using calipers as scribes?

[desbromilow]

G'Day,

maybe I'm off base here, but I always viewed my calipers (vernier or digital) as measuring instruments, but I see more and more videos of people using them as scribes ( like the way a jenny or odd leg divider is used) - I've seen several videos with people using the external jaws, or the internal jaws to scribe steel for distances, scribe circles, etc.

I know there is no rule which says people can't use a tool how they like, but I also wonder if the manufacturer ever built these to be used that way. Most of my calipers are steel (stainless or otherwise) - not tungsten - I suspect the points of the internal jaws would be ruined, and the corners of the externals would rub away over time.

Is what I'm seeing common? is it recommended use?
I see things like that, and I cringe at the idea of letting others near my tools if they were to think that was acceptable practice.

thoughts?
Des

[Crusty]

I use my $30 caliper for scribing but never my Mitutoyo.

If you first coat the surface with a black magic marker then when you scribe you're only going through ink and there's little wear, but my cheap caliper still has the duty.

[desbromilow]

I use my $30 caliper for scribing but never my Mitutoyo.

If you first coat the surface with a black magic marker then when you scribe you're only going through ink and there's little wear, but my cheap caliper still has the duty.

I can understand using the jaws of a cheap caliper for lines in marker fluid/ whiteboard marker - but when you see youtube videos of people cutting through rust to make a line, you know the tool is being doomed.

[mklotz]

If you're going to cut the metal to size with an angle grinder, you don't need to worry about the minor errors incurred by translating the caliper setting to a proper set of dividers or marking out tool, e.g.,...

Marking out tool

[Crusty]

If you're cutting to a scribed line then thousandths precision shouldn't be expected so tip wear of a cheap caliper puts the error in the acceptable range for a scribed line.

A caliper is really just an approximater anyway and if greater precision is required then a different measuring device is needed.

I regularly wear out end mills costing in the same ball park as cheap calipers and with no cutter grinder to resharpen them that's a fact of life that I understand and accept going in. For that matter everything in a machine shop is doomed eventually.

[Frank S]

Cheap or not I don't use Vernier calipers as scribes, I guess I never got into the practice. What I do when I need scribe something is to measure with the Vernier then use a scribe to make the mark

[Eaglewood]

I’ve been a tool maker,gun barrel maker and aerospace sheet metal fabricator for a total of almost 50 years and I use my calipers as a scrib and cringe every time. Just can’t kick the habit��
Dick

[saplin]

I have had the same thoughts myself, to use a precision instrument in this way is a sacrilege. There are tools made for everything you need to do. Right tool right job.

[ibdennyak]

My shop teacher would......(insert proper punishment). I was severely chastised for using a 12 inch adjustable as a hammer.

[NeiljohnUK]

My shop teacher would......(insert proper punishment). I was severely chastised for using a 12 inch adjustable as a hammer.

Mine would have had a fit if you had an adjustable spanner, correct size spanners only!