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Dropped my favorite dial calipers

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SSN Vet

SSN Vet

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And didn't check the zero afterwards... then proceeded to load two boxes of my new favorite 7-08 load (which is near Sierra's published max) with a COAL = 2.78"

During my cleanup, I put the calipers away and they read .030" at fully closed, and feel like the gear is skipping track :(

So I cut open my newly boxed ammo and double check COAL with my bAck up digital calipers..... Yup... Every round is seated to 2.75"

Argh!

If I hadn't picked up right away, I might not have caught this...

:{
 
As the old machinist said, drop your micrometer, pick it up, dust it off, adjust it.
Drop your dial caliper, step over it on the way to get your spare.
 
You should be able to adjust the zero again, but it won't be at the top. Loosen the little knob on the dial face and adjust it to zero with the jaws closed. Then check it against your backup set to make sure you haven't actually stripped the teeth.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
SSN Vet said:
And didn't check the zero afterwards... then proceeded to load two boxes of my new favorite 7-08 load (which is near Sierra's published max) with a COAL = 2.78"

During my cleanup, I put the calipers away and they read .030" at fully closed, and feel like the gear is skipping track :(

So I cut open my newly boxed ammo and double check COAL with my bAck up digital calipers..... Yup... Every round is seated to 2.75"

Argh!

If I hadn't picked up right away, I might not have caught this...

:{
Click to expand...
If you can find some .002"-.004" steel shim stock, you may be able to fix those calipers. With a 1.5" length and 1/2" width of shim, trim down to a width of about .050" or less. And about .750" long. You want it to look like a flag on a pole.

Thoroughly clean the caliper tracking and ever so lightly oil.

Run your calipers out and on the back side, there should be a gap between the head (that contains the gears) and the body.

Place the sliver of shim into the gap, perpendicular with the body. Your going to try and force it to skip gears again. With the shim inserted, start closing the head toward zero. But don't use a much force, as you don't want the gears to bite off a piece of shim. Like fishing, just a bit of jiggle and patience. Recheck zero each time. This may take several tries to get it back to zero.
 
If you can find some .002"-.004" steel shim stock, you may be able to fix those calipers. With a 1.5" length and 1/2" width of shim, trim down to a width of about .050" or less. And about .750" long. You want it to look like a flag on a pole.

Thoroughly clean the caliper tracking and ever so lightly oil.

Run your calipers out and on the back side, there should be a gap between the head (that contains the gears) and the body.

Place the sliver of shim into the gap, perpendicular with the body. Your going to try and force it to skip gears again. With the shim inserted, start closing the head toward zero. But don't use a much force, as you don't want the gears to bite off a piece of shim. Like fishing, just a bit of jiggle and patience. Recheck zero each time. This may take several tries to get it back to zero.
Click to expand...
Good advice. This is exactly the way it is done by machinist.
 
kcofohio, that's a neat approach. I'm going to add it to my bag of tricks for future reference. Thank you for sharing.
 
Tiny screwdriver, take the 4 screws out that hold the entire dial on the calipers. Lift off the dial, turn the little gear to line the pointer up with zero and at the top. Place back on and close and check if the pointer is back at zero and straight up. If not try again. I've had to do it a few times but mostly when I get a piece of dirt or metal in the teeth and it causes the dial to slip a tooth. Seems that each tooth is .015" on my caliper.
 
X-Ring, and by tool & die makers. ;)

The main thing is, whether dial, digital, or even vernier. They need to be kept clean and wiped down with the slightest amount of a thin oil. Calipers and micrometers that are stiff, don't allow for me to feel what I'm measuring.

But crud (chips, powder granules, etc.) does happen. :)

At least SSN Vet has a back-up pair.
 
I've repaired a zillion dial calipers to zero by pulling the face off and carefully pulling the needle off the post, close jaws and push needle back on. It's worked about 95% with one in a while it damages the mech or won't come off.
 
thanks for the tips guys...

I also do hobby gunsmithing and machining and this is exactly the kind of responses I was hoping for.

My digital set is el-cheepo and I frequently find it measuring .001 off. OK for most reloading tasks, but not for machine shop tasks.

I have had the dial pair longer and find it to be more accurate and reliable. I'll have to tinker about and see if I can save it.
 
When you drop your Dial or electro calipers just kick 'em under the bench and go buy new ones, THE BEST YOU CAN AFFORD !!!
Better yet, learn to read and use a Vernier Caliper and all the useless crap numbers the modern electro/Dials dish up are a thing of the past. FOREVER !
And so it goes...
 
My very old Craftsman dial calipers came with a very thin strip of something like spring steel that you use to slip in under the roller to raise the gear teeth for setting zero. I have never had to do it, but I still have that little strip stuck in the foam in the case, just in case.
 
Interesting info here! I have a set of Helios dial calipers that I bought when I was a machinist in the 70's. Love 'em. Still in great shape, but I loaned to a guy ONCE in 1979 and they came back about 20 thou off-zero. Grrr. I just zero'd the dial and have been using them that way ever since. Didn't know you could fix 'em, I may have to try now.

Thanks for the tips!
 
Instructions

Here is a scan of the instructions I have for resetting zero; see the .pdf file on the bottom. It is basically just lifting the pinion off the rack and moving the slide to an even-number where the dial will read zero. I thought pictures of the actual tool might be helpful also:
Dial Caliper tool (1).jpg
You could probably make one from an old cartridge case - the mouth of a random .357 measured about .01" thick, which is reasonably close (this tool measures .008" thick, .065" wide, and the split on the end is approximately .035" deep):

Dial Caliper tool (2).jpg Dial Caliper tool (3).jpg
 

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My 2 cents / FWIW:

I may not know as much about guns or loading for that matter but my opinion as a world title holding machinist (CNC Lathe 2011 & 2012 SkillsUSA national champion and 22nd overall in the world in 2013 World Skills Leipzig competition).... the construction of dial calipers is Generally the same from brand to brand however some like my sets of Mititoyos are better at taking a drop, but like stated before get a set of vernier. They are relatively cheap and are comprised of only 2 or 3 pieces... They are something you can heavily rely on for long term durability.

Also a quick note to consider.... if you zero our your calipers when closed and not off a gauge block/artifact near the size you are trying to measure then you will be off by a couple thousands of an inch anyways... You can check how well your calipers or other measuring tools for that matter can hold accuracy by setting zero closed and using artifacts (gauge blocks in 1" or 0.5" increments) up to its max stroke and record how far off it is from nominal. Then graph it, you may be very surprised with the results. This is known as a linearity test.

As an average consumer who uses calipers for reloading, none of this may apply, but you should be aware that tools have a certain level of error associated with them due to the nature of how they are produced.

My pecking order for measuring items is shown below:
0.010" or greater = Vernier calipers
0.005" or greater = Dial calipers
0.001" or greater = Quality Plunge Indicator / Micrometer with Vernier 0.0001 scale on back of thymbol.
0.0001" or greater = Test indicator (NOT PLUNGER STYLE).
0.00005" or greater = Makino V33i at work (I work for Makino)
0.00001 or greater = Alicona White Light Infrarometer
Smallest possible (angstrom) = Zygo New view Nano scale atom infrarometer.

Hope any of this can help someone in the future.

If you have any inspection / machining questions please feel free to ask, I will do my best to help you.

Thank you,
Ron.
 
Ya that's great but I loaned my Alicona White Light Infrarometer and now it reads upside down so I'm really screwed. I just subtract .000001 from all my measurements and it seems pretty accurate again.
 
Paddy said:
Ya that's great but I loaned my Alicona White Light Infrarometer and now it reads upside down so I'm really screwed. I just subtract .000001 from all my measurements and it seems pretty accurate again.
Click to expand...
It was a point of reference..

Maybe OP wants to learn a little more inspection, maybe not.... either way I am willing to help for free.
 
Tanks again for all the replies...

The real problem is not the dial caliper zero, it the crunchy feeling when I roll them in and out...

I intend to dissect them later today.
 
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