So I picked up my first outside micrometer that can do 0.0001" all because I need to check the shims on the car..

 

Seems to be pretty handy

For the most accuracy you really need a metric Mic. You can convert back and forth but it's a pain. Mitutoyo is my preference for quality and cost.

 

GD

Ha yeah I figured that much I dont trust any digital one yet

I use a digital caliper most of the time but I use vernier (metric) Mic's. Anything that needs to be measured in tenth's (metric tenth) I don't trust digital unless it's expensive like Starett and Mitutoyo, etc and I've calibrated it against a standard.

 

GD

Edited July 26, 201114 yr by GeneralDisorder

I use a digital caliper most of the time but I use vernier (metric) Mic's. Anything that needs to be measured in tenth's I don't trust digital unless it's expensive like Starett and Mitutoyo, etc and I've calibrated it against a standard.

 

GD

 

I was asking on the garage journal yesterday about this, my digital caliper does like

Uhmm wow.. I thought that messsage never got posted.. for some reason this site makes my HTC evo run very slow on typing it's like a 3 second delay on each key press..

 

I just backed out because it took so long to type..

 

Anyways what I was going to say was I was asking on Garage journal yesterday about if I could of used my digital caliper instead of the micrometer but given the limits in the FSM I was better off with the mic instead.

 

 

I don't do anything serious with my caliper because it seems to vary sometimes when closing back to zero.. I do use it if I come up to some large size nut that I'm unsure of the size.

 

the one I have is also a vernier mic but I might pick one up in metric later.. I just can't see using it much after doing the valve adjust

For the most accuracy you really need a metric Mic. You can convert back and forth but it's a pain. Mitutoyo is my preference for quality and cost.

 

GD

 

it isn't that difficult to convert from metric to "english" (standard). just take your metric dimension and divide by 25.4 or multiply by .03937. if you want to convert from standard to metric just reverse it , multiply by 25.4 or divide by .03937. it reall isn't that bad. yes , Mitutoya is a very good brand , as are Starrett. i'm a machinist and most of my precision tools are Mitutoya's. they're a little costlier than your generic brands but they're well worth the extra bucks. curtis

Digital measuring equipment is very good, i used to calibrate this stuff. That said however the more $$ the better and more reliable they are.

 

A few notes... Never store a caliper or micrometer completly closed. If it really is a super critical measurement with very tight tolerances, the temp these things are calibrated at is 68 degrees, There isnt anything that has that kind of tolerances that we work with, but its just a point of information.

You can use a feeler gauge to check the calibration on these tools as the std. Surprisingly feelr gauges are dead on as far as tolerances.

Converting is fine and dandy if the measureing device has enough inherent resolution to convert - when going from standard to metric it's important to remember that a thousandth of an inch (.001") is still over 2.5 hundredths of a millimeter (.0254 mm). Since most everything in a Subaru engine is measured on the hundredths of a mm scale.... having a Mic. that reads in thousandths of a mm is preferable for accuracy and simplicity. The shims for valve adjustment are availible in .01 mm increments (or was it .005 mm increments?) in any case it's just easier to stay metric the whole time. It prevents errors from creeping into your calculations.

 

GD

Converting is fine and dandy if the measureing device has enough inherent resolution to convert - when going from standard to metric it's important to remember that a thousandth of an inch (.001") is still over 2.5 hundredths of a millimeter (.0254 mm). Since most everything in a Subaru engine is measured on the hundredths of a mm scale.... having a Mic. that reads in thousandths of a mm is preferable for accuracy and simplicity. The shims for valve adjustment are availible in .01 mm increments (or was it .005 mm increments?) in any case it's just easier to stay metric the whole time. It prevents errors from creeping into your calculations.

 

GD

 

 

That also goes for torque which is in newton-meters.