Dealing with decimals

[tablesawtom]

To Steve N.

I am not a big fan of dial, digital calipers. I much prefer a micrometer. There is an old saying in the trade which it 3 people can measure with a caliper and all 3 will get a different reading but they will all be within .001 of each other. So yes it is very easy to get to much thumb pressure  and get several different readings.

If you have a set of drill bits laying around why not use your whatever caliper and spend a little time measuring something that you do know what the actual size is. Know the actual way to measure a drill bit is to measure a crossed the drill's margins with a micrometer. The drill shank will be a couple thousandths less. But knowing this will help you get the measurements that you are supposed to get and to get the feel of the caliper.

I hope this information helps.

Tom

[Marc]

Tom,,in the begining of this thread i read how you broke down decimals using money,,,and i followed you right along. Im glad you wrote it. Calling myself an amateur woodworker is giving myself too much credit. In my day to day world i hardly ever need to measure especially with decimals....so what i might start to understand today will be out of my head next week.
I always have admired machinists for their knowledge of making critical, close tolerance parts by turning a hand wheel enough to cut "thousandths ". I belong to a machinist forum just to see what they do and try to understand and ask for help when i try something.
If i were able to fiddle with my power tools to get them to a +/- spec, i WOULD. I dont have the patience.
I just look at tools like a marking gauge or a scribe and thank heaven that they dont have numbers on them.

This has been an interesting read so far

[tablesawtom]

To Daddo,

Yes .5 is the same number as .50 and yes .500 is the same number as .5.   I saw all 3 numbers in metal working , same number only the tolerance changes. I paid $19.95 for my digital caliper, so they are no longer very expense and I believe that a lot more woodworkers use them than I think.  

When measuring thickness i prefer a dial caliper over a steel rule because of my eyesight. I find it very easy to get a parallax error with a steel rule. And I have trouble deciding how much the difference is if it is not on the lime.
Again the dial, digital, or vernier caliper reads to 3 places. You will find it easier going if you just give in and memorize the harder ones like 1/8 is .12 and .125  same number difference tolerance. 3/8= .375  5/8- 625 7/8 is .875.
Let me know if I can be of any more help.

Tom

[tablesawtom]

Mark.
If i were able to fiddle with my power tools to get them to a +/- spec, i WOULD. I dont have the patience. To that I say If you have a beautiful woman on you arm and you buy her a new dress that makes her even more beautiful who reaps the benefits?

A jointer, with a  correctly set of sharp blades, no matter how you wish to set them, is a real joy to use and is also safer. it gets easier the more you do it.

Tom

[Steve N]

Tom I might turn down a digital caliper with a hundred dollar bill tied to it. I'm all about old school dial calipers. I just find them easier for my mindset if they have no metric component. I surely hope I didn't say/do something that angered you I was mostly responding to your title. "Dealing with decimals"

[Steve N]

Mark.
If i were able to fiddle with my power tools to get them to a +/- spec, i WOULD. I dont have the patience.

Now I'm backward from that. I was taught to set the machine up to 0.001 if you could, or as close to it as I could. Then when you are doing woodworking, you didn't need to fuss to make the cuts so tight, the machine was dialed in to do it for you. Made it more accurate, and by extension safer.

[tablesawtom]

Steve,

No, I wasn't angered. I am glade you took the time to write. I think I posted somewhere that I paid 19.95 for my digital caliper. And it wasn't to long ago I saw it on sale for $9.95 soo they are fairly inexpensive. And truthfully it makes no difference as to whether it is a dial, digital, or Vernier caliper the thumb pressure rules the day. That is unless it has a fine adjustment on it.

I believe, from just general reading of many post, that a direct a reading caliper of kind is common in more shops than not. They can be used to take measurements 4 different ways so that are a very good addition to any shop. But that is only my opinion.

I lean towards a digital calipers because I read on a forum somewhere a while ago that saw dust can get into the gear teeth slowly over time and can get packed in and ruin the dial caliper. He said he through 2 away before switching to a digital which didn't seem to be affected by saw dust.

Forgive me but I guess I haven't learned how all this new soft ware works yet but as to your next reply, people don't read for understanding just speed read and most of the time read the whole article before jumping off , or didn't read what I replied to. What was there is actually a direct quote that Mark had said, not me. My response was to in courage him to go the extra mile. Actually I kind of said the same thing as you.

Tom

[Marc]

Dont get me wrong,,,i get you both on the setting up of the tool and agree. Whats easy for you to accomplish takes me too long and i get frustrated. My stuff isnt so terribly out of whack,but some tools are easier to adjust than others. I'll get my bandsaw with riser blocks adjusted and have fun doing it. The thickness planer is cutting the wood for you so it needs to be more accurate. I'll get it close enough because i dont make things often or use it that much.
Also, when i made the post about planer blades being high on either side, i was trying to get them parallel to the cutterhead first. I didnt want to frustrate those who were helping me through it ,,so for now....i accepted the amount of fiddling i had to do and put it off.
Like I said ealier,,,an amateur is giving me credit.

[daddo]

There's something to be said when going from machining a part to within a .001" tolerance, then moving on to woodworking where that tolerance is not necessary, then for example, framing.

I was helping someone frame in an add on bedroom. I arrived to get started when he needed to leave for a while. While he was gone, I got about 1/4th of it done before he returned. I was quite proud of my cuts and fits as a woodworker and awaited his response upon his inspection. I could tell he was surprised more wasn't done but he was polite and didn't mention it. My cuts fits snug and straight as they would be if I were making a dresser- I took the time to admire my work as he picked up a 2x4, made a rough cut and pounded it into place in a "close enough" effort.
 Oh well.  

[Downwindtracker2]

Early on I worked with an old German carpenter on a house. He came up to me and said "Can you see those little lines on the tape measure between the big ones? Well I can't so I don't use them."