measuring butt lengths

[EricKeller]

I have a gauge to measure butt lengths of tubing, but I'm annoyed with how flexible it is. I was more concerned with not making it long enough and didn't realize how flexible 1/2" square tubing could be. It's annoying and imprecise to use. So I'm going to chuck it and start again. Any suggestions on how long to make the new version?

[Curt Goodrich]

If you're only measuring lengths, what's wrong with a ruler?

[EricKeller]

I'm sure some people don't bother to measure the butt lengths of tubing. I guess you could use a ruler, but the transitions can be difficult to see.
This is my current setup. I want to make it shorter, but I'm not sure how much shorter makes sense.
butmeasure.jpg

[Curt Goodrich]

I measure every butt and have never seen a tube where I couldn't see the butts. With a ruler it's easy to measure the butt to within a mm and if that's not accurate enough you've got the wrong tube.

[conorb]

You can visually see where the butt lengths are. Another way to check/confirm/verify/compare is to use a pen/pencil to tap on the tubes and gauge where the pitch changes - it can be quite accurate for determining butt lengths and comparing end to end lengths versus "specs."

It's low tech but it works.

Conor

[EricKeller]

surprising how accurate the tone method is once I freed my mind and paid attention to what I was hearing.

Turns out my near field stereo vision is messed up (hopefully temporarily) and using a ruler was a little too frustrating.

[Dazza]

I made my "Butt Toucher" using the biggest piece of hex brass that was laying around that would pass down a 28.6mm tube.
I use it on every tube I use
I come across some tubes that I can not make out the butt inside, despite cleaning and running a rag through etc
so the Butt Toucher is sweet fun
Curt's eyes are better than mine.
My eye sight fell off the cliff these last 12 months, my second upgrade set of glasses about to arrive

[Zimmermanbicycle]

I use a bore gauge,it just takes few seconds to find and mark both the start of the taper of the butt and the point where it hits it's full thickness,very simple very fast.
-Eric

[EricKeller]

Dazza, thanks. Looks like there is about 20 to 25cm between the indicator and the crosspiece?

Eric, I thought of bore gauges because Steve Garro posted about his new hole gauge collection just the other day. I guess you could use a hole gauge too, a lot slower though.

[Archibald]

I measure every butt and have never seen a tube where I couldn't see the butts.

There's a Navy joke in here somewhere....

[EricKeller]

Dazza already made it, I believe

[e.Gellie]

I have a gauge to measure butt lengths of tubing, but I'm annoyed with how flexible it is. I was more concerned with not making it long enough and didn't realize how flexible 1/2" square tubing could be. It's annoying and imprecise to use. So I'm going to chuck it and start again. Any suggestions on how long to make the new version?

my gauge measures up to 13-1/2" or 340mm into a tube and is made of 5/8" round steel bar..... it works fine with the dial guage ....I wouldn't go smaller than that diameter.

I posted pictures of mine on some other forum November '06, under 'where's my butt?'....sorry, us aussies can't help ourselves coz we use another word for that part of the body.....and don't even mention fannies to us!