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Pocket micrometer or equiv

Cyclotronguy

Stainless
Joined
Sep 21, 2005
Location
Northern California
Out wandering the shop floor in a factory that builds electronics, it would be handy to have an EDC "pocket micrometer or equiv" And it's not like I'm lacking the usual full size suspects from TESA and Mitutoyo

Tried one of those Horrible Freight 4" digital calipers with the jaws amputated back for more pocket friendly carry but the accuracy was always suspect generally poor.

The little 1/2" Starrett 232 micrometer isn't a one hand friendly tool
A full size 1" / 25mm mic is a lot of bulk for a pocket.

Ideal would be 15mm capacity 0.01mm resolution and accuracy, sport shirt or watch pocket carry.

Anyone else this obsessive? Found something you can live with as a daily carry

Cyclotronguy
 
My guess is that a higher quality 4" digital caliper in a leather sleeve is about as good as it gets, if you need digital / metric / US measurements. Cut to 2" or so if need be.

MItutoyo makes a super accuracy slide micrometer, but it's as large as any other 1" digital mic.

If your work is all either metric or US, I'd think a 1/2" or 15mm mic would barely slow someone down preferring one hand use. There are some beautifully-made examples from the past. Using two hands -- might add ten seconds to a day. Hunting up a mic or not have the measurement you should have taken -- might add ten minutes to a day?

Do a agree someone should make a pocket-friendly tool. For me it would be caliper-like, go to 50-60mm, be US/metric, and find a way to still do depth and inside measurements; maybe with a sort of flip-away or slide-away guard over the ID points? I've seen scalpels with slide-away covers that worked OK. Let me know if you find one.

There's a reason so many ran around with a 6" rule, reading to hundredths, and stashed in a pocket protector. And a reason for those belt-carry mic holsters. These days, thousandths and tenths are more commonly needed; especially, I'd guess, if your name is something like Cyclotronguy.
 
I don't care if it measures imperial or metric, or if it's old school vernier.... I can do the math.

Pete M: as indicated I had a Horrible Freight 4" POS digital caliper that I cut the jaws back on... so there was no poky-bits in pocket. (wife hates it when I poke holes in shirts / slacks) Not a bad implementation... just the basic platform was flawed.

The Starrett 1/2 mic looks great in pictures, (0.0001" / 0.002mm resolution) .... but it's quite a bit smaller in real life; to the point that it's almost a three handed affair; two for the mic and one for the part.

I saw a photo of the Fowler "Snap-cal" and that might be just the ticket.
Appreciate all the reply's Going to look into the Fowler piece.

Cheers
 
I don't care if it measures imperial or metric, or if it's old school vernier.... I can do the math.

Pete M: as indicated I had a Horrible Freight 4" POS digital caliper that I cut the jaws back on... so there was no poky-bits in pocket. (wife hates it when I poke holes in shirts / slacks) Not a bad implementation... just the basic platform was flawed.

The Starrett 1/2 mic looks great in pictures, (0.0001" / 0.002mm resolution) .... but it's quite a bit smaller in real life; to the point that it's almost a three handed affair; two for the mic and one for the part.

I saw a photo of the Fowler "Snap-cal" and that might be just the ticket.
Appreciate all the reply's Going to look into the Fowler piece.

Cheers

?? You don't use one hand for a 1" (non digital) mic? I learned to hold them with my ring finger looped thru the 'c' part, then use thumb and index finger to operate the barrel.
 
Funny you should mention! I’m an engineer and a home shop machinist. At work, I visit the factory daily. And it happens that I need to measure stuff while I’m there. So I’ve begun to carry an ancient Starrett 436 mic in my back pocket. It’s very smooth and round and compact, doesn’t catch on stuff. I like Starrett’s markings. I think they are easy to read, even without my reading glasses.

At home I use a digital Mitutoyo. I’d like to have that at work, but if it got legs or I sat on it, I’d be sad. I think I paid less than $30 for my 436.
 
Some will really frown on this as abusing a measurement tool, but if your fingers don't fit in the pinky of a Starret 232 I'll bet you could drill a 3 to 4 mm hole at the right spot in the anvil, install a key ring, and loop your pinky in that. Might lose some accuracy, but given that a pair of calipers with clipped tips was ok, this might be too.

Personally I'd just get pants with a big enough pocket to hold a 0-1" mic.
 
I bought one of these from Ebay for ~ $60 thinking it would serve in my apron pocket better than a mic or 6" caliper. So far i haven't warmed up to it because I try to hold it like a 6'" caliper and I can't. It does measure just fine, I trust it to .001 but I haven't got the feel for it in my hand just yet - I have to pull it closed instead of push it like a normal caliper, and I think it would go better in my left hand. YMMV.


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I have a Starrett #223 paper gage mic.

223RLe50768cUSa2


Obviously not a go-to for measuring everything. More to the point, the finger ring works well, I'm surprised this isn't more common on smaller mics. Makes it a lot easier to 1-hand.

I've never seen a factory 1/2" standard mic with the finger ring. But IIRC Starrett and Lufkin showed the ring as optional.
 
Found something you can live with as a daily carry

Cyclotronguy

Surely.

Competent staff who knew their jobs well and were aware I EXPECTED them to do and had seen to it they had such metrology goods as THEY needed to do so.

What's yer goal?

Guy who supervises professional BUTCHERS doesn't get "in their face" on the job to show-off a cotton-picking miniature Swiss Army knife as fits in the crotch-pouch of his jockey SHORTS does he?

Not unless he figures his glutes and thighs might TASTE better to the customer than USDA Choice beef, he does not!
 
Why not have a local leathershop custom make a scabbard?? holster?? for a standard 1" mike? or a 4" caliper? Seems like that's all that's needed for ballpark measurements, any closer use regular instrumentation.

Is cyclotronguy's name Dr Lawrence?
 
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I keep my 6" calipers in a Starrett scabbard I bought 5 or so years ago. I figured if I wore it out it would make a good pattern to make my own with our company logo tooled into the front, because I need more projects, but it has held up well even after I crushed a caliper inside of it (not the scabbards fault. I left it out and dropped a casting on it:dunce:).

Starrett 915 Slide Caliper Accessory, Leather Holster | eBay

I'm a shop apron kinda guy and I like to keep my calipers clipped to them horizontally just above my chest. They're easy to grab and out of the way. I also have several go-to micrometers that will fall into my chest pocket at times. 6" calipers cover most anything I would want to quick reference. A shorter caliper wouldn't be as useful to me.
 
Funny you should mention! I’m an engineer and a home shop machinist. At work, I visit the factory daily. And it happens that I need to measure stuff while I’m there. So I’ve begun to carry an ancient Starrett 436 mic in my back pocket. It’s very smooth and round and compact, doesn’t catch on stuff. I like Starrett’s markings. I think they are easy to read, even without my reading glasses.
....

The half inch starrett fits a watch pocket. I've also taken to carrying a six inch scale with hundreths readings on it. Actually works for most of the away from the lab jobs.
 








 
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