Ultimate digital caliper for modelers.

Do you know how it determines the denominator when it's not an exact conversion? E.g., would 15mm convert to 1/2 (18% small), 5/8 (6% large), 9/16 (5% small), 19/32 (1/3% large), etc? Hopefully, the user would have some choice. I can think of a couple of ways of doing it - do you know how they do it?

Bob

A quick googling found several models - with fractional resolutions of 1/64 or 1/128. I suppose the documentation will explain whether the device will read low, high or closest to available unit.

That would be handy for the target market of woodworkers and such, I don't see it such a big deal for scale railroad modeling. I really would like to see scale size available.

There was an HO scale dial caliper out, not sure if it's still available.

Val

I think I'll stick to my old manual type ones , I've had them for many years along with my micrometers and they served me well in my work ,now in my hobby. I have a few scale calculators that work well .

Will it do 24ths? I model in 1/24th scale (and 1:87) I don't seem to be able to find a 1/24" scale rule anywhere.

Regards, Greg.P.

"Bob Engelhardt" wrote: (clip) Do you know how it determines the denominator when it's not an exact

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The most logical thing would be for it to read in the fractions that it is set up to resolve, and jump from one to the next, without trying to get exact matches to the other scales. If you are reading in 1/128's of an inch, for example, you are interested in the closest value to the actual diameter--not the closest value to a number in some other scale.

Good evening Boris;

And I suppose you would want it to print the data, too. What you request would be fine for single readings. Unless the instrument has a useful memory, you will have to write them down. Gee, just like the old days.

Cheers, John

Sounds like you need to buy a 1" square rod at the hardware store. Normally in 3' lengths, can be cut down...

Then using paper or plastic sheeting - print scales. Verify sizes, redo as needed. Then since you are a model maker, make a scale. Square not triangular.

Since square - you can do your two scales and metric and inch or others as needed. Naturally, if you had a CNC mill, then the job is trivial.

But a laser pinter or bubble has the ability. Just coat the paper with Stay Clear and away you go!

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net TSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Endowment Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot"s Medal. NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.

Greg Procter wrote:

What I meant in my example was: If you measured something that was actually 15mm, but wanted it to read in fractions, how would it display?

I would hope that it wouldn't display in some fixed denominator, e.g.,

128 ths. Because measuring something to be 96/128 is not nearly as useful as knowing it's 3/4. What about 80/128, now what is that? Let's see ... divide both by 16 gives 5/8. OK, 5/8 it is. I'd want one that would say 5/8, not 80/128. Can you imagine a list of material described this way: "2 pcs 80/128 brass, 4 72/128 long".

Bob

Low cost have a data port . But they need a 2nd memory so u can go back and forth ABS and REL .

Im doin ARM7 mcu , but software is Luddite , so no one is having fun . Ill give some free s/w soon , end all that . My s/w wont use English Text to program. Have you ever heard of anyone progarmming a computer at high level , with no text input ? I will be the first , Anyone , anywhere of any nationality will be able to program it in minutes , without a manual ..

BTW Stay away from VXB bearing . I got ripped . $500 of 6002 and 6003 , the cage was dragging ,

kinda like that HF mill-drill that used tapered rollers and lower roller cage was dragging on the housing !

Boris Beizer spake thus:

So there are calipers with digital outputs? That gives me an idea: what if a guy were to connect such a caliper to a small custom-made unit, instead of a computer, that would display the size in whatever scale desired?

I probably have enough skills programming a little bitty CPU (like the Ubicom [formerly Scenix] SX-28) to make something like this. Sounds like a fun project. Could fit in a small box, easy to more around with you.

Anyone know the type of interface these calipers use? USB? Serial?

me spake thus:

Looks like they use plain ol' RS-232. Now can anyone tell me the data format?

PRINT!!?? WiFi to a storage device.

Not RS-232 levels, but it is a serial data format, not quite TTL levels.. See

or Regards, Bob Headrick

That's right. That's the intention. So if I'm working to say, 1:25 scale, and I pick up a piece of wood, I can immediately measure if it is the 5.4cm thickness I'm looking for.

Boris

Lumber comes to mind, an inch and a half board will be 6 quarter stock. Then you have sheet metal in gauge sizes which is neither fractional nor metric. Some how we all get by.

Wouldn't an architect's 6 scale drafting ruler work? I don't have on handy but I believe they usually have a 1/2" = 1' scale on them. I think they are twelve unit based.

Eric

Greg Procter wrote:

Will it do 24ths? I model in 1/24th scale (and 1:87) I don't seem to be able to find a 1/24" scale rule anywhere."

That would work, but we went metric thirty years ago and architects/draughtsmen went CAD 10/15 years ago so I've found nothing around NZ. I'm sure I owned one years ago but tossed it out in one of my moves before I added 1:24 scale to my collection of scales. Unfortunately when a country goes metric old plans don't update themselves. :-(

>

I googled 1:24 scale ruler. Lots of hits. Here's one.

Look down the page for rulers. I don't know what shipping to nz would be, but it shouldn't be too bad for something that small. Good luck.

Pete Keillor

Pete Keillor wrote: [...]

1:24 is 1/2" to the foot, a standard architectural scale. You should be able to find a ruler marked in inches even in NZ, since your switch to metric was relatively recent. Most rulers sold here in Canada are metric on one edge, and imperial on the other.

HTH