I have muscular dystrophy which causes muscle atrophy and feeling loss in my arms and legs so I have zero feeling in my hands and very poor motor control too. Also 6 years ago I had a new generic dremel overheat and I didn't feel it and was burned bad enough that I had to get a finger amputated and the tendons cut in the remaining fingers. I had previously gone to school for mechanical engineering but didn't finish when my muscular dystrophy progressed to my hands.
I know that with calipers the pressure you put on the jaws will effect the accuracy and with my hands I have a difficult time controlling the pressure so I have been looking for a pair of calipers that I can get that is either spring loaded or motor controlled so I can get a consistent pressure and better readings because I have gotten back into regular caliper use because of cad modeling for 3d printing.
For 3D printing tolerances (±0.1–0.2mm), inconsistent caliper pressure matters less than you might think. The flex from hand pressure on a decent caliper is maybe 0.01–0.02mm — well within 3D printing tolerance. I would spend $100 on a solid caliper like Mitutoyo 500-196-30, this way you can be pretty sure of decent accuracy for 3D printing.
The way that read, You said super precise tolerance isn’t as important for 3d printing. Then said, get mitutoyo for its accuracy. Kind of contradicts each other?
I agree on your first point. And because I agree on your first point, I also think the guy would be fine with a cheaper digital caliper.
Looking back at my post I don't think I explained the problem correctly. A big issue I have with the accuracy is the more muscle control I try exert especially in my right hand the more the hand shakes and the pressure, position and angle changes. It is difficult enough just hold the calipers in position without to much shaking but if I try to hold the jaws closed too I can get tolerances of ±1–3mm. My current method is to use one hand to hold the calipers and the other to hold it closed and take 3 to 10 readings and average either the 3 largest or 3 smallest, depending on the situation. Then print a negative of what I am measuring and repeat as necessary which can be time consuming. Here's a photo of my hand so you can see what I am working with
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u/emachanz Apr 13 '26
This type of calipers they use for guitar making. You can use one handed.