Nuts and Bolts – Parts Of A Digital Caliper
The word “digital” often stands for smart, time saving and fruitful management. The modern age has blessed us with lots of technical innovations. When we speak the word digital, we can pre-assume, oh yes, that is going to be something powered by electricity. The digital caliper is not something far cry from that. It requires battery power and when the battery will be run out, you will need to go for a quick replacement to continue your task without any interruption.
In the next few steps, I will get you introduced with various types of component of a digital caliper. You will find this comprehensive guide handy on the go. Let’s make the long story short.
Components Of A Digital Caliper/ Digital Caliper Accessories
Upper Jaws
Lower Jaws
Thumb Screw
The LCD Display
On Off Button
Lock Screw
Digital Caliper Gage
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Upper Jaws :
Not only the digital caliper but also the Vernier and Dial caliper also come with one set of upper jaws. These upper jaws are useful to measure the inner length of any objects. In the workshops, as it used to measure the length of any pipe or anything that calls for a measurement.
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Lower Jaws :
These perform totally the reverse function of the upper jaws. It is used to measure the outer length. Not only the professionals but also the DIYers consider this function as very handy for numerous times.
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Thumb Screw :
Thumb Screw controls the movement of the right Jaws of the digital calipers. With its help, you can adjust the specific length of any object you are going to measure and take its reading.
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The LCD Display :
The mechanism of the digital caliper is quite a far cry from the old school dial and Vernier caliper. The digital caliper comes with an LCD display so that the user can easily take the reading of any measurement.
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Inch/mm Switch, Zero and On/Off Button :
The most interesting fact of the digital caliper is that it gives you an opportunity to take the measurement in both Millimeters and Inches. But the story doesn’t end here. You can make the display zero by just a push of the bottom to make caliper ready for the next measuring task. When you are done with your task you can simply switch off it by pressing the on/off button. It is as simple as that to go with your digital caliper.
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Lock Screw :
Actually, the manufacturers will never be glad to see the back of you. That’s the reason why they have positioned a lock screw just on the upper portion of the digital display. Just before taking the objects away from the middle of the two jaws, don’t forget to lock the caliper to have the accurate measurement. Actually, this feature comes very handy to a bad ass professional or simply a DIY’er.
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Depth Blade/ Electronic Caliper Gauge :
It is also known as the caliper gauge or gage. This a very common feature of the three types of the caliper. Simply moving the thumbscrew you can adjust the depth range and then lock the measurement with the lock crew.
Digital Caliper Battery – Whole Nine Yards
Battery, yes I am talking about the battery of the digital calipers. When you are thinking about buying a digital caliper, the first thing that may lead you to a puzzle is nothing but the battery. It is very certain that, you will store lots of questions in your mind regarding this specific issue including battery replacement cost, how to replace, battery duration and the list grows on. Not just a simple, consider this piece of content as a helpful guide to solve all of your “battery puzzles”. Let’s make the long short.
Digital Caliper Battery Size :
The batteries are a bit larger than the batteries of the watch. I am damn sure when you will see the digital caliper battery for the first time, you will say yourself, oh that it is, I have seen it lots of time before. Actually, the laser pointers, electric calculators, and the kid’s toys are powered by the same type of batteries. So, if you are thinking about your battery replacement, just through your tension in the dust. Just sit back and relax, because it is too easy to avail it.
Digital Caliper Battery Replacement / Digital Caliper Battery Change :
The battery replacement procedure of the digital caliper is as easy as the push of the button. In the most cases, the battery port is hidden by an upper hardcover. But it is too easy to find out the port to replace the old one. But few ones come with screw secured battery cover. In this case, you will need to go for a screwdriver to remove the old battery and replace it with a new one.
High Time of Replacing the Battery :
But, how will you understand the high time you replaced your battery. This is actually nothing to worry about. Your caliper will warn you in a number of ways. Your display will blink several times and finally, the LCD display of your caliper will be totally blank when you used the 100% power of your battery.
How to Pick the Best Battery
But a few things to consider while you are in need to replace your caliper’s battery. There are two types on battery out there in the market. No, I am not talking about the visual appearance; I am talking about the materials the batteries are built of. Type one: LR44, the alkaline battery, very common, can be found anywhere of the country, type 2: SR44 silver oxide battery, the original battery that comes with the digital caliper when you buy it for the first time. These two types of batteries are totally the same considering their visual structure but the silver oxide battery’s durability is a lot more compared to the alkaline battery. Type 2 runs out faster while type 1 performs 2-3 years usually.
How to Improve Battery Life :
The last but not the least recommendation to improve your battery’s durability is saving the power as much as possible. It is a very common scenario that most of the guys keep their calipers switched on for 2-3 days even over months, after finishing their task. I think none but a stupid can do this type of job.
Though you will need to replace your battery once in a blue moon but your awareness and care can improve the battery’s durability by 3X. The alkaline batteries you will find at a dime a dozen as these are dirt cheap, but the price of the original ones is quite reasonable.
A digital caliper’s ON/OFF button only turns off the LCD display. The measurement and calculation functions continue to operate and draw power. This design decision appears to be chosen to maintain the caliper’s position so that it ready for use when it is turned on again.
Some calipers will turn on the display if the measurement changes, others wait for an ON/OFF key press. The LCD is 2/3 of the power drain but after it is turned off a typical digital caliper will drain an SR44W battery within 21 days. The battery must be removed to avoid needing between 15 and 20 SR44W battery replacements each year.
The battery type is important because the LCD display circuit requires a constant voltage. The silver oxide watch battery has a very constant voltage as it is discharged. An alkaline manganese battery has a short constant voltage discharge phase followed by a much longer phase when the voltage falls gradually as the battery is discharged. The LCD display is only fully dark during the constant voltage phase and the caliper will shut off when the alkaline battery is less than 1/2 discharged in mAh when around 2/3 of the energy in joules has been extracted because the remaining current would be delivered at a lower voltage.
With a small constant current load like a digital caliper, a silver oxide type SR44W battery holds a constant terminal voltage near 1.52v until it is almost completely discharged and then the terminal voltage falls to 0v very quickly. With the same small constant current load an alkaline manganese type LR44 battery’s voltage drops from 1.55v to 1.45v almost immediately and then holds almost steady until it is between 20% and 30% discharged. After this initial constant voltage phase ends, the LR44 battery’s terminal voltage follows a straight line to 0.8v and then falls very rapidly.
Using a type LR44 a digital caliper’s LCD display begins to fade just after the battery’s constant voltage discharge phase ends when the voltage falls below approximately 1.40v. The IC will stop the display drive completely when the battery voltage falls below roughly 1.2v. This happens because the LCD driver circuit must avoid letting the electric field move the crystals in the fluid to the terminals. The drive circuit changes to the opposite polarity at N times the battery voltage for 1/Nth of the time to equalize the movement. The higher voltage blanking pulse always rotates the crystals so they don’t polarize light passing through very quickly. As the battery voltage falls it takes longer and longer for the crystals to rotate to polarize the light so that it is blocked by the polarization filter so that the segment appears dark. When it is dark for a smaller fraction of the time dark, the display segment appears to be faded. The IC must stop the display drive completely when the battery voltage falls below the voltage required to operate the stacked capacitor display drive circuit with perfect symmetry. If it operates without perfect symmetry, the LCD display will be permanently damaged when the crystals are electroplated to the terminals .
Great blog! Do you have any tips and hints for Mitutoyo digital caliper battery replacement ? I used Mitutoyo 500-753-20,0Caliper, DIGIMATIC, 0-8″, IP67, 0005″ 0/01 mm No SPC. I’m hoping to start my own work soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you recommend me any advice please ? There are so many choices out there that I’m completely confused .. Any recommendations? Many thanks! 🙂
Thanks for commenting and I am happy that you found my web page. Please follow my article as I mentioned, “Mitutoyo 500-753-20,0Caliper, DIGIMATIC, 0-8″, IP67, 0005″ 0/01 mm No SPC” this is a very authentic Japan made digital caliper. You can buy Silver Oxide Sr44 Battery for this mentioned model. Thanks, have a good day. Stay Home, Stay Safe & Protect Others.