Regarding those plastic calipers.........

[LEADLUBBER]

My Dad still has a set of crappy plastic calipers, and after seeing that he has a cheapo chinese made set of dial calipers already, I promptly threw away those horrible plastic calipers after I gave him a very nice set of digital Mitutoyo's in 6 inch size. I have a set of 12 inch Mitutoyo digitals and I am never going back to a cheapo set, and trying to pry any junk like that out of my Dad's hands.... well, let me just say that he isn't changing quickly, but there is progress.

He pulled the plastic calipers out of the trash, I found out later.......

[6bg6ga]

I never used plastic in the machine shop or when I was an inspector in the factory. I am however very confident in them for your basic home chores. My thoughts are if you cannot read a pair of them you probably don't have any business with a pair of calipers in your hands.

[Prairie Cowboy]

My Starrett dial caliper is a joy to use.

[JSnover]

I find that in the right hands plastic will measure correctly. That is plastic calipers without a dial. I've found them to be every bit as accurate as steel calipers with a dial read out. Want real accuracy then ditch the dial or digital read out. One needs to remember the correct way to use calipers. Most people use too much tension which is incorrect. As a former inspector my opinion is they are ok in the hands of someone that is properly trained and knows how to handle calipers. You would be surprised how many operators I had that would screw up a brand new pair of dial calipers. After all they are not a set of pliers.

BINGO! Plastic actually works (and it's ok if it's all ya got) but even the best calipers are useless if the operator mistreats them.

[30calflash]

BINGO! Plastic actually works (and it's ok if it's all ya got) but even the best calipers are useless if the operator mistreats them.

Yup. Never had an issue with mine, going strong after 2 decades.

[Daver7]

1. Most young folks have probably never been taught to read a vernier
2. Most old folks that know how to read them cannot see well enough to read the vernier.

If you can add you can learn verniers. Heck I even taught the UPS kid how to read them.

[jd9770]

I have plastic ones that put on my work truck, to measure pin size on excavators when I install equipment on them. They can get 80/90/100/110mm readings accurate. I now have nice SS ones in the Reloading room(aka spare bedroom)