Anyone know how aluminum pipe sizes work? Is there some kind of
industry standard that manufacturers follow and you can look up (for
finding wall thickness, telecoping lengths, etc)?

I've seen a couple of tables with specifications, however those seem
to always jump from 1/2" to 3/4" to 1"... at my local hardware store I
can get the 1/8"'s sizes in between (3/8, 5/8, 7/8, etc) which has me
confused. Are those 1/8" based sizes standard, or some kind of non
standard product?

"Q" wrote in message
om...
Anyone know how aluminum pipe sizes work? Is there some kind of
industry standard that manufacturers follow and you can look up (for
finding wall thickness, telecoping lengths, etc)?

I've seen a couple of tables with specifications, however those seem
to always jump from 1/2" to 3/4" to 1"... at my local hardware store I
can get the 1/8"'s sizes in between (3/8, 5/8, 7/8, etc) which has me
confused. Are those 1/8" based sizes standard, or some kind of non
standard product?

first a nit... most of what you see is aluminum tubing not pipe... a minor
but very important point. pipe is usually specified by the inside diameter
and a 'schedule' number that determines how thick the wall is. it is
usually not rated for structural strength. tubing is described by outside
diameter and wall thickness. it is usually rated for structural use and is
available in a much wider variety of sizes and materials.

now, as for sizes that are available. that will depend on the manufacturer.
if you look at a typical supplier like texas towers
http://www.texastowers.com/aluminum.htm you will see sizes in 1/8"
increments with .058" wall thicknes. this combination makes for nicely
telescoping sections for building antennas.

beware of hardware store aluminum. unless they are a very good store the
stuff they sell is probably relatively soft and weak, mostly good for tent
poles and stuff like that. for antennas you want to get something like
6061-t6 or 6063-t832 materials that are basically aircraft quality material.

Anyone know how aluminum pipe sizes work? Is there some kind of
industry standard that manufacturers follow and you can look up (for
finding wall thickness, telecoping lengths, etc)?


For building antennas you want tubing. If you get the tubing with .058 inch
wall thickness then the next size up will slid in with a couple of thousands
of an inch of clearance. Go to here :

http://www.texastowers.com/

and look at their tubing in the online catalog.

On 31 Dec 2003 13:28:17 -0800, (Q) wrote:

Anyone know how aluminum pipe sizes work? Is there some kind of
industry standard that manufacturers follow and you can look up (for
finding wall thickness, telecoping lengths, etc)?

I've seen a couple of tables with specifications, however those seem
to always jump from 1/2" to 3/4" to 1"... at my local hardware store I
can get the 1/8"'s sizes in between (3/8, 5/8, 7/8, etc) which has me
confused. Are those 1/8" based sizes standard, or some kind of non
standard product?

These two pages should help you understand the sizes.
73
Kingfish

http://www.rondexter.com/professiona...be_conduit.htm

http://www.rondexter.com/professiona...e_and_tube.htm

Correcting misinformation:

Pipe is NOT specified by inside diameter.
It is specified by a "trade size" that is is
associated with a specific outside diameter.
The inside diameter varies, depending on
which "schedule" it is (eg, 40 , 80, etc) and
what material it is made of. Generally,
for sch 40, the inside diameter is slightly
larger than the trade size, while for sch 80,
the inside diameter is slighly smaller than the
trade size. All "1 1/2 inch" pipe has an
outside diameter of 1.900 inches, regardless
of schedule/wall thickness/material. The schedule
numbers are arbitrary. For example, schedules
125 and 200 are thin wall sprinkler pipes, much
lighter than schedule 40.

The reference you give has incorrect information.
For example, it gives the outside diameter of 1 1/2 inch
trade size pipe incorrectly as 1 7/8 inches (1.875).

(BTW, flexible tubing is the only material specified by
inside diameter, AFAIK).

Rick N6RK


"Kingfish Stevens" wrote in message
...
On 31 Dec 2003 13:28:17 -0800, (Q) wrote:

Anyone know how aluminum pipe sizes work? Is there some kind of
industry standard that manufacturers follow and you can look up (for
finding wall thickness, telecoping lengths, etc)?

I've seen a couple of tables with specifications, however those seem
to always jump from 1/2" to 3/4" to 1"... at my local hardware store I
can get the 1/8"'s sizes in between (3/8, 5/8, 7/8, etc) which has me
confused. Are those 1/8" based sizes standard, or some kind of non
standard product?

These two pages should help you understand the sizes.
73
Kingfish

http://www.rondexter.com/professiona...be_conduit.htm


http://www.rondexter.com/professiona...e_and_tube.htm

http://www.mcmaster.com

Their printed catalogs are worth their weight in gold if you can get one,
better go online and learn about tubing and pipe and just about anything
else
you need. No minimum orders, fast shipping from all over the usa.



Q wrote:

Anyone know how aluminum pipe sizes work? Is there some kind of
industry standard that manufacturers follow and you can look up (for
finding wall thickness, telecoping lengths, etc)?

I've seen a couple of tables with specifications, however those seem
to always jump from 1/2" to 3/4" to 1"... at my local hardware store I
can get the 1/8"'s sizes in between (3/8, 5/8, 7/8, etc) which has me
confused. Are those 1/8" based sizes standard, or some kind of non
standard product?

On Thu, 01 Jan 2004 18:43:06 GMT, "Rick Karlquist N6RK"
wrote:

Correcting misinformation:

Pipe is NOT specified by inside diameter.
It is specified by a "trade size" that is is
associated with a specific outside diameter.
The inside diameter varies, depending on

Yes, this is highly nominal. Trade size is a good way to put that. A
fair amount of variability is possible. At one point, decades ago,
these sizes related to the ID more or less, but enhancements in
materials allowed for thinner walls in the piping, while still using
legacy fittings sized to the outer dimension.

Tubing in various materials, is most often specified by O.D, and then
wall thickness. This includes various metals, aluminum, copper, etc,
rigid plastics like PVC or CPVC, etc, and many of the flexible tubings
out there. Tolerances tend to be much tighter than on pipe. There are
separate series of some tubings in metric.

Various suppliers of tubing and fittings include useful reference info
in their catalogs.

Considering where this was posted, I assume that the OP wants nesting
tubing for making an antenna. If so, see:
http://www.texastowers.com/aluminum.htm

Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom