Brown & Sharpe dial calipers

We've been repairing dial calipers for over 50 years and experience shows us that Brown & Sharpe are among the best calipers available. Although repairs are not likely to be economical, spare parts are available should you want to attempt some simple fixes.

• Check out the competition: see a brand comparison

Brown & Sharpe dial calipers are available with white (actually a dull silver) or black dials. If you have no experience with black dials, then we suggest you go for the regular white dial. The length of the jaws on these dial calipers is 1.5" which is pretty much the norm.

The maximum error on these B&S dial calipers is less than or equal to .001" for the first four inches. Above four inches, the maximum error is about .0012" If you need better accuracy, you should be using a micrometer instead of a dial caliper.

Redesigned, foam lined, plastic storage case with the TESA logo is included. Manufacturer's calibration certificate enclosed. The Swiss design is made of hardened stainless steel for long wear.

Treat yourself to a new wooden box

The calipers above all come with hard plastic cases which do good service in the tool box and the rain forests of Peru. But, you may have reasons for desiring this wooden version. It will safeguard your investment and make them presentable, too.

These wooden boxes (made from those same rain forests, no doubt) are ideal for gift giving and they're pretty impressive when you keep them polished.

Alas, they aren't quite what they used to be. It is by no means of a real woodworker's quality. And think of this: if you store your precious calipers in an unlined wood box, and drop it on the floor, what will the shock do to your calipers? To the jaws? You may want to stick to the foam lined plastic box that came with your calipers instead.

Depth Base Attachment

In order to use the calipers for measuring depth of grooves and bores, use this attachment (shown with calipers). It slides onto the end of the caliper beam and is fastened in place with a lock screw. The calipers can now be used as a depth gage. For all Brown & Sharpe, Tesa and Etalon dial caliper models. These are the genuine made in Switzerland depth bases.

• depth base details

Questions and Answers

Q: Why is there a TESA number?

• TESA is the manufacturer in Switzerland. This number may appear on the packaging of your new B&S dial calipers.

Q: What holds the crystal in place on the 599-579-5? It came apart in my shop.

• The lens is held in place with its own pressure. If the metal bezel is still nice and round, a new crystal can be pressed in place and it will stay put. The wavy metal washer and the black plastic ring go underneath the crystal and keep the crystal from touching the dial hand.

Q: Isn't there a caliper without a dial? My Dad used to have one in his shop.

• Vernier calipers don't have dials. There is almost nothing that can go wrong with them because there are no moving parts. The only possible difficulty is that you need pretty good eyesight to read them. They are still available from different manufacturers. Vernier calipers are the our calipers of choice.

Q: What is the bezel lock for and how do I use it?

• The bezel and dial rotate but if you want it locked into a particular position, you will use the bezel lock screw at the bottom of the dial. When would you want to do this? Suppose you are measuring parts that you have made or bought and you will be measuring many such pieces to make sure that they are all correct in size. Take the master piece with the correct dimensions, place it between the jaws and adjust the dial so that the hand points to zero. Now you can lock it in place. Open the jaws and put your next piece in. Close the jaws. If the dimensions are correct, then you will see that the hand again points to the zero. Maybe the piece is off by .001” and you will see that the hand does not point to zero. It is a quick way to compare many pieces and make sure that they are within specs without actually having to read the dimension each time.