18" Mitutoyo micrometer batteries

You probably know that Mitutoyo was my client for years, so I just called somebody inside and they say that they've always used SR-44s on those big mikes. That's what I thought.

So, something's fishy. Try it again and see if you didn't bugger something up.

-- Ed Huntress

On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:05:16 -0600, Ignoramus9314

You can get a 375 at Walgreens or Rite Aid. No need to order it from McMaster. Dan

I do not buy stuff at Walgreens, their goods are absolute bottom of the barrel quality. (especially toys). I do not mind spendig a few extra dollars.

Maybe that's why the battery doesn't last very long in my calibers. I thought it was becasue I forgot to turn it off all the time. I thought you could get one locally just to see if it would do what you needed, then spend the big bucks at McMasters :-)

It is not big bucks, it is $1.55 per battery, not so bad. I need to get something else there anyway.

O.K. I just went down and got mine to check. The manual, and a label on the back of the slide, says to use SR44 (and the SR357 is identical in size and voltage.

The SR357 which I removed from this to replace it (because the display was getting faint) measures:

Thickness: 0.2035" (5.16mm) Diameter: 0.4555" (11.56mm)

Note that the "battery compartment" in this one (exposed when the door is slid off) is a circle of phosphor bronze (like shim stock) with a leg connecting it to the circuit board, and a flat phosphor bronze (I think) spring on the board in the center of that area, so it can adjust to small changes in battery size.

The "code" number (from the label on the back) is: 500-323 The "model" number (from the same place) is: CD-12" It uses cable numbers: 905338(1m) or 905409(2m)

No clue as to when it was made. Not even a copyright date on the manual. (Perhaps there is one if I could read Japanese, but not in English at least. :-)

The back side of the manual gives the pinout of the connector, and the data format.

Enjoy, DoN.

According to Dan :

Do you have a Batteries Plus locally? They have a lot of the less common sizes of batteries -- and can order the even less common ones, such as the old 45V radio batteries which my GR sound level meter and my old Navy surplus Geiger counter use.

As for battery life -- the Starrett 6" calipers use two of the large coin cells -- 2032 I think -- and they last perhaps six months in what I have -- unless I slide the battery holder about 1/8" just prior to putting it away, so it disconnects the batteries. Of course, I have to re-zero it when I switch it back on, but that is not a problem.

The Mitutoyo calipers have much better battery life.

My old B&S digital calipers (glass optical scale in the groove under the carriage, and LED readout) used PX-13A cells -- which were mercury cells, and thus are currently made of unobtainum. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

OK, thanks to everyone. I tried another battery (I bought 10) and it worked fine. Must've been something wrong with that one.

These 18 inch micrometers seem to work. What kind of accuracy should I expect from them, if I measure a 4" gage block (also Mitutoyo)?

thanks

Wait a minute. How are you measuring 4" with an 18" micrometer? Do you mean an 18" caliper? I assume so, because an 18" mike is an expensive piece of hardware -- hundreds.

As for accuracy, try measuring the 4" gage block. The gage block is 4", plus or minus a few millionths or a few tens of millionths, depending upon grade. That will tell you how accurate your caliper is at 4".

Is your gage block steel or white ceramic?

-- Ed Huntress

No, I am sorry Ed, a lot of things happened today and I mixed up. It is a caliper, not a micrometer. I apologize.

The are steel.

I was assuming a caliper in my answer -- and then I saw the subject line (after I sent) and was afraid that I had answered the wrong question. :-)

Then at the worst, as manufactured, they will be within 50 micro-inches of 4" (+/-0.000050"). More accurate than the caliper, which at best reads down to 0.0005" (500 micro-inches), and is likely to not be that accurate -- though a good one may be accurate to 0.001".

Enjoy, DoN.

Jeez, you don't have to apologize over it. Cripes, if we start apologizing for things like that our messages will look like something written in the

OK, then I won't have to throw in any cautions about equalizing temperature. Just measure it and go for it. It should be within 0.001".

-- Ed Huntress

Digital calipers are handy as pockets on a shirt in the shop. I have one on every machine and every bench, each glove compartment, a couple of spares, and I've given one to most of my distant progeny so when they come up with "dad, could ya ever.." projects I can get some decent measurements of what they'd like to fit. A light fixture in London, an old faucet in Brooklyn, an old shower head in Detroit, and so on.

I have one Mitutoyo and a bunch of HF jobs, and I gotta tellya I see no difference in performance or accuracy. The HF calipers are 15 bux when on sale. They work just fine. That said, I wouldn't trust any digital caliper to closer than .001" and I think that's a bit iffy. That is plenty close enough for nearly all measuring done with calipers. They're wonderful for quick 'n dirty to within a coupla thou. Easy to read, what's not to like. A digital caliper is a precision instrument compared to a tape measure, but it's incapable of the precision of mikes and even lowest-grade gageblocks.

For closer measurements I use micrometers, or at least a high quality dial caliper like Etalon. Not B&S, and not Starett. I trust the Etalon to half a thou, inside (between flats or posts, not in a hole) or outside. I don't take it out of the case often, but I'm glad to have it now and then.

Has anyone here bit on the new (at least every offer I've seen so far calls them new) digital calipers that can do fractions yet?

If so how to you like it? does it convert between inch->metric->fraction in a reasonable manner?

For an example see :

I find the fraction display/measure intriguing. A lot of times that would be plenty accurate enough for what I was trying to figure out and you wouldn't need to try converting the measurement.

This just after I blew 1/2 loonie on a Casio fx-280 "fraction" calculator! Gerry :-)} London, Canada

One thing - sometimes they are very old - passed around stores and such. I had to buy a dozen or so N batteries from a drug store before they bought new. Those now have remained good for more than 4 years. The others would last a month or so.

It was a Rite Aid which bought out another which had bough out another. I lived there through the last two mergers/take overs and lost all my prescriptions when one computer system couldn't read the prior company data base. That was expensive for the users of that pharmacy.

I switched about a year before I left for good.

Mart> >> On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:05:16 -0600, Ignoramus9314

I have a plastic one for quick general measurements and wood and junk. When I want to measure something proper, I use my good Mitutoyo that is in the box. When larger, I go to my height gauge. It is also a nice tall one. And then to the various mic's that are pre verified before using. I also open and then close - so I pass through the zone going both ways.

So I have a small line of defense.

Mart> >

Those are cute - I'd like them if they said 11/16 + .002 Because one almost never sees 11/16 or 3/8 anything. It is always +/- something.

Less it is a real real exotic gauge block.

I admit I measure a lot of things and convert to see a drill size or such.

Mart> >

I use my 6" mitutoyo for everything and it does not get worse from being used. I had it for about 12 years, I bought it at a pawnshop in Tulsa shortly after I immigrated to the US, without any idea that Mitutoyo was a good brand etc.

I recently bought a 12" mitutoyo and two 18 inchers and am deciding which ones to keep. I think that the most sensible thing would be to keep the 6 incher and one 18 incher.