Digital calipers made in same factory?

[Ian Johnson 1Participant @ianjohnson1]

A few months ago I bought a Moore & Wright 0-12" digital caliper (on left in photo) to measure big things, it was their 'value line' model, and it is a very nice caliper, smooth ,accurate etc. And I also have some cheapo Aldi supermarket calipers 0-6".

On the back of the calipers is the exact same label, with the exact same information on Whitworth threads and ISO metric threads.

So my question is……. Are these calipers all made in the same factory? If so, they seem to make a range from nasty cheap stuff to really good quality stuff.

My Japanese made Mitutoyo caliper is top of the range by comparison.

Ian

[Ian Johnson 1Participant @ianjohnson1]

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Think you will find that calliper manufacturers buy in their labels, make sense to let someone make thousands at a time, economies of scale equals bigger profits.

Dave W

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

I'm surprised to see that the cheap Aldi one on the right is properly CE marked as required for measuring instruments in the EU, whilst the Moore & Wright isn't.

Brian

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

You can see the jaws, nibs and display casings are significantly different, as is the finish on the sliding surfaces. It would seem a lot of unnecessary design and engineering resource use to make them so differently in the same works, when it'd be easier to design a consistent product range that could simply be finished and calibrated to different quality standards.

On the other hand, it's highly possible that they buy their reverse-side label from the same supplier. I used to have a Polish-made vernier from the mid '70s with, I think, an extremely similar or identical table affixed to the back.

[ChrisBParticipant @chrisb35596]

The labels are not identical tho, the data is the same (obviously) but it's not the same label.

[Ian Johnson 1Participant @ianjohnson1]

Damn! I knew I shouldn't have said 'exact' . The M&W Are very good quality though, it shows on the jaw faces which show signs of being lapped in. So I think if the same factory makes them, they must bang out cheap stuff without the same care as the more expensive stuff.

Ian

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

The manufacturers of the cheap ones are good at copying. The M&W is CE marked (and probably done properly, I would not be so sure about ones sold on ebay). The difference is in the details.

Robert G8RPI.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

When China copies, it copies everything (more or less…)

[Martin Hamilton 1Participant @martinhamilton1]

I have the Moore & wright calipers + Mitutoyo as well, i have had the mitutoyo for probably 30-35 years & the M&W for 5 or 6 years. For the money the M&W are very good & nice & smooth, i find them to be every bit as accurate & repeatable as the Mitutoyo. I would def buy another pair of the M&W again if i needed another pair considering the price.

[Phil PParticipant @philp]

The CE mark on the Moore & Wright looks incorrect to my eyes, the letters are too close together. All that means is "Chinese Export"

The CE mark on the cheap ones actually looks to be the correct spacing as far as I can tell.

Google it if you are not sure what I mean, A correct CE mark is very specific.

Phil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Ian

Adding to the list of differences between those 'exact same' labels:

Did you spot the voltages ?

MichaelG.

[Peter SpinkParticipant @peterspink21088]

As above ^^^^

Also the engraving on the right is inferior – a real giveaway!

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I bought a Mitutoyo calliper 30 odd years ago and it is still an outstanding tool, I bought two in Lidl for an outrageous £8 and some pennies each and have got a freebie from someone with a rotary table, the best value one was from Machine DRO and has a large digit display and very smooth operation, checking against my Mitutoyo slip gauges it acquits itself very well, not bad for £26.

Mike

[Ian Johnson 1Participant @ianjohnson1]

Genuine or fake? Just to put peoples minds at rest, I bought the Moore & Wright and Mitutoyo both from Machine DRO. They don't sell fake stuff.

The Aldi calipers were from er… Aldi and could be fake knock off copies of fakes, and for under 8 quid who cares? I bought four of them, converted (butchered) one into a odd leg scriber and another into a height gauge.

The voltages are different because they use different batteries. M&W uses 2032 and the Aldi thing uses LR44.

One important difference between cheap stuff and Mitutoyo stuff is the voltage leakage when not in use. That's why a Mitutoyo battery will last years and cheapo caliper batteries will last weeks. Quality electronics as always from a high end product. And I would never butcher a Mitutoyo!

Ian

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Ian Johnson 1 on 15/08/2019 00:06:04:

[ … ]

The voltages are different because they use different batteries. M&W uses 2032 and the Aldi thing uses LR44.

[ … ]

.

Glad you noticed that, Ian

I only mentioned it because your opening post stated 'the exact same label'

[which it is very clearly not]

MichaelG.

[Chris Evans 6Participant @chrisevans6]

I have said before on digital calliper posts that I use Aldi ones as every day tools. Every bit as accurate and smooth as my Mitutoyo and SPI branded ones. I butchered an Aldi 6" one to make a readout for the lathe tailstock around 18 months ago, still running on its original battery. The posh ones do come out of the box for some jobs but by the very nature of design are not really that accurate if you are chasing precision. Most of my jobs are only to a couple of thou so a calliper does the job and at £8 it does not matter if it is dropped.

[Clive IndiaParticipant @cliveindia]

Posted by Chris Evans 6 on 15/08/2019 09:05:12:

I have said before on digital calliper posts that I use Aldi ones as every day tools. Every bit as accurate and smooth as my Mitutoyo and SPI branded ones. I butchered an Aldi 6" one to make a readout for the lathe tailstock around 18 months ago, still running on its original battery. The posh ones do come out of the box for some jobs but by the very nature of design are not really that accurate if you are chasing precision. Most of my jobs are only to a couple of thou so a calliper does the job and at £8 it does not matter if it is dropped.

Yes!!

I also got one with the fractions option, thinking it would be, just like Thomas, really useful.
I find this option a really useless waste of time and money.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

There is always the possibility that they did come out of the same factory.

Many factories make similar items at different specs for different sellers. While M&W probably have a long-term arrangement, Aldi probably shop around for a good deal every time they import a batch.

This doesn't tell us anything about quality. My M&Ws are better than my Aldi ones regardless.

Neil

[BazParticipant @baz89810]

I have got Mitutoyo callipers that are years old and still work perfectly, but I also have a couple of pairs from Lidl that I am very pleased with and recently I purchased a pair from Aldi, only because they opened a store near me and I went in for a look around and saw a pile of them and decided you cannot have too many pairs of callipers. Strange thing with the Aldi ones is that they have a button marked l/c on them, when you press this it multiplies the measurement by pi, cannot really see the point and only any use if measuring round bar, but for £8 and a three year warranty who cares, batteries can be got from the pound shop for you guessed it, one pound for a card of about thirty assorted sizes so who cares if they only last a couple of weeks.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by Ian Johnson 1 on 15/08/2019 00:06:04:

Genuine or fake? Just to put peoples minds at rest, I bought the Moore & Wright and Mitutoyo both from Machine DRO. They don't sell fake stuff.

The M & W one is not correctly CE marked so it is currently illegal to sell in the U.K. so is it genuine? Still if Boris has his way any old rubbish will be legally available.

Russell

Edited By Russell Eberhardt on 15/08/2019 09:54:18

[Ian Johnson 1Participant @ianjohnson1]

I can assure myself that the 'Chinese Export' CE mark is 100% correct and legal on all my devices, and any old rubbish will still continue to be imported and legal no matter who is in power! The CE mark is a joke.

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember32069]

[This posting has been removed]

[Ian Johnson 1Participant @ianjohnson1]

Oooooh!!! nearly got drawn into a political discussion there!!! Time for the 'Threadlocker photo! Ha ha

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Barrie Lever on 15/08/2019 12:17:56:

Ian

I agree the CE mark is an absolute joke.

I have heard of dodgy approval houses producing certificates that fool genuine retail customers into thinking that the item is approved and tested to the required standard, when in actual fact they have just rubber stamped the product and have no way of actually testing to the required standard.

Incorrect CE letter spacing is the least of the worries.

I am not sure if we will wash our hands of that failure on the 31st or not?

Barrie

Even accepting all Barrie's comments are all true, what's the alternative to the much abused CE system? The marks being international trade enablers, it's not a political question or a matter of personal opinion.

As dumping CE marks will restrict exports and open the door to unrestricted poor quality imports it will be necessary to replace the CE system with something else. What is the replacement, how much will it cost, who will pay for it and when will it be implemented & enforced? Once the details are sorted out, in what way will the new system be an improvement?

Dave

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