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Up Topic Welding Industry / Welding Fundamentals / Beam gauge
- - By aevald (*****) Date 10-09-2007 21:14 Edited 10-09-2007 22:40
Hello everyone, I know many of you out there are involved in layout and fabrication of various structural components and many times you need to have an accurate manner in which to find dimensions for holes as they relate to the top of a beam, channel, or other structural shape. There are many tools out there for this purpose, so I just wanted to show one of them for those who haven't seen this before. It can also be used to locate the center of the web relative to the top or bottom flange. Slide the tool over the flange and mark it where the edge of the tool rests on the top flange towards the web, then slide it over the flange on the other side of the web and mark this edge also, find the center of these two marks and you will have the actual center of the flange as it relates to the web. This can help with accuracy of bolted connections that rely on an exact center orientation relative to the web. A lot of the time the web center doesn't match the center of the flange due to the rolling process involved in producing the beam. Here's a picture of the tool on a section of beam.
Parent - - By ctacker (****) Date 10-09-2007 23:47
you may want to have about 1/4 inch nub where it hits the top flange in the middle for those out of square flanges, if i remember i'll take a pic of mine at work tommorrow.
on 800 lb columns (or any size for that matter) where the flanges arent square with the web you need to measure from the center of the flange or you could be way off! 
Parent - By aevald (*****) Date 10-09-2007 23:55
Hello ctacker, it's kind of hard to see it in the picture but there is a relief cut back near the edge to allow for the sort of thing you're talking about, it only contacts at the top corner where it is resting on the flange about 1/4" to 3/8". Regards, aevald
Parent - - By XPERTFAB (**) Date 10-10-2007 04:49
If I can ever get the boys who borrowed them to return them to me, I will post pictures of the version of the same basic device I use.  Much like yours only designed to lay flat on the face of the beam web, work off the center of the flange and is both delineated to mark with either with a soapstone or use a centerpunch to locate bolt holes at the standard locations at a distance relative to the centerline of the top flange.  The centerpunch used to mark points is nothing special rather it is of the standard hex variety about 7/16 in diameter and is located at its point in a drill bushing.  There are multiple of these drill bushings at the typical hole centers on the side of the "Beam square". Each guides the center puch to it's location and allows for accurate marking.  Should some other dimension be required from the top flange to the center of the first bolt hole shims are used under the upper contact point at the center of the top flange to adjust theis dimension.  A fixture was made at the same time the beam square was fabricated to be able to quickly check the square for alibration in the event it was dropped or otherwise bent.  Here small lengths of drill rod are inserted into the bolt hole center point punch location bushings to check alignment with the fixture.  Bolt hole locations are easily found and laid out with the relative ease you would expect from custom tooling.  It is now very easy to lay out bolt patterns on opposing beam ends using one end of the beam for reference end.  Shop drawings were subsequently modified after this tool was developed to be dimensioned like a cnc drawing  with all important locations being referenced from one end. (zero point)  This eliminates a lot of the problem of tolerance stack up when measuring from cut ends of beams.  I know a picture is worth more than all this description, but my buddy just got a large structural job and borrowed all three of my beam squares and the check fixture.  I fixing someone else's CJP's that did not pass UT and from the looks of things I will be here another month owing to the tedious grinding needed to get the somwtimes three inch long slag inclusions out while working inside a completely finish painted and plastered house.  41 more points to go till I am all done!  Air Arc or plasma are out of the question.  So no need for structural layout equip.  I would encourage anyone to build something like this for their use as it saves a lot of time and prevents a lot of small errors.  Have not had to ream a single hole on the 970 tons of iron I personally fabed and erected this spring/summer.  That alone is enough to make anyone feel good about the time spent to build this stuff.  Let alone how much smoother it goes on the jobsite.  Saves a lot of crane time too when you don't have fix stuff during the erection phase.  Lets see some more of the special tooling you guys make for helping your work go smoother and faster.
Parent - - By aevald (*****) Date 10-10-2007 06:27
Hello XPERTFAB, having just recently gotten the capabilities up and running to get some pictures to post on here, I hope to add a bunch more visual additions. I hope others will also consider showing some of their special time savers, or as you have done thus far, at least give a good physical description. I have a pretty fair idea of how your special "beam gauge" is designed, sounds like a great tool. In my past life(before teaching full time) I too had a number of special gadgets and gidgets to help with making the job a bit easier and the layout tasks a bit more accurate. My thoughts for "tricks of the trade" have been based upon exactly this sort of thing, to enable everyone to share ideas and help one another out as we go about our business and to hopefully share this information with the new folks coming into the trade. Best regards, Allan
Parent - - By swnorris (****) Date 10-10-2007 13:20
Allan,

I have one almost identical to yours.  It works great.
Parent - By aevald (*****) Date 10-10-2007 19:31
Hello Scott, I first saw this particular type of gauge in a structural shop that I worked in. Since then I have seen variations of it and I have also made up many different sizes to allow for different beam sizes and weights. I think any sort of tool like this will help the fitter to make better layouts with greater accuracy and more quickly. Regards, Allan
Parent - - By ctacker (****) Date 10-11-2007 22:57
heres one of my smaller ones, i also have 1 i use on floor beams and 1 for heavy columns!
Parent - By aevald (*****) Date 10-11-2007 23:05
Hello ctacker, I can see how the additional scale where it rests on the flange would be handy for a number of things. Thanks for sharing. Regards, Allan
Up Topic Welding Industry / Welding Fundamentals / Beam gauge

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