Wire Gauge Drills

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

Can someone tell me what standard wire gauge drill are made to? I'm sure that it''s not SWG.

Also, where can I buy straight lengths of wire to the same gauge?

Brian

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Why are you sure of that, Brian ?

So far as I am aware SWG means SWG

MichaelG.

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Edit: Not to be confused with AWG or any minority series

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 02/04/2021 14:57:16

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

I believe they were originally based on Stubs steel wire gauge, not to be confused with Stubs iron wire gauge!

Russell

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

Thanks Michael, I compared the drill sizes with a SWG chart and it didn't seem to match, mind you, I only checked a few sizes.

Brian

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Possibly wrongly, my inclination would be to look up the diameter of the particular SWG and then find a small number drill of that size.

As an example: 20 SWG is 0.022"diameter, 0.58 mm, which is a No 74 drill, according to my Metric Revision Zeus charts.

HTH

Howard

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Is this any help ?

**LINK**

https://marston-sunbeam.org/threads/combined_swg_nodrill_letterdrill.php

MichaelG.

.

My usual ‘aide memoire’ for spot-checking any table which includes wire gauges is

16 SWG = 0.064” or 1.626mm [as near as matters for the purpose]

 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 02/04/2021 15:26:08

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

Many thanks for the link Michael, that's one of the best I've seen.

I believe that Russell hit the nail on the head, a little bit of research shows that it is indeed Stubs Steel wire Gauge.

The only problem is that I have been unable to find a supplier of straight lengths so have decided to remake the valve guides with an accurate 1/16" bore as I have found 2 pieces of 1/16" silver steel in my silver steel box.

I did try to make a pair of valve stems from drills but they are hard all the way up the shanks and don't seem amenable to annealing,

Brian

Edited By Brian H on 02/04/2021 18:18:19

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Good ol’ Wikipedia gives us this useful comparison chart: **LINK**

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Gauge_Chart.pdf

MichaelG.

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

Many thanks for that link Michael, it is very comprehensive.

Brian

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

One of the techniques in this stuation is to find the wire you want to use and make a D-bit out of it to ream the hole you drill just below size.

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