Clued Plug Thread Gages: A Look At The Pros And Cons To Consider

17 January 2020
 Categories: , Blog


Building your collection of measurement tools is vital if you are working in an industrial setting or do frequent measurements of machine components, and thread gages are an important example. Clued-plug thread gages are a highly preferred type of thread gage. Take a look at the pros and cons of these gages.   

Pro: The clued-plug thread gage is a highly accurate tool for measurement. 

If you are going for complete and precise accuracy with your thread-gaging activities, the clued-plug thread gage is an awesome choice. Since these gages get inserted into an opening fully, they give you a really nice reading of the measurements that is most often highly precise and reliable. While many types of gages are just as accurate, this type of gage works really well for certain applications. 

Con: Clued-plug thread gages require investment in multiple pieces. 

If you work with multiple thread sizes and do a lot of measuring, you may have to invest in several units to amass an entire collection. Of course, like most other tools, these gages can be purchased in kits. However, it would be difficult to find a kit that had every style of thread gage in it. 

Pro: Clued-plug thread gages are easy to handle. 

The size and shape of the clued-plug gage make it relatively easy to handle with your hands and fingers. Most of these gages have a long hexagonal shaped body that has flattened sides for easy grasping. If you are shimmying the gage into a tight area, the narrow stem of the gage allows you to do this with ease. With some other types of thread gages that have multiple measuring tools, this can be harder to do. 

Con: These thread gages can be harder to contain. 

Because you will have to have multiple units to measure multiple thread sizes, and each unit is an individual piece, it can be harder to contain all the gages in one place. For example, if you have a dozen or so gages, it is easy to misplace them or find them missing in a sea of other larger tools in your toolbox. The solution to this is to keep your clued-plug gages in a small container all together and place them back in the container after each use. If you buy a kit of these gages, they will usually come with a small snap-in carrying case of some sort. 


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