant @alanord2]

Final update from me. Received my new Dasqua Caliper on Monday and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Better quality than I expected, very smooth operation, no grating, dust protector inside of the battery compartment and no sharp corners. I have 4 or 5 cheap Aldi / Lidl calipers which are no way near as good as the Dasqua. Checked against gauge blocks and bore gauge rings and perfect every time. It reads zero every time I close it up. The cheap versions always read 1 – 2 thou out after repeatably closing the caliper to zero.

Very happy bunny.

Alan.

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