Tools and Equipment
This domain tests correct tool selection, safe use, and the maintenance that keeps a workshop running.
Core rules and concepts
- Measuring and marking: steel tape, try square, scriber, spirit level, plumb bob, chalk line.
- Cutting: hacksaw with 18 teeth per inch for thick-wall GI and 24 TPI for thin-wall tube; wheel pipe cutter for copper and thin GI; reamer and half-round file for burrs.
- Holding: pipe vice or chain vice; clamp the work 100–150 mm from the cut so the pipe does not ring or crush.
- Threading: die set with correct die (½", ¾", 1"), guide bush, ratchet handle and cutting oil. Oil is not optional; dry threading tears the crests.
- Jointing: blowlamp, solder, flux, brush, PTFE tape, solvent cement and applicator.
- Testing and clearing: test pump, pressure gauge, test plugs, plunger, drain snake, auger.
- Maintenance: wipe and oil after use, keep die teeth clean, never use a wrench as a hammer, never extend a spanner with a pipe.
Worked example
Cutting a 25 mm GI pipe square. Measure with the tape, mark right round using a try square and scriber, clamp in the vice, cut with an 18 TPI blade using the full blade length and light pressure, then ream and file the end and check squareness against the try square. Reasoning: a coarse blade clears the thick chip and a mark carried all round prevents a diagonal cut that no die can correct.
Traps that cost marks
- Using a 32 TPI blade on 25 mm GI; it clogs and wanders.
- Over-tightening the vice and crushing the pipe oval.
- Skipping reaming, which narrows the bore and causes turbulence.
- Using a pipe wrench on chrome-plated fixture nuts.