Wall thickness guage
 

I was asked to show pics of my home made thickness gage and didn't want to stay on someone else's thread. So here goes.
The vertical one works well but you must be very carefully not to introduce error while measuring, those bars will flex just enough to give a false reading.
But if your careful it is very accurate .

The horizontal one is much easier to use , just put it in the barrel and let gravity do it's thing. Zero the dial and measure away. Way more robust , not saying don't be careful for accuracy but I have way more confidence in this one.
Just some thoughts, Tom

Tom,
Thanks for the photos. Much easier to make than I would have thought. The bead on the end that goes into the barrel; is that a made/found part, or just a polished welding bead? Do you have any steps worth mentioning in the building process that would help a layman, or is the process of building as straight forward as it looks? Also, did you find a certain size rod that worked better than others?

Thanks again,
Dean

Dean
The little bead is just a polished bolt head , the bolt is through the rod and cut off.
For the horizontal one, I just chopped up a ground rod for an electrical panel used in a house, Home Depot or Lowes sells them very cheap I think in 8 ft lengths or so and they are very stable. The rest is just what you see. It's very simple.
Tom

Looks great and sure will do the trick, thanks

Dennis Potter made a gauge from copper tubing, and had it on his table at the Las Vegas Antique Arms Show last Jan. Neat looking and light.

Bill Henry made this one for me

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../406674909.jpg

The curved section is .038" to set the micrometer

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../406674912.jpg

I added measuring tape

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../409666365.jpg

Drew,
How did you add the tape measure? is that milled into the metal, or is it some type of applique? Nice job.

I have been meaning to make a wall thickness measuring tool for some time, but have had the use of a Hosford when ever I wanted, so just never got to it.
I like the Hosford design because it eliminates the deflection error.
I will probably make mine like Tom's; a vertical pair of rods. I have seen commercially made vertical devices which have a tapered bushing which keeps the muzzle centered. The key is that the dial indicator have enough pressure to hold the barrel against the reference point. I was wandering around Harbor freight one day, and despite my resistance to not buy Chinese, I succumbed to the $15 digital electronic inch/metric dial (sic) indicator. The floating zero is a great feature. That way you have a direct wall thickness reading.

Low tech Dean. 1/4" or 3/8" fabric measuring tape (from any sewing store) under Scotch clear high strength packing tape :) After degreasing, the Scotch tape sticks very well to the aluminum rod, but not as well to itself so don't overlap the edges.

I will have to remember the tape. Good idea.