I never tried a digital fillet gage, I didn't even know they made them. But being in the machining business, I use digital tools often. I have alot of guys on my crew who use only digital, and guys who won't touch them. I personally never cared for digital. I still like the dials and vernier scales myself. (just something about them). As with many battery powered tools, if the battery fails, you have nothing. I always feel that there is an element of uncertainty with those things.
Kind of like a flashlight. Dead batteries, dead flashlight. A good argument for using candles. Oops, they run out of wax after a few hours.
Technology definitely has it's limitations and it is imperative to recognize those limitations.
The digital fillet gage has limitation without a doubt. The pieces have to be perpendicular to each other and the gage is really simply measuring the throat dimension. Then again, I can see where it may be useful for measuring the convexity of the fillet weld and verifying it meets the limitations of D1.1.
Best regards - Al
"I can see where it may be useful for measuring the convexity of the fillet weld and verifying it meets the limitations of D1.1. "
Can you elaborate, the only thing I have found is a contour gage for checking convexity. I think it could be useful for checking reinforcement but a bridge cam gage or reinforcement gage will operate with a pocketful of dead batteries!
Just curious on this, do the guys also know how to read a vernier scale? I find that more and more people don't know how.
A regular fillet weld gage is a go, no-go type of gage, it's hard to get any simplier than that and it requires no batteries, fits in your shirt pocket, reads clearly enough in the proper light.....
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