Digital Calipers

[Cory]

Originally Posted by EricH

Actually, the bolded portion is one purpose of a set of calipers. You're just supposed to use that function with Dykem on the part, though--the calipers scratch that away easily.

I use dial calipers myself--that's what I have. They don't need batteries to run.

Regardless of their ability to scribe lines, I'd be pissed off if I found someone using my $165 pair of dial calipers to scribe lines. It's poor practice to utilize a precision measuring tool as a cutting tool of sorts. If it was a $20 pair, sure go ahead. Something that expensive and nice you're generally not going to be using to do setup work as you want it to maintain it's level of precision.

[MrForbes]

Cory's talking about what students actually do with calipers, Eric is talking about what they should be doing with them. Not scribing lines, but making a small mark which you then make more pronounced with a real scribe.