I watched part of a knife making challenge show. The helper was milling a part and the narrator said "the part has to be machined to an accuracy of 1 / ten thousands of an inch" Then the boss grabbed his Harbor Freight dial calipers and made the measurement, and said this part is junk. So the helper had to start over. I must say, I do like my Harbor Freight dial calipers, they're great for scribing a line from an edge. ;-) I wish they would put the dial calipers on sale as cheap as the digital. Mikek
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ROFL. Still grinning. .0001. I often measure that close with what I have, but I am under no illusion that the actual finished part is anywhere with a decimal point of that tight.
I wish the dial calipers were still in the local store period. All I can get is the digitals, (or the yuck, fractionals) and the last couple I bought drifted right out of the box. Their dial calipers are pretty good (or they were). They would outside measure within a thou (if you wiped them each time) until they got abused a bit. None seem to measure inside vey well. Even my Mitutoyos are "eh!" for inside measurement. Instead I use a cheap import inside mic upto 1" and believe it or not, cheap telescoping bore gages for larger. Personal I think the Central dial calipers were about the same Q as the Fowlers at a fraction of the price.
I'm actually thinking about trying to track down some nice old Starrett verniers for larger parts.