An Easy Way to Remember Sheet / Wire Gauges

If you can tell by looking then you are my new god.

I would need a new cell phone first for doing that. The current one wouldn't let me enter even the first three.

Yes, watch for strange hands. Also, be sure to keep it away from kids or you will find it bent completely out of shape after being thrown at trees to simulate a ninja star.

If you have trouble locating one locally then the website will ship it to you. The price is not bad even with shipping. I have seen them priced at $20 or more.

Fortunately I do have some ninja stars at home. I worry more with know-all customers trying to force the feeler in the gauge they think correct.

True, if they want it to be 14 gauge badly enough, then I am sure they can make it fit.

I have also encountered some wires that I was not 100% sure about and found that they did not fit properly in any hole due to poor manufacturing or flex/swell with age. Still, this tool belongs at every sales counter and in any good great machinist's toolbox.

Gussosa wrote: I worry more with know-all customers trying to force the feeler in the gauge they think correct.

REPLY

Surely you don't allow your customers to get that deep into your own pocket?

Just give them a swat if they try.

Hahahaha. Ok, it's just that is so hard to say no when they are buying thousands of dollars (or even millions) in equipment. I will have to go back to childhood and be severe: MY TOYS, MY RULES.

Your result is very counter intuitive. I would expect the silver (AM = 108) to be about 65% heavier than the copper (AM = 64) if you have the same physical dimensions.

This discrepancy probably boils down to the manufacturers cheating their tolerances a little for prophet. The silver is probably stamped to the lowest end of the tolerance window so they can sell metal for the same price while the copper is probably kept at mean or higher to avoid potential lawsuits if the copper fails as a conductor in circuitry, but even with this considered I would be surprised to find the copper to be heavier than the silver.

I assume that the metals that you are working with are more than 99% pure since you are working with jewelery?

ah, my mistake.. I used the word "heavier" to mean thickness rather than weight (DOH) I didn't weigh them in making this judgement, and used the wrong word. Both sterling (.925 pure) and fine (.999 pure) sheet were thinner than the copper sheet of the same labeled gauge. I feel pretty certain that the silver was exactly to gauge (it's expensive and people do check these things: most jewelers working with lots of different gauges of sheet would be checking with calipers routinely).

The copper may have been manufactured more 'generously' because it was intended for other applications. As you say, avoid the lawsuits. This was the first time I ordered sheet to work with, so I thought to get a working appraisal of the neccessary thickness by checking out the copper first... not as good a plan as I thought.

It wouldn't surprise me if the copper was out of spec for any number of reasons. It's nice to know that the silver is true to standards though.

This looks like a tool to measure gems. I would not be at all surprised if somewhere someone has made a pendant or pair of ear rings based on the shape of that tool.

Hello EElectrician:

It is a GEM tool.

But no ref' to size. I would imagine a hole drilled in it and a chain attached and it would look great! Almost tempted to get a dozen for Pressies!

Take care...........................

I am about to switch jobs. I was offered one in the meatpacking industry and it is almost sure I will get it.

However, in the long run I will still work in the grain industry. I guess in ten or twenty years I will be designing both grain processing facilities and slaughterhouses/meatpacking facilities.

I don't know if you have seen one of my old threads, when I complain about how much customers and bosses expect from me, and I always have to explain to them that computer networking, CRM programming, concrete construction, chemical engineering, etc, have nothing to do with what I studied.

I lose points each time someone gets me in something I don't know. People forget the times you saved their asses, but always remember the times you failed.

So, I am polishing my skills and acquiring new ones, but as appearance is so important I also want to take the shortcut to look like I know much more than I really do, hoping that will keep their mouths shut.

Hello gussosa:

Well that is a surprise! I wish you luck in whatever you try.

I know exactly what you mean about people forgetting the favours etc. But, there will always be bullies and 'users'. Those people are often in turn used by the firm they work for. Underneath all that bravado is a scared little boy. But, they do not want others to see them that way so start putting an act on. After a few years it becomes a way of life. And by working to the act they feel they have to put on, they in turn put more pressure on themselves.

If you don't think the boss/s see through that I think you are mistaken. Don't forget, the boss/s got to where they are by some means, not all fair. They just happen to be in the right place at the right moment to get offered that job as supervisor then, manager. If they are in a small firm, they can sometimes interview applicants and weed out any potential threat to their superiority. But that will work for a pretty short time, before the overall boss tweaks and show him the door.

I always put more pressure on myself than any boss could. I managed to learn skills and run a section with twenty people in, and often times that stretched to 35 across the factory floor, and, when the boss was ill, for some reason, I would be called to the phone and asked to look after the factory for a couple of weeks, whatever.

I was never taught those skills. People skills I suppose you might call them. I was never a bully boss, and always took people into my confidence and tried to make the people who were good at the job, felt I cared, which I did. And they knew and I knew who I could gather round when the going got tough and a deadline had to be met. Maybe it was my personal one to one skill that made my boss, the owner, and the employer of 110 people, turn to me when he could not be there or was on holiday? I don't know. It was never discussed.

There was times when I was so busy running my dept which was almost half the factory, with the rest working in the office, I had no time to actually do the physical work in another part of the factory, but, I knew the people who I could trust to get something done, so I would delegate I suppose you would say while still actually getting my dept jobs up to date. My files were always up to date and I made duplicate files from the main office so I was fully aware of what kind of workload we had. I took it on myself to take over goods in and out. Where it had run with three people, I and a young boy gradually took over and I taught him so when I had the odd day off, which was holidays and at most one day at most, he could get the job done. It was organised with isles with stuff to ship nearest the goods bay. So you could see at a glance what was due out next.

I told you that not to show off. There was always about five or six 'new people', and sometimes they stayed and sometime not. But several stayed and asked me if they could work in my dept. I was like a working boss, rather than in an office all the time. I had an office but spent not much time there. And any new staff in my dept would say, I didn't know you did this, you never let anyone know. But the people who needed to know, knew. All I am saying is I was quiet, no aggravation coming from me at least. Sometimes from others. You often find the quiet ones who do not thump their chest are, from my experience, the one that could be trusted. It matters not what a boss thinks, or what you think he thinks, is nearer the truth. If you are sincere, and most of all work hard there will always be someone who notices. You may not know until they ask you in the office and ask you to do something, because it is desperate. Or ask you to take a section over.

If someone has enough time to shout and preen, they are not doing their job, which should come first while you are at work. You may not always see that if you are a subcontractor but, again, do not try and let people think you are something you are not. Just do your job.

That mention about the wire key-ring I did for myself to make my job easier. Except, it was not wire it was some specialised machine screws, and I had a case of all the different print jobs and what paper or card they were on. Really things to make my like easier.

Sorry about the rant. I doubt you will get back into the job you are doing, again. If you really wanted to do that job, you would have fitted in or made yourself fit in like a glove. Stop worrying what others think and keep your head down and get on with whatever your job is. I never spoke like this at work. Because my actions spoke for me. Body language is an important this. You can't really kid anyone with it. But you will find that out as you learn your trade in whatever job.

Keep in touch OK? And do not drift through life thinking "I will do that next time", because there may not be another chance. Choose your profession and stick to it and get to know it inside out. I am no genius. I was good at my job though. It is a lot easier now with the internet and CR4. I had to work hard at work and when I was home and at the weekends I would be planning this and that job. Because I enjoyed my job. I knew I was the one that was responsible for several million pounds in turnover. If I could get a job out on time or before I was pleased. I did not want or need anyone to say you did well. Twice I think that happened. But once I had started work proper and on two occasions the holding company of two firms called it a day. But I was out of work for less than a week each time, and was headhunted four times. I knew my limits I guess. But I could also see the bigger picture. I had a total of five jobs. but two lasted 12 and 15 years.

Take care my friend and do please keep in touch...................