film thickness

OG202 TOOKE PAINT INSPECTION GAGE II

OG204 TOOKE PAINT INSPECTION GAGE IV
Meets ASTM D4138-82

Improved Appearance
Many Improved Features
Measures Thickness of
Coatings Applied to
Wood, Plastic, Cement,
Glass, Ceramics, Mirror
Backings, Metal, Etc.
Assists in Measuring
Brittleness and Adhesion
of Coatings and Materials.

Model OG202

Model OG204

Model OG202 & OG204 are supplied with 1X, 2X, & 10X cutting tips installed in the gage body. The 2X tip is shown extended to working position

Direct measurement of total coating thickness, and thickness of individual coats of paint is a unique
capability of the Tooke Gage. Thus, in addition to routine use, it often serves as a referee instrument
to calibrate indirect or non-destructive thickness measuring instruments. Other uses include assessment of substrate conditions and coating adhesion, and observation of microscopic cracking, tendency
for brittleness, blistering, cratering, or other microscopic film symptoms.

Principle
A = A tan (theta)
At a 45 degree groove angle
tan (theta) = 1
and
A = A

A special cutting tool which is integral with the gage is used to

incise a small, precision V-groove through the paint film and
into the substrate. This V-groove is observed vertically with an
illuminated microscope bearing a measuring reticle (scale).
As shown in Fig. 1, the observed horizontal projection of the film
at the groove wall is related to the film thickness by the equation:

Similarly, other groove angles may be cut for convenience and precision-of-measurement of coating
films over a wide range of thicknesses.

A=A' tan

Tip Angle Representation

A'=A=
Finish Coat Thickness
B'=B=
Primer Coat Finish

Paul N. Gardner Co., Inc. www.gardco.com (954) 946-9454 1-800-762-2478

film thickness

Fig. 1.

(A) Geometry of Thickness Measurement.

(B) Grooves of 1X, 2X, and 10X Cutting Tips.

Please take note: All Tooke gages produced after June, 2010 now use a Universal reticle. The chart
below shows the incremental reticle divisions for all current gages manufactured after June 2010.

Increment (Hash Mark) Chart - English/Metric

The OG202/204 Paint Inspection Gage is now equipped with a Universal Scope.
An upgraded instrument installed with a reticle that was selected for accommodation of Measurement
in terms of Mils Microns Millimeters

1X 2X 10x
MILS 2 (1.97)
1 (.984)
.2 (.197) MILS
MICRONS 50 (50.0)
25 (25.0)
5 (05.0) MICRONS
MILLIMETERS .05 (.050)
.025 (.025)
.005 (.005) MILLIMETERS

Construction
The OG202 gage body, cap, and focusing ring, are machined aluminum. The OG204 gage body is
made of injection molded high-impact plastic. It contains the microscope and lamp batteries as well as
the groove-cutting tungsten carbide cutting tools mounted on the narrow side. In addition to the cutting
tools, two adjustable threaded guide studs also project from the body on the same side. The tripod thus
formed by the three legs (guide studs and tool) provides for precise alignment of the tool with a surface
to be grooved. A lanyard and keeper looped through the body secure the instrument to the inspectors
wrist. A plastic (polypropylene) carry case with foam inserts to carry your Tooke Gage and spare parts:
marker, wrench, LED bulb and spare batteries. The entire unit is designed for convenience and completeness in field inspection tasks.
Both gages now come with LED bulbs which are much more rugged than the incandescent bulbs and are
expected to last some 50,000 hours. The LED bulbs are also available for purchase as replacements.
(Incandescent bulbs are also still available.)

Measuring Procedure
Open the carrying case and remove the instrument. For field use, secure the safety lanyard to the wrist
to prevent accidental dropping. Check the positioning of the cutting tips. As originally supplied, the tip
positions will be from top to bottom 1X, 2X, and 10X. The numerals 1, 2, and 10 are engraved in the
body alongside each tip respectively. The 1X and 10X tips will be bottomed in their slot, thus protruding
about 3/16" from the case. The 2X tip (center position) should be in working position, thus protruding
about 5/16" from the case. In general, this is the correct configuration for making an initial measurement on a film.
Make a small mark with the marker at the desired measurement location on a painted surface. Grasp
the instrument with the cutting tip down as shown in Fig. 2. Place the cutter tip and guide studs in firm
contact with the surface with the tip slightly above the mark and aligned to scribe across the mark. Align
the forearm with the intended cutting direction to assure a straight cut. Draw the cutter tip straight across
the mark, applying just sufficient pressure at the tip to cleanly penetrate through the film into the substrate.
In this operation, the cutter trails midway between the two guide studs, and continuous 3-point surface
contact should be maintained to ensure precise vertical alignment of the groove. Excessive pressure on
the guide studs should be avoided.

Paul N. Gardner Co., Inc. www.gardco.com (954) 946-9454 1-800-762-2478

film thickness

Fig. 2. Gage held in cutting position

Turn on the microscope lamp with the slide switch on top of the
case next to the eyepiece. Center the foot of the microscope
on the scribed line with the mark about one-quarter inch from
the foot directly under the microscope objective. Check the
microscope for focus. If the image is not clear, it may be
brought into sharp focus by turning the focusing screw in the
body below the microscope.
With focusing accomplished, view the intersection of
the mark and the cut as shown in Fig. 4. Note how the
mark delineates the top edge of the cut. Position the microscope as required to align the left edge of the cut with
any convenient long line of the reticle and begin counting
the small graduations inwardly (to the right) until the next
layer or the substrate is reached. This count divided by
the tip designation (2) is the film thickness. If the result
should be less than 2 or more than 20 mils, the inspector may wish to utilize 10X or 1X cutting tips respectively.
This may be quickly accomplished by using the supplied hex
key wrench to loosen the tip set screws.
Allow all three tips to bottom in their slots, then pull the selected
tip out to 5/16" (approximately) and retighten all tips with
moderate finger pressure.

Fig. 4. Micrograph of paint film incision.

Adjusting Tip Set Screws

Calibration
Original factory calibration is accomplished by setting the guide studs in precise geometric alignment
with the cutting tips. Checks are also made with precision applied film standards. For highest precision
work, the user is advised to maintain painted panels of known thickness, and to check and calibrate the
instrument measurements periodically.

Special Applications
The Tooke Gage has been used to assess sandblast cleaning work, to measure plating and paint thickness
on ceramics, metal, wood, and concrete, and even to measure protective backing thickness on mirrors.
It is virtually the only tool for measuring paint on plastics. As indicated above, the quality of the incision
in the film discloses much about characteristics of brittleness and adhesion of the material. In addition
to the benefits as a dry film thickness gage, the Tooke Inspection Gage (PIG) offers the advantages of a
close inspection tool. Abnormalities that would otherwise go undetected by conventional electronic or
magnetic gages include pinholes, adhesion faults, deteriorated substrate conditions, and lack of overall
coating integrity. Consider the Tooke Gage as an excellent adjunct to the conventional DFG and even
more useful as a verification tool for the more exotic ultrasonic instruments.
Paul N. Gardner Co., Inc. www.gardco.com (954) 946-9454 1-800-762-2478

film thickness
Suggestions to Users
1. On wood or other directional material, make incisions in the grain or machine direction to avoid
ragged cuts.
2. Soft or elastic materials can sometimes be cooled or frozen with ice or dry ice to obtain good cutting
characteristics.
3. Dyes or indicator solutions such as phenolphthalein are sometimes helpful to develop appearance
contrast between metals (iron-galvanizing) or paint coats.
4. Eraser white-out fluid may be useful as a benchmarker on dark surfaces.
5. With some coatings, improved cuts can be achieved by wetting the surface, or by speeding or
slowing the cutting rate.
6. Coatings with poor adhesion will exhibit a ragged line at the substrate interface. Read thickness from
the left incision edge in the SUBSTRATE in these cases. (Note Reference on Coatings Adherence
Measurement below.)

CTH01 Single Cutting Tip Holder

The CTH01 Cutting Tip Holder, at a little under two inches (4.1cm)
long, allows easy use of a carbide cutting tip without having to manipulate the Tooke Gage to make the incision and then manipulate
the gage again to view the incision through the microscope. Make
multiple incisions with your most-used tip without having to return
the gage to viewing position multiple times.
The cutting tip is secured by two set screws, one on the short end of
the holder and one in the side. The wrench provided with OG202
and OG204 Tooke Gages fits these set screws. The two set screws
give 90 support to the cutting tip.
The cutting tip storage compartment on the opposite end holds two
tips secured by a compartment retaining screw.

CTH02 Double Cutting Tip Holder

This holder allows two tips to be mounted on opposite sides and,
like the shorter, single cutting tip holder (CTH01),allows easy use
of the cutting tips without having to manipulate the Tooke Gage to
make the incision and then manipulate the gage again to view the
incision through the microscope.
With this tip holder you can:
make multiple incisions with your most-used tip(s) without
having to keep switching the gage to viewing position.
mounting two of the same tips allows for checking two
incisions against each other.
bracket your incisions by mounting two different tips to
create different incising geometries.

Paul N. Gardner Co., Inc. www.gardco.com (954) 946-9454 1-800-762-2478

film thickness
Ordering Information
DF-OG202
Tooke Paint Inspection Gage, Model OG202 (metal body).................$695.00

Complete with illuminated microscope, three cutting tips, felt tip

marker, Allen wrench, plastic (polypropylene) carry case, spare batteries,

LED bulb and instructions.
DF-OG204
Tooke Paint Inspection Gage, Model OG204 (plastic body)..................495.00

Complete with illuminated microscope, three cutting tips,

allen wrench-switch, felt tip marker, spare batteries and LED bulb,

plastic (polypropylene) carry case and instructions
Accessories/Replacements
DF-OG202-11
EXTRA 1X Cutting Tip.........................................................................75.00
DF-OG202-12
EXTRA 2X Cutting Tip.........................................................................75.00
DF-OG202-13
EXTRA 10X Cutting Tip.......................................................................75.00
DF-OG202-123
1X, 2X, & 10X Cutting Tip Set..........................................................150.00
DF-OG202-14
Special 5X Cutting Tip........................................................................75.00
DF-OG202-91
CTH01 Cutting Tip Holder (single tip)...................................................65.00
DF-OG202-95
CTH02 Cutting Tip Holder (two-tip)......................................................76.00
DF-OG200-LED
LED bulb ...........................................................................................4.00
DF-OG202-XX
Incandescent bulb (#222)....................................................................4.00
DF-OG200-CASE
Plastic case with spare batteries, wrench, markers & LED bulb...............32.00

Replacement tungsten-carbide cutting tips. Available in 1X (45), 2X (26.6), 5X (10.2) and

10X (5.7) configurations. (5X cutting tip not shown)

OG202

OG204

DF-OG200-CASE (included with Gage)

Case made of polypropylene with foam
inserts to carry your OG202 or OG204
Tooke Gage and spare parts. Has a
convenient carry handle, closes securely
with two latches and stands upright on
two molded feet.

References

1. A Paint Inspection Gage by Raymond Tooke, Jr.OFFICIAL DIGEST, July 1963, 35, pp. 691-698.
2. Coatings Adherence Measurement By An Angular Scribe-Stripping Technique by W. R. Tooke, Jr. and J. Montalvo,
JOURNAL OF PAINT TECHNOLOGY, January 1966, 38, pp. 18-28.
3. Development of Specifications For Measurement of Paint Thickness On Structural Steel by J. D. Keene and T. L.
Shoemaker, JOURNAL OF PAINT TECHNOLOGY, 45, No. 585, October 1973, pp. 46-67.
4. How Instruments Boost Coatings Application Productivity by W. R. Tooke, Jr., PROFESSIONAL DECORATING AND
COATING ACTION, October 1976, pp. 16,18.
5. Standard Method of Measurement of Dry Film Thickness of Protective Coatings Systems by Destructive Means,
Designation: D 4138-82, 1988 ANNUAL BOOK OF ASTM STANDARDS, pp. 695-697.

6. Method and Device for Measuring the Thickness of Films by W. R. Tooke, Jr.
Paul N. Gardner Co., Inc. www.gardco.com (954) 946-9454 1-800-762-2478