Gauge Sheet Metal Definition

The larger the gauge number the thinner the metal.

Gauge sheet metal definition.

Monroe nor any of its employees shall be held liable for any improper or incorrect use of the information described and or contained herein and assumes no responsibility for anyone s use of the information. Unit of thickness of a metal sheet or wire. As the gauge number increases the material thickness decreases. Usually a bigger number means there s more of something but 18 gauge steel is thinner than 16ga not thicker.

This is known as the manufacturers standard gage for sheet steel. Gauge or gage sizes are numbers that indicate the thickness of a piece of sheet metal with a higher number referring to a thinner sheet. Gague are used to specify the thickness of a metal sheet. Gauge is a dimensionless number sometimes spelled gage and confusingly it works backwards.

The equivalent thicknesses differ for each gauge size standard which were developed based on the weight of the sheet for a given material. Commonly used steel sheet metal ranges from 30 gauge to about 7 gauge. As the gauge number increases the thickness drops by 10 percent. Sheet metal thickness gauges for steel are based on a weight of 41 82 pounds per square foot per inch of thickness.

Sheet metal is specified in gauge so rather than design in fractions of an inch you should really be specifying ga on part prints. Gauge differs between ferrous iron based metals and nonferrous metals such as aluminum or copper. In the u s the thickness of sheet metal is commonly specified by a traditional non linear measure known as its gauge. Gague ga is a length measurement unit for diameters originating in north america and belongs to the browne sharpe metering system.

1 for sheet metal a retrogressive scale higher numbers mean lower thickness that starts with 10 gauge representing a thickness of 3 416 millimeters or 0 1345 inches. A sheet metal gauge sometimes spelled gage indicates the standard thickness of sheet metal for a specific material.