How Is Sheet Metal Gauge Defined

Why gauge thickness matters.

How is sheet metal gauge defined.

A measure of thickness for sheet metal. Gague are used to specify the thickness of a metal sheet. Usually a bigger number means there s more of something but 18 gauge steel is thinner than 16ga not thicker. How gauge thickness works.

Sheet metal thickness gauges for steel are based on a weight of 41 82 pounds per square foot per inch of thickness. A sheet metal gauge sometimes spelled gage indicates the standard thickness of sheet metal for a specific material. As the gauge number increases the material thickness decreases. The equivalent thicknesses differ for each gauge size standard which were developed based on the weight of the sheet for a given material.

These choices will be defined in our sheet metal gauge table based on available tooling and material wall thickness. The coils are formed by running a continuous sheet of metal through a roll slitter. Gauge is a dimensionless number sometimes spelled gage and confusingly it works backwards. To help this blog will explain the gauge system and features a sheet metal gauge chart.

Sheet metal is specified in gauge so rather than design. Then we use hands for horses and gauge written as ga for metal. In the u s the thickness of sheet metal is commonly specified by a traditional non linear measure known as its gauge. Metal decking is most commonly 16 18 20 and 22 gauge in thickness.

In most of the world sheet metal thickness is consistently specified in millimeters. Sheet metal is available in flat pieces or coiled strips. The larger the gauge number the thinner the metal. So inversely the smaller the gauge number the thicker the metal.

When working with sheet metal the term gauge is often used. Sheet metal gauge size chart 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.