Calculators
Fan Laws and Blower Speed: Taking the Four Numbers, and Five Changes Worked by Hand
Where each baseline reading comes from, the one that is nearly always taken wrong, and five complete jobs with the...
Calculators
The calculators category collects posts built around TestTalkHQ’s free shop math tools—welding settings, electrical sizing, air CFM, material weight, cutting speeds, and job costing. Each article explains when to use the calculator, what inputs matter, and how to sanity-check the result on the floor.
These are companion pieces to the live tools on the site, not duplicate calculators locked in blog form. Start the tool, read the post if you need the why, and apply the numbers to your machine and code environment. Examples include MIG wire feed and voltage guides, TIG amperage for steel and aluminum, voltage drop and wire sizing, compressor CFM for plasma, metal weight and pipe weight, and weld-cost estimates for quoting work.
Posts often link to related reviews when a calculator pairs with a specific machine type. New calculators and walkthroughs land here as they are published; the full index lives on the free calculators hub. Use this category when you want the explanation behind the math, not just the button.
Calculators
Calculators
Not Enough Air, Too Much Power: Twelve Blower Faults Read Back From the Four Numbers
Airflow, static pressure, fan speed and watts. Which one is out of place against the other three tells you what...
Calculators
Sheave, VFD or ECM: Three Ways to Change Fan Speed, and When Each One Is the Wrong Answer
They are not three prices for the same thing. Each gives you a different kind of control, and two of...
Calculators
Fan Law Calculator
Calculators
Wood Movement and Moisture Content: Measuring the Five Numbers, and Four Examples Worked by Hand
A procedure you can finish in an afternoon, and the arithmetic done out loud so you can check it The...
Calculators
Gaps, Cupping and Buckling: Twelve Wood Movement Failures Read Backwards
Which way it moved, and when, tells you what went wrong - in that order Almost every wood movement failure...
Calculators
Flatsawn vs Quartersawn: What the Cut Actually Buys, Species by Species
The movement difference in numbers, what it costs, and the three times something else is the better answer “Quartersawn moves...
Calculators
Wood Shrinkage Calculator
Automotive
Brake Bias and Pedal Ratio: Measuring the Six Numbers the Whole Chain Runs On
A measuring procedure you can finish in an afternoon, and a worked example done entirely by hand You can calculate...
Automotive
Hard Pedal, Won’t Stop: Diagnosing a Brake System That Makes Pressure and No Stop
Eleven causes in diagnostic order, starting with the only measurement that settles the argument A firm pedal that will not...