{"id":39774,"date":"2022-02-24T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T16:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=39774"},"modified":"2022-02-22T11:57:58","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T18:57:58","slug":"comparing-cheap-and-expensive-digital-calipers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/comparing-cheap-and-expensive-digital-calipers\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparing Cheap and Expensive Digital Calipers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been getting a great response to the new \u201cTips Busters\u201d feature. See the first installment below, and in \u201cShop Talk,\u201d see a call for a tip to bust (Does using tape to prevent tearout on a table saw actually work?).\u00a0Can anyone here\u00a0take this one on<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Comparing Cheap and Expensive Digital Calipers<\/strong>
\n\"calipers\"
\nIn\u00a0this\u00a0Clough42<\/em>\u00a0video<\/a>,\u00a0James<\/strong>\u00a0looks at digital calipers at 3 different price points and asks if the expensive ones are worth it. He raises some good points here, like the fact that, for most non-precision measuring (e.g. general shop use, woodworking, hobbies, etc.), an inexpensive set of calps is perfectly fine. Is being a half-a-thousandth of an inch off worth spending ten times as much? Where he argues you might want to spend more on a more expensive tool is for the quality of the manufacturing, the feel of the tool, and some of the higher-end features of an expensive tool. Personally, while I would love a pair of $150\u00a0Mitutoyo calipers<\/a>, I don\u2019t need them for 95% of the work I\u2019m doing. I usually reach for my $9 TackLife calipers for most measuring, or if I want to feel a bit more confident, I use my $42\u00a0iGaging calipers<\/a>. For most of us, we don\u2019t need to spend more than $50 on a pair of calipers.<\/p>\n

Tips Busters: Reviving Felt Pens? CONFIRMED!<\/strong>
\n\"marker_1\"
\nHere is the first tested tip. In the first volume of my\u00a0Tips and Tales from the Workshop<\/a>, I included a tip on reviving felt alcohol-based ink markers. The tip claimed that the alcohol frequently evaporates before the ink is exhausted. By \u201cadding a few drops of isopropyl alcohol,\u201d you can bring the pen back to life. In response to the book, several people asked if this actually works. I have now tried it and yes, it does.<\/p>\n

I have a lovely\u00a0Greg\u2019s Garage modified Sharpie<\/a>\u00a0that had dried out. At first, I tried \u201ca few drops\u201d of IPA. The next day, I marked a sheet of paper with lines. The pen only worked for about a half a page of marks. The next day, I poured some IPA over the felt cartridge and redid the test. This time, I got two days of ink out of it (covering a full 8-\u00bd x 11 piece of paper each day). Next, I placed the cartridge in a small jar of IPA for an hour to thoroughly soak the felt. I\u2019ve now been drawing lines with it each day (a page per day) for 5 days. Below is the 5th day. It\u2019s started to dim a little, but the point is, you can bring a felt tip pen back from the dead and get a few more days\/weeks\/months out of it (depending on how frequently you use it). But, you want to soak the felt, not just use a few drops.
\n\"marker_2\"<\/p>\n

Laser Engraving in Color<\/strong>
\n\"readyplayer1\"
\nMy maker pal,<\/em>\u00a0Andrew Lewis<\/em><\/strong>, shared this on Twitter:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s a trick I tried last year. You can lay down multiple layers of colored enamel paint onto a surface, then etch them back one layer at a time to get multi-color effects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making a Sandpaper Organizer<\/strong>
\n\"sandpaper\"
\nLike a lot of makers,\u00a0Laura Kampf\u00a0<\/strong>has struggled with an efficient way of storing and accessing her significant sandpaper supply. As she points out, in the winter weather of her shop in Germany, the paper likes to curl. And when you have stacks and stacks of paper, accessing the grit you need can be an annoyance.\u00a0Her solution<\/a>\u00a0is a pair of wooden boxes where the paper is under tension until you need to rifle through it like record store flip bins to find the grit you desire. Ingenious.<\/p>\n

Maker Slang<\/strong>
\nLooking at the jargon, slang, and technical terms of making.<\/em><\/p>\n

IPA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 No, in this case this isn\u2019t a reference for India Pale Ale, it\u2019s the abbreviation for isopropyl alcohol.<\/div>\n
Relocatable power tap<\/strong>\u00a0(RPT) \u2013 The technical term for a power cord with a multi-outlet box on the end.<\/div>\n
Wabi-sabi<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 A Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in imperfection, age, and decay.<\/div>\n
Witness Cup<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 In molding and casting, a cup of leftover material that\u2019s set aside to help gauge when the objects in a pressure pot are cured.<\/div>\n

Perennial Shop Tips from Family Handyman<\/strong>
\n\"handyman\"
\nI love the tips and projects you find in old DIY magazines like\u00a0Popular Mechanics<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Do It Yourself<\/em>\u00a0magazine. Many of them are clever and useful (or appear to be). Some are good for a laugh, and some are outright dangerous.\u00a0Family Handyman<\/em>\u00a0has collected\u00a0101 tips from yesteryear<\/a>\u00a0that their readers claim have stood the test of time.<\/p>\n

Big Sheet Carrier<\/strong>
\nYou don\u2019t have to struggle trying to lug around full sheets of plywood or drywall. Just tie together the two ends of a length of rope about 18 ft. long. Hook this loop around the two bottom corners of the sheet to form a handle.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tips for Better Torch Cutting<\/strong>
\n\"torchcutting\"
\nIn\u00a0this Fireball Tool video<\/a>,\u00a0Jason<\/strong>\u00a0shares some of the techniques and workarounds that he\u2019s developed over years of torch cutting and welding. He covers how to get the right cut with the wrong tip, how to best cut angle iron, cutting square and round tubing, what to do if you can\u2019t read your oxy or acetylene regulator gauge, and more.<\/p>\n

Shop Talk<\/strong>
\nReader\u00a0<\/em>Jim Keith<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0sent me a great candidate for a tip to bust. Anyone want to take a crack at this one?\u00a0<\/em>Email me<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told that if you apply masking tape to an area you\u2019re about to crosscut on a tablesaw, it can reduce tear-out. This was probably intended as a cheaper\/faster option than “using a sharper\/better\/ more appropriate blade\u201d or \u201cpre-score the cut.\u201d I\u2019ve used it on plywood, regular lumber, veneers, laminates, and sheet plastics, and never gotten perfect results, but I\u2019ve never really had time to do any testing to see if it\u2019s a placebo or actually effective. I understand that it can actually be helpful with tools other than tablesaws, in that it protects the finish from the foot of a jigsaw (or kickback guards), or provides a better marking surface, but I\u2019ve also seen the tape grab bits of sawdust and drag them into the surface, which was less than helpful. I no longer work for that shop, but I\u2019d love some vindication that Big Masking Tape was behind the tip all along. Alternately, if it\u2019s not ineffective, is there a better tape to use than plain or painters masking, in the sweet spot between \u2018keeps tearout minimized\u2019 and \u2018doesn\u2019t gunk up blade with adhesive\u2019?\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales – Issue #112<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":39781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2371],"tags":[2372],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39774"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39782,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39774\/revisions\/39782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}