Wire and plate gauges

[WolfieParticipant @wolfie]

[WolfieParticipant @wolfie]

Can anyone explain to me what SWG is when it comes to wire and plate gauges? I thought it would just have been sold by thickness?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

A lot of sheet is now sold in metric thickness so you will have a job finding in in gauges, just google it and you will find a conversion chart. The gauge was the old imperial method of measuring these thicknesses as 64ths were too big a step.

 

J

[NJHParticipant @njh]

SWG = Standard Wire Gauge – an old Imperial hangover as Jason says but still used in many fields.

I recommend that you get a copy of ” The Model Engineer’s Handbook ” by Tubal Cain which gives all this sort of data and is an invaluable mine of information for workshop tasks.

 

Cheers

Norman

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

gauge is still used all over , in tube wall for instance… Just get used to odd hang overs from our illustrious past…apparently the railway gauge is the same as the roman chariot/ standard wheel width .yes they had that level of standardisation..
I seem to remember swg is related to how long a wire per unit weight…

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

google ‘standard wire gauge’ the wikipeedia article is pretty good.

[Harold Hall 1Participant @haroldhall1]

I can recommend Tubal Cain’s “Model Engineer’s Handbook” but may I also be allowed to plug a book of mine “Metalworkers Data Book” number 42 in the Workshop Practice series.

See here for details

http://www.homews.co.uk/page32a.html

See also the reviews in Amazon ( I wouldn’t say that if they were not good, would I?)

 

http://tinyurl.com/MetalworkersDataBook

Harold

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

in short its not linear..ie: 50swg =1 thou. But 25 swg is not 2 thou

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Oh dear !

Harold- how could I overlook your excellent book! I have both yours and Tubal Cains and, whilst there is some overlap, I find them complementary. Wolfie – buy both!
Regards
Norman

[SpringbokParticipant @springbok]

Wolfie as NJH says get both books they are currently in print

and well worth the expence.

They also turn up on fleabay second hand.

Bob.

[Diane CarneyModerator @dianecarney30678]

Something to beware of… if a plate is referred to as, for instance, twenty gauge and not 20 s.w.g. – unless it’s obvious, make sure it is British standard wire gauge and not American wire gauge as it’s different. Not usually a problem as you are buying it, but may be if you are ‘Googling’ it.

 

Diane

[Gone AwayParticipant @goneaway]

If you are getting into America gauges then it’s a much bigger can of worms than that, since several standards are used depending on material. The actual thickness for a given gauge number varies between the systems.

 

So you might run across::

 

AWG – for brass (and formerly aluminum) (.05082)

Manufacturers’ Standard – for hot and cold rolled steel (.0598)

Galvanized Sheet Gauge – for galvanized steel (.0635)

Birmingham Wire Gauge – for copper (and tube products in various materials) (.065)

US Standard – for stainless steel (.0625)

 

(numbers in brackets are thicknesses of 16-gauge in each system as an example)

Some of this mess is gradually getting cleaned up. The aluminum industry now has typically dropped gauge numbers and specify aluminum sheet as actual thickness (decimal inches)

 

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