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Digital calipers - tablesawtom - 12-21-2021
There is another post about calipers so I thought I would weigh in on Digital calipers. And I hope what is written will help some to have an easier time with reading a caliper and converting the measurements in their heads.
Think of an inch as being equal to $10. There are 1000 pennies in $10, and there is 100 pennies in one dollar and there are 10 ( one dollars bills) in a $10 bill.
In my day 1/2 dollar coins were as common as quarters, so if you had a 1/2 dollar you had 50 cents written decimally is .50 So half of $10 is $5 or .500 of one inch.
There is 25 pennies in a quarter so a quarter of 1000 pennies is 250 or $2 and 50 cents or 2.50 and one quarter of 1 dollar 25 pennies or .250 Therefore an inch and 1 quarter is equal 1.250 if reading a digital caliper.
When I grew up there was no such of a thing as a calculator so it was done in the head or on paper. But Mother gave my sister and I a quarter and told us to share it, we argued over who got the extra penny. Anyway 12 and 12 is 24 and half a penny is .5 so what you have is 12 1/2 cents written as .125 And .125 is 1/8th of 100 pennies.
In other words think in pennies and move the decimal point to places to the left. so 3/8ths of an inch is equal to a quarter (.25) ( .125 x 2) and 1/2 of a quarter or 12 and 1/2 cents (.125) or 25 pennies and 12 and 1/2 cents or 37 and a half cents or .375 of an inch. so if the dial caliper says .625 you have 1/2 ( 4 eights and .125 or one eight) and 4 and 1 is 5 or 5/8ths of an inch.
If your dial caliper reads 1. 25 think of it as one dollar and 250 pennies. or 1 and 1/4 inches.
My mind thinks in dollars and cents not what 128 of an inch is. I have no idea of what that is and it is. None of my steel rules or tape measurers have it.
I hope this has helps some of you and it you use it it will become part of you . 1.25 and 1.25 will become 2 1/2 inches in your head which can be read on a tape measure. or 1 1/4 and 1 1/4 will be seen a 2 1/2
I can brake it down farther for you id you would like, Just let me know
Where do I use it. I want to raise my saw blade so I can cut a groove 1 /4 of an inch deep. 1/4 is .250 so I raise it 250 on the dial. And my Oneway gauge has a 1/2 inch diameter point on it and is direct reading. Since on most table saws the blade comes up on an arc the center line of the blade changes so I can rotate the blade and find top dead center. There is no need for brass set up blocks or digital height gauges
[attachment=39459]
Tom
RE: Digital calipers - Timberwolf - 12-21-2021
(12-21-2021, 08:29 AM)tablesawtom Wrote: There is another post about calipers so I thought I would weigh in on Digital calipers. And I hope what is written will help some to have an easier time with reading a caliper and converting the measurements in their heads.
Think of an inch as being equal to $10. There are 1000 pennies in $10, and there is 100 pennies in one dollar and there are 10 ( one dollars bills) in a $10 bill.
In my day 1/2 dollar coins were as common as quarters, so if you had a 1/2 dollar you had 50 cents written decimally is .50 So half of $10 is $5 or .500 of one inch.
There is 25 pennies in a quarter so a quarter of 1000 pennies is 250 or $2 and 50 cents or 2.50 and one quarter of 1 dollar 25 pennies or .250 Therefore an inch and 1 quarter is equal 1.250 if reading a digital caliper.
When I grew up there was no such of a thing as a calculator so it was done in the head or on paper. But Mother gave my sister and I a quarter and told us to share it, we argued over who got the extra penny. Anyway 12 and 12 is 24 and half a penny is .5 so what you have is 12 1/2 cents written as .125 And .125 is 1/8th of 100 pennies.
In other words think in pennies and move the decimal point to places to the left. so 3/8ths of an inch is equal to a quarter (.25) ( .125 x 2) and 1/2 of a quarter or 12 and 1/2 cents (.125) or 25 pennies and 12 and 1/2 cents or 37 and a half cents or .375 of an inch. so if the dial caliper says .625 you have 1/2 ( 4 eights and .125 or one eight) and 4 and 1 is 5 or 5/8ths of an inch.
If your dial caliper reads 1. 25 think of it as one dollar and 250 pennies. or 1 and 1/4 inches.
My mind thinks in dollars and cents not what 128 of an inch is. I have no idea of what that is and it is. None of my steel rules or tape measurers have it.
I hope this has helps some of you and it you use it it will become part of you . 1.25 and 1.25 will become 2 1/2 inches in your head which can be read on a tape measure. or 1 1/4 and 1 1/4 will be seen a 2 1/2
I can brake it down farther for you id you would like, Just let me know
Where do I use it. I want to raise my saw blade so I can cut a groove 1 /4 of an inch deep. 1/4 is .250 so I raise it 250 on the dial. And my Oneway gauge has a 1/2 inch diameter point on it and is direct reading. Since on most table saws the blade comes up on an arc the center line of the blade changes so I can rotate the blade and find top dead center. There is no need for brass set up blocks or digital height gauges
Tom
.........................
Excellent, Tom.........a very simple and effective way to understand it.
RE: Digital calipers - crokett™ - 12-21-2021
I have 3 sets of digital calipers. One set has a dead battery, but it's still useful for comparison measurements such as sizing a tenon to fit a mortise in a piece on my lathe, or turning between centers with no bushings. The other 2 sets, one does MM and decimal inches, one does MM, decimal and fractional inches. I rarely use the fractional inch mode, since I'm nearly always using them together and I want to keep them both in the same mode.