Category: Pipe Diameter Tapes

News about Pipes and Drilling

7 Diameter Tape Measure Tips For the Pros

If you are already a user of a diameter tape measure, these tips are for you.

Tips on Using a Diameter Tape Measure
Tips on Using a Diameter Tape Measure
  1. Keep it clean. If you keep sand and dirt from inhabiting your tape, it will look good longer and last longer.
  2. Line it up straight on the pipe. If you put the tape on a little crooked, you will get an erroneously high reading.
  3. Clean the pipe. This makes sure that surface contaminants aren’t interfering with your measurement.
  4. Use a felt tip marker to mark common measurements directly on the tape. Don’t be a hero. This tip will make your job easier.
  5. Put your name on it. Valuable and handy tools have a way of walking away.
  6. Buy only the best pipe diameter tape measure. Lufkin is a trusted brand name.
  7. Keep one in every location that you work (and leave it there). I keep one in the office, my shop, my tool box, and in all my vehicles and boat. A diameter tape doesn’t measure only diameters. The other side is a regular inch tape (or metric tape). So it comes in handy many times.

Please post your own tips in the comments here. I’d be interested in what you come up with. Thanks.

Become an Expert at Using a Pipe Diameter Tape Measure in 5 Minutes!

If you need to find the diameter of a pipe or a pipeline, here’s a 5 minute crash course..

Using a Pipe Diameter Tape Measure
Using a Pipe Diameter Tape Measure
  1. Buy a pipe diameter tape measure.
  2. Notice that one side is probably just a regular inch tape measure.
  3. The other side is also in inches, but it seems to be stretched out about 3 times longer than normal. It’s actually stretched out by a factor of pi (3.14159). This is the diameter tape side.
  4. Use the diameter tape side for this lesson.
  5. Clean off the pipe of any dirt or other debris.
  6. Simply wrap the tape around the pipe, keeping the diameter side out, so you can read it.
  7. Note where the zero mark lines up on the tape. That gives you the outside diameter of the pipe.
  8. It may be hard to read the markings. They are probably not marked the same as a regular tape. They may be in 64ths of an inch or 100ths of an inch. Either way, you have just learned how to use a diameter tape!
Can I help, too?
Can I help, too?

 

 

The Pipe Diameter Tape Measure Takes on a New Function During the COVID-19 Situation

The pipe diameter tape measure is normally used by pipeline workers and inspectors. They wrap it around the circumference of the pipe, and read the

A New Use for a Pipe Diameter Tape Measure
A New Use for a Pipe Diameter Tape Measure

diameter size on the tape. Now this useful tape can take on a new use during the COVID-19 lockdown.

For those of you who are forced to stay at home every day, you may have discovered the comforting appeal of the refrigerator. It’s always there with food for when you are hungry. It’s even there when you are not hungry, but just need some comfort. If you have a bathroom scale, you may have noticed that the spring might be getting weaker this month. Or, could it be that you are actually putting on weight?

A Lufkin pipe diameter tape measure can be a fun way to try to prove that your bathroom scale might be broken. Wrap it around your waist or your arm, and see for sure if you are getting too chummy with the Frigidaire.

LOL

5 Myths About The Pipe Diameter Tape Measure

Myths About the pipe diameter tape measure
Myths About the pipe diameter tape measure

The history of the pipe diameter tape measure is probably darker than its future. Once these 5 myths are explained, this little tape measure will experience much success.

  1. Nobody needs a pipe diameter tape measure (OD tape).
  2. It is too hard to use. Only an expert can use it.
  3. It is probably too expensive.
  4. A regular tape measure can do the same job.
  5. My customers don’t want one with my company logo on it.

Here are my answers:

  1. The “outside diameter tape” is used by plumbers, pipeline workers, electricians, car and boat repairmen.
  2. All you do is wrap it around the pipe, and read off the diameter.
  3. It compares to the price of many other pocket tapes.
  4. Maybe so, but you would have to correct for the fact that you can’t readily see the zero mark. You would have to use the one inch or two inch mark, and subtract that from the total, then divide by pi. A pipe diameter tape measure has the zero conveniently located away from the end of the tape, to make it easy to line up.
  5. Your customers would love a gift with your corporate logo. It would be a symbol of your generosity.

Here is the most popular “pipe tape”:

Lufkin Y906PD pipe diameter tape measure, not Barlow W906PD Lufkin Diameter Tape

What Is A Diameter Tape Measure?

Diameter Tape Measure
Diameter Tape Measure

Good question, because most people don’t have any use for one. A diameter tape measure is a measuring tape whose scale is stretched out by a factor of pi. This allows you to wrap it around a round object, such as a pipeline or tree trunk, and read its diameter directly on the scale. You don’t need to divide by 3.14159.

Here are some other names that people call these tapes:

  • pi tapes
  • circumference tapes (a misnomer)
  • pipe tapes
  • Lufkin pi tapes
  • OD tapes
  • outside diameter tapes
  • pi-Cobra tapes
  • pie tapes

The Most Essential Tool That Our Foresters Need is a Diameter Tape Measure

Diameter Tape Measures for Foresters
Diameter Tape Measures for Foresters

When you think of a logger or forester, what is the first tool that comes to mind? Probably a chainsaw, right? Well the other tool that they use on a daily basis is a diameter tape measure. What exactly do they use this specialized tape measure for?

  • To wrap about tree branches, logs, and trunks to determine their diameter without cutting them
  • To help estimate the age of the tree
  • To determine the value of the tree if it’s being logged
  • For landscapers, it also helps calculate the amount of fertilizer needed

To be consistent, all loggers measure standing trees with their diameter tape measures at Diameter Breast Height (DBH), which is 4.5’ above ground.

Lufkin Diameter Tape Measure
Lufkin Diameter Tape Measure

How Would You Survive Without Your Pipe Diameter Tape Measure?

A New Use for a Pipe Diameter Tape Measure
A New Use for a Pipe Diameter Tape Measure

Your pipe diameter tape measure is probably the most valuable and simplest tool in your toolbox. It will tell you the outside diameter of a pipeline (or your arm) when you wrap it around the circumference. What if you lost your pipe tape? How would you measure the diameter of a pipe or any round object?

  • Use a regular tape measure, if it is flexible enough to wrap around the pipe. A carpenter’s tape is made to stay stiff, so it won’t work in this case. Since the end hook won’t let you lay the zero mark against the pipe, you would have to start at the 1 or 2 inch mark. Read the circumference and divide by 3.14159. That’s a lot of trouble.
  • Use an expensive caliper, transfer the reading to a measuring tape, perhaps, then divide by pi. That’s a clumsy way of doing it.
  • Get a real expensive micrometer. Since they have a narrow range of measuring (1 inch), it would have to be a certain size to begin with. Then measure the diameter directly. Reading the markings on a micrometer is not the easiest thing to do. You have to read the shaft measurement, then add the tumbler measurement to it.

So, hang on to your pipe diameter tape measure and it will save you a lot of trouble.

3 Mysteries of the Diameter Tape Measure

Mysteries of the Diameter Tape Measure
Mysteries of the Diameter Tape Measure

The diameter tape measure easily figures the diameter of a pipe or pipeline. All you have to do is wrap it around the pipe, and read off the diameter. Here are its mysteries..

    1. Why is the “zero” mark not at the beginning of the tape? It is a couple inches away from the beginning of the tape.
    2. Why does the end of the tape have a “loop” instead of a “hook”?
    3. Why are some calibrated in 100ths of an inch, and some in 64ths of an inch, and some in millimeters?

     

ANSWERS:

  1. By having the zero mark away from the beginning of the tape, you can easily line up the other part of the tape to the zero mark.
  2. Since zero is not at the end of the tape, there is no need to have a hook there. What is helpful, is to have a metal loop to hold onto, when wrapping the tape around the pipe.
  3. Different strokes for different folks. Automotive repair people prefer the 64ths of an inch calibration. Oilfield people prefer the 100ths of an inch version. And of course, some people use the metric system of measurement.