18-03-19, 07:02 PM
(18-03-19, 01:14 AM)His Dudeness link Wrote: I'd like to get some measuring equipment for using on bike engines. There's a lot of old used Mitutoyo micrometers and the likes for sale on ebay. My question for anyone who's experienced using measuring equipment is, would it be a waste of money buying old measuring equipment since you don't know how well it's been looked after or does good quality measuring equipment generally stay in spec? I was thinking about buying an old set of micrometers and then getting them checked with slip gauges. Is that a waste of money? Do you need new ones for checking engines?
Micrometers are adjustable, they used to come with a small c type tool for adjusting. They only really go out of adjustment when they are used a G clamps (overtightened on the object being measured). To put it in context, I've a set of mics from 0-25mm all the wat up to 150mm, and an internal with all of the various anvils. Never used any of them since I retired from work 3 years ago, and likely never will. What I di use, is the digital caliper, fairly regularly. You can get them for around a tenner form the likes if Lidl and Aldi. Easier to read, cheap the replace, and I would have thought more than adequate for 99.9% of bike maintenance. As for slip gauges, last time I saw a set for sale, they were very expensive.
Digital caliper is the way to go