Carbide Measuring Tips

Measuring Tips

• Measuring tips are contacts in an analog measuring device such as a micrometer. For example, if you use a micrometer to measure the thickness of a machined part or piece of sheet metal, the measuring tips are the parts that come into contact with the metal. Precision measuring devices, by nature, are used to measure hard objects such as steel. The fact that measuring tips come into contact with other hard objects makes carbide such an ideal choice. Carbide tips are much slower to wear.

Tip Wear

• In most instances, the amount of wear to steel surfaces is negligible. What is a negligible variance in measurement to a carpenter, however, may not be insignificant to a machinist who deals in fractions of thousandths of inches. If you sharpened a steel blade, even on a very fine sharpening stone, you see the steel deposited on the stone. Steel deposits also occur from daily use. Steel tips wear, but carbide prevents this type of wear.

Accuracy and Tolerances

• All physical substances wear. What is important in measurements is to have a device capable of measuring with consistent accuracy which is well within your margin of error for a given application. For example, a carpenter might frame a house with an acceptable tolerance of one quarter inch deviation. A cabinetmaker might find a one sixteenth of an inch margin of error acceptable. Many machine applications might accept one hundredth of an inch. Tips must withstand use with low enough wear that the first measurement and a measurement done one hundred or one thousand measurements later are within acceptable tolerances. Another way to mitigate wear is to re-calibrate the measuring device, but that is a maintenance step that can be reduced or avoided with high-precision, long-wear devices.

Tip Shape

• For added accuracy, many measuring tips may be conical, triangular or spherical, like a ball bearing. The purpose of these designs is to measure one point instead of a small area. While they provide a more accurate readout and better indicate variations in thickness, they come with a drawback. With smaller measuring tips, more wear occurs. Consequently, pointed or spherical precision measuring tips benefit even more from the use of ultra-hard materials such as carbide.