bead height gauge

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I made up this little  gauge to check bead heights.  Too many times students have a response of " Wadyamean my beads too high?"  I leave it out and they can check if they have exceeded the 1/8th limit.  Just drag it over the bead with a soapstone in the groove. Attached Images
Reply:awesome! nice jobwhere in BC are you?Victoria bc here!
Reply:Simple but effective...good idea!  Even a student can handle that.
Reply:Originally Posted by lotechmanI made up this little  gauge to check bead heights.  Too many times students have a response of " Wadyamean my beads too high?"  I leave it out and they can check if they have exceeded the 1/8th limit.  Just drag it over the bead with a soapstone in the groove.
Reply:Nice and simple. What if you replaced the soap stone with a spring steel tang that would make noise running across the bead, kinda like a playing card in the spokes?
Reply:"dude I think your soapstones busted"Miller thunderbolt 250Decastar 135ERecovering tool-o-holic ESAB OAI have been interested or involved in Electrical, Fire Alarm, Auto, Marine, Welding, Electronics ETC to name a just a few. So YES you can own too many tools.
Reply:I am up the Fraser Valley,   If the bead is too high in most cases the weld will fail the initial visual inspection before you even get the opportunity to cut coupons and bend.  The weld itself may be ok but if the weld reinforcement is excessive it is cause for rejection.
Reply:Originally Posted by forhireNice and simple. What if you replaced the soap stone with a spring steel tang that would make noise running across the bead, kinda like a playing card in the spokes?
Reply:Originally Posted by lotechmanNo a micro-switch hooked up to high voltage. LOL
Reply:Great idea! Do you have one for checking the reinforcement of a root weld inside a pipe?Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Originally Posted by lotechmanI am up the Fraser Valley,   If the bead is too high in most cases the weld will fail the initial visual inspection before you even get the opportunity to cut coupons and bend.  The weld itself may be ok but if the weld reinforcement is excessive it is cause for rejection.
Reply:Originally Posted by hobohilton-------------------------------------------At that point the gauge to measure the weld height is shoved up the foreman's a$$.You smoke the weld in and get 'er done by 7 AM. The QC climbs up the scaffold flips the door open, leans in, takes his mirror and gives it the "once around" and scribbles his initials on the pipe with his paint stick. and is out of there in 1 minute.You and your fitter rope all your gear down and drag your tired a$$ out the gate.Welcome to the real world.Hobo
Reply:Originally Posted by lotechmanHa Ha  I like your attitude.  I have had that feeling about weld inspections many times but when it comes down to it the inspector has final say and we are just trying to follow the rules laid out by ASME, AWS or CWB.
Reply:LOL, I like it when the real world meets the other world. This took me back to my days of working with Dad in the concrete field. Everytime my engineering studies challenge his practice, he would always say, "Son, it always looks good on paper. The real engineers are those who have the hands on experience and can overcome the environmental obstacles that surface at every job, so shut your mouth and pay attention...you might learn a thing or two from this old man."
Reply:Originally Posted by raider12LOL, I like it when the real world meets the other world. This took me back to my days of working with Dad in the concrete field. Everytime my engineering studies challenge his practice, he would always say, "Son, it always looks good on paper. The real engineers are those who have the hands on experience and can overcome the environmental obstacles that surface at every job, so shut your mouth and pay attention...you might learn a thing or two from this old man."
Reply:Sounds like you could use a set of weld fillet gauges.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:Fillet gauge will not reach in to check maximum 1/8th height.  There is a finger like gauge that inspectors use to check for undercut.  That same unit can check bead height however the piece is around 100 dollars.This is a quick way students can check their own groove welds.   Every welder should have his own set of fillet gauges.
Reply:Originally Posted by hobohilton-------------------------------------------I'd like to open this up for discussion.... Perhaps we need to start a new Thread.For the past 40 years I have functioned in the "real world" (not the welding school world). In the real world of process piping there is always situations where there is excess weld. If every weld were rejected because the height gauge touched the weld.... the job would move at a snails pace.Not every pipe weld is completed in the near perfect conditions of the weld test booth. Imagine this - The time is 2:30 AM, the outside temperature is -10 degrees, the wind gust are 40 - 50 mph, the weld is located 60' above the ground, it is totally enclosed by a fire blanket "fire box". The scaffold builders have built you a 6' x 6' platform. Inside the "fire box" is you (the welder), your fire watch and your 'fitter. you have a fire extinguisher, a hot box for your rods, a grinder, a power wire wheel and a 5 gallon bucket with your hand tools (file, hand brush, mirror, channel locks, etc). Each of the three men have on multiple layers of clothes, steel toe boots and hard hats. The welder has his high dollar welding hood in it's protective case.Every time a gust of wind hits the scaffolding... it rocks back and forth  at least 3/4" - 1". You have taken your weed burner, hung the tank off the side of the scaffold and begun to pre-heat the 24" pipe. As the heat rises it melts the ice above the firebox and the moisture is running down the pipe into the weld joint.Your hot work permit will expire at 7 AM and at that time all work must stop and cool down in order to allow the unit operator to climb up and "sniff" the area prior to issuing an extension on your hot work permit.You have a project manager from the refinery in a conversation below your scaffold. He has your general foreman and foreman cornered and is chewing them out because this weld was supposed to have been completed by 2 AM and your just getting ready to fire up on it at 2:30 AM.Your foreman climbs up and wants to know how come your not finished.At that point the gauge to measure the weld height is shoved up the foreman's a$$.You smoke the weld in and get 'er done by 7 AM. The QC climbs up the scaffold flips the door open, leans in, takes his mirror and gives it the "once around" and scribbles his initials on the pipe with his paint stick. and is out of there in 1 minute.You and your fitter rope all your gear down and drag your tired a$$ out the gate.Welcome to the real world.Hobo
Reply:I wonder why no one belive me that's its way harder to weld outdoors in tight uncomfortable sutitaions where you will be in 100 degree weather 50 feet from 300 degrees asphalt cooker on top of the lime extradaror machine or -10 degree weather with 30mph winds is way freaking harder to weld than you did in a climate controlled welding booth indoors
Reply:Originally Posted by FicksterI wonder why no one belive me that's its way harder to weld outdoors in tight uncomfortable sutitaions where you will be in 100 degree weather 50 feet from 300 degrees asphalt cooker on top of the lime extradaror machine or -10 degree weather with 30mph winds is way freaking harder to weld than you did in a climate controlled welding booth indoors
Reply:Originally Posted by hobohilton My start was in the workshop with my Dad (a welder / fabricator / supervisor) building ... rather than buying... all of the toys a kid wanted. Go carts, boats, mini-bikes and marsh buggies were all products of the family workshop. I grew up thinking it was that way for everyone. I wonder what the percentage of families is that now have a workshop?
Reply:I am a instructor at our local Adult Ed. vocational school. We issue all new students there own fillet an weld height gauges fo rin there tool boxes. So they know right off the bat before coming to see me for inspection if the joint meets the requirments. Saves alot of time out of the welding booth and more time under the hood!Owner G&S Mobile Welding & Millwright Services, LLCSpencerville, Ohio Adult Ed. Instructor at Apollo Career Center Lima, Ohio
Reply:Originally Posted by hobohiltonAmerica is is a world of trouble when it comes to the old school attitude of "Get 'er done".
Reply:3 out of 4 of my grandsons live about 350-feet through the woods from my shop, only time they'll ever step foot in it, is when they want a tire on their bike aired up. And that is very seldom, because they are always playing video games! Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Originally Posted by CEP3 out of 4 of my grandsons live about 350-feet through the woods from my shop, only time they'll ever step foot in it, is when they want a tire on their bike aired up. And that is very seldom, because they are always playing video games!I agree with ya hobo. the old school way is going, going, almost gone.  I too have the old school way of thinking, and am teaching my two grandsons that way. What part of the pacific northwest ya from, I live up north in the panhandle of Idaho, not to far from the border..I think i have a beard almost as big as yours,or maybe alittle bigger.If you see me running for no apparent reason, try to keep up:"Reality" What a concept!Miller Big 40 {1972} vintage, with 150 ft. of 000 leads, old Alaskan pipline welder.
Reply:Our instructors at welding school often say " if you can't weld in this booth you won't make it in the field" so we have started crafting scaffolds outside to weld pipe in real world conditions. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2Hobart Stick mate LX AC/DCHarris O/A outfit
Reply:Good.... set the bottom of the horizontal pipe 6" above the scaffold deck. After they master that then set the bottom of pipe at 6' above scaffold deck. When they master that then begin making the deck 1' shorter in each direction until there is 1' of clearance between a vertical pipe and the scaffold hand rail. Remind them that if the safety man sees any part of their body hanging outside the scaffold railing they will get a free ride to the gate and a "not for re-hire" in their folder.HoboLincoln SA200's... at least 15 - 20. They come and go. Growing partial to the "Short Hoods" in my old age. Last count on Short Hoods was 13 in possession.
Reply:Originally Posted by hobohiltonGood.... set the bottom of the horizontal pipe 6" above the scaffold deck. After they master that then set the bottom of pipe at 6' above scaffold deck. When they master that then begin making the deck 1' shorter in each direction until there is 1' of clearance between a vertical pipe and the scaffold hand rail. Remind them that if the safety man sees any part of their body hanging outside the scaffold railing they will get a free ride to the gate and a "not for re-hire" in their folder.Hobo
Reply:As a retired Sheet Metal Worker, I spent about half of my apprenticeship in the shop and the other half in the field (Building/Trades). Then was fortunate enough to work for FOMOCO as a S/M maintenance employee for 30 years. There is a BIG difference in welding in the shop as opposed to the field. In the shop, sure is easy to fit up for welding. You have all your jigs at hand AND you're usually at floor height. "Git er done" in the field means accomplishing (sometimes the same type fit-ups) the job at different and, most times, much more difficult circumstances... not to mention having to meet job site and OSHA guide lines. Schools cannot meet those difficult circumstances but I agree with previous posters that there is much that they can change to help prepare students for the real world workplace. Oh... another 'old school' thought... git er done means bringing home the paycheck while doing the job RIGHT the first time because you take pride in your work! Who'd of thunk?DannyMy SiteJust worrying 'bout what I can't get to today.
Reply:My dad showed me how to strike and hold an arc to make a tack, that's about all , i was 10. Then in high school my shop teacher taught me a little more,but he admitted that he didn't know much about welding. I got my own buzz box 220v after i married so i could do small frame repairs and engine swaps on cars/trucks ,trailer hitches. I though i could weld! Then after working for the light Co.for 10 years and being on strike for a while i took a temporary job with a tank building Co.And never worked so hard in my life! There were 6 welders,1 rig operator,foreman,pusher/fitter and bull gang hand ( Me ). I learned how to do most every thing to do to build tanks in 10 weeks building 2 35ft stainless steel tanks side by side. They  let me tack when fitting up but that's all. The welders were getting piecework wages and were really busting ask! Nobody had time to show me any tips or tricks to weld stainless.My first day on that job i was making more $$$ than after 10 years at the utility Co.I joined the Boilermakers Union and stayed a boilermaker  for 30 years. I learned something on every job and soon graduated to welder in about 1978. Most welding learned on the job but have attended several 1or 2 week classes for Mig or Tig or submerged arc. Tube welding in power houses is the most fun!!