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I bought an inexpensive digital caliper a few weeks ago, because my old plastic cheapies bought at Sears weren't accurate enough for anything interesting.
For $14.99 at my local cheap tools (HDC) outlet, I figured I couldn't lose.
I was quite pleasantly suprised! They are made of a nice heavy stainless steel, and have proven to be very accurate and reliable. They come with a decent plastic case and even an extra battery.
For the acid test, I pulled out my collection of GS valve shims, and the calipers measured them all very accurately and repeatably (checked against a manual micrometer) down to the last 1/100 mm.
You can get these from many different sources and under various brand names. Harbor Freight and several sellers on eBay have them. They are all probably made by the same manufacturer -- there's one blue button, one yellow button, and one red button (off, zero/on, inch/mm), and they generally list at under $20.
Here's Harbor Freight's product page:
HF charges quite a lot for shipping, plus an excessive "handling" fee, so I'd look around locally first.
Long-term durability is unknown, but at this price, who cares? Like all digital calipers, you have to keep them clean, but if you return them to the nice included case, they should last quite a while.
All in all, a quick, accurate, and inexpensive way to measure things on your GS in millimeters instead of converting from %$#!#@! inches all the time.
For $14.99 at my local cheap tools (HDC) outlet, I figured I couldn't lose.
I was quite pleasantly suprised! They are made of a nice heavy stainless steel, and have proven to be very accurate and reliable. They come with a decent plastic case and even an extra battery.
For the acid test, I pulled out my collection of GS valve shims, and the calipers measured them all very accurately and repeatably (checked against a manual micrometer) down to the last 1/100 mm.
You can get these from many different sources and under various brand names. Harbor Freight and several sellers on eBay have them. They are all probably made by the same manufacturer -- there's one blue button, one yellow button, and one red button (off, zero/on, inch/mm), and they generally list at under $20.
Here's Harbor Freight's product page:
HF charges quite a lot for shipping, plus an excessive "handling" fee, so I'd look around locally first.
Long-term durability is unknown, but at this price, who cares? Like all digital calipers, you have to keep them clean, but if you return them to the nice included case, they should last quite a while.
All in all, a quick, accurate, and inexpensive way to measure things on your GS in millimeters instead of converting from %$#!#@! inches all the time.