What is the difference between Pin and Plug Gages

aliasJohnQ said:

Jim W: what do you think about this?
Using pin gages for a year or two or three, then throwing them out instead of calibration. I saw that happening at one place, and was wondering how much does that affect checking parts?

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In a large set of hundreds of pins, some might be be used every day and some, perhaps most, might never be used or will be used infrequently. In some cases just checking pins for wear or burrs is enough.

If full-blown calibration is necessary, it might be more economical to buy new pins than to pay for calibration, but in most cases it's best to try to segregate the frequently used pins and calibrate them rather than calibrating an entire set or throwing out perfectly good ones.

The impact depends on how the pins are used, and how often. If pins are used only for say, checking clearance holes, where no precision fit is necessary, there might be no need to calibrate at all. On the other hand, if the pins are used in applications requiring precision and where there's likely to be wear on them, the strategy will be different.In a large set of hundreds of pins, some might be be used every day and some, perhaps most, might never be used or will be used infrequently. In some cases just checking pins for wear or burrs is enough.If full-blown calibration is necessary, it might be more economical to buy new pins than to pay for calibration, but in most cases it's best to try to segregate the frequently used pins and calibrate them rather than calibrating an entire set or throwing out perfectly good ones.