← Back to Bead BoardFree tools for welding
and fab shops.
No login. No email. Just answers. Built by the Bead Board team because we do this math every day and got tired of running it on the back of a cut list.
Welding Shop Rate Calculator
What should you actually be charging per hour? Enter your overhead, billable hours, and target margin. Break-even rate and recommended rate, live.
Find your rate →02Welding Cost Calculator
Estimate a weld job down to the inch. MIG, TIG, stick, flux-core. Labor, filler, gas, markup. Download a clean PDF for the customer.
Estimate a job →03Metal Weight Calculator
Plate, pipe, bar, tube. Every common steel, stainless, and aluminum spec. Imperial or metric, one piece or a hundred.
Weigh it →04Welding Gas Usage Calculator
How many bottles do you need for this job? Pick your process and cylinder size. Get total consumption, cost, and days per bottle.
Count your bottles →05Weld Filler Metal Calculator
How many pounds of wire or rod for a joint? Fillet or butt, any process. Spool count, box count, and estimated cost.
Calculate filler →06Welding Job Pricing Calculator
Build a bid from scratch. Tasks, materials, consumables, overhead, margin. One page that tells you what to charge for the whole job.
Price a job →Charts & guides
Welding Settings Chart
Pick your process, metal, and thickness. Get amperage, voltage, wire speed, gas, and filler for MIG, TIG, or stick.
Look up settings →08Wire & Gas Selection Guide
Which wire type, wire size, and shielding gas for your process and base metal. MIG, TIG, stick, and flux-core.
Find your wire →09Welding Symbol Chart
Every AWS A2.4 welding symbol, searchable and visual, with dimension callout rules. The cheat sheet that replaces the PDF.
Look up symbols →Weight charts & calculators
One page per material and shape so it's a single click from a print to the answer: steel, stainless, and aluminum plate, pipe, bar, and tube.
Steel Plate Weight
A36 mild steel. Every thickness from 1/16 up.
Steel Pipe Weight
NPS 1/2 through 8, Schedule 40/80/XXS.
Steel Round Bar Weight
1018, A36, hot-rolled round stock.
Steel Flat Bar Weight
A36 flat bar by width and thickness.
Steel Angle (Angle Iron)
Equal-leg angle by leg and thickness.
Steel Square Tube (HSS)
Hollow structural section by size and wall.
Steel Rectangular Tube (HSS)
Rectangular HSS by width, height, and wall.
Steel Round Tube Weight
DOM and ERW mechanical tubing by OD and wall.
Aluminum Plate Weight
6061-T6 and 5052 plate.
Aluminum Square Tube Weight
6061 square HSS by outside size and wall.
Aluminum Angle Weight
6061 equal-leg angle by leg and thickness.
Aluminum Flat Bar Weight
6061 flat bar by width and thickness.
Aluminum Round Bar Weight
6061-T6 round bar by diameter and length.
Stainless Plate Weight
304 and 316 plate in lb or kg.
Stainless Square Tube Weight
304/316 square HSS by outside size and wall.
Stainless Angle Weight
304/316 equal-leg angle by leg and thickness.
Stainless Round Bar Weight
304/316 stainless round bar by diameter.
Sheet Metal Gauge Chart
Gauge to thickness for steel, stainless, aluminum.
Plate Weight Chart
Weight per square foot by thickness. Steel, stainless, aluminum.
Pipe Weight Chart
Weight per foot by NPS and schedule. Sch 40, 80, XXS.
Free welding calculators and reference tools
The welding shop rate calculator figures out what you should actually charge per hour based on your real overhead and billable hours. The welding cost estimator breaks a weld job down by process: MIG, TIG, stick, or flux-core, with labor, filler, gas, and markup shown per inch. The metal weight calculator covers every common shape and material: steel plate, steel pipe by NPS and schedule, round bar, square tube, aluminum, and stainless.
Every calculator runs in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server. Your shop name, logo, and contact info are stored on your device only and show up on the PDF you download. The math is sourced from ASME B36.10M, MatWeb, Lincoln Electric, ESAB, Miller, and TWI.
See how shops use Bead Board: quoting • job tracking • mobile + offline • time tracking • job photos.