Toolbox: Calipers

Beginner’s Guide to RC – Useful Tools to Have in Your Toolbox – Calipers

A cool tool to have in your pit box, the Caliper is a device used to measure the distance between two symmetrically opposing sides. Most Calipers use a precise slide movement for inside, outside, depth or step measurements. There are two styles of Calipers; the Dial Caliper and the Digital (Electronic) Caliper (there is a third, the Vernier Caliper, but it is not typically used in RC).

What Are Calipers?
The Dial Caliper uses a small gear rack that is connected to a pointer on a circular dial. The pointer rotates once every inch, tenth of an inch or 1 millimeter. Direct readings can be taken by simply looking at the dial. The slide of a dial caliper can be locked at a specific setting using a small lever or screw, allowing simple checks between similar parts.

A Digital Caliper is bascially the same as a Dial Caliper except that the circular dial has been replaced with a digital display. Most digital calipers can be switched between metric and inch units. Like dial calipers, the slide of a digital caliper can usually be locked using a lever or thumb-screw.

When To Use
Calipers can be used to measure just about anything in RC. Here are some examples:
• Measuring shock lengths
• Measuring turnbuckle lengths
• Measuring foam tire diameters
• Measuring shock pre-load (for threaded shock bodies)
• Measuring vehicle ride height
• Measuring vehicle Droop
• Measuring screw lengths and diameters
• Measuring the width of parts
• Measuring the depth of holes

As you can see, there are quite a few things that a pair of Calipers can be used for…and that’s just a small list!

While we’re partial to our Mitutoyo calipers, any of these from AMain will work just as well: Calipers.