A measure of thickness for sheet metal.
How is sheet metal gauge defined.
Sheet metal thickness gauges for steel are based on a weight of 41 82 pounds per square foot per inch of thickness.
In most of the world sheet metal thickness is consistently specified in millimeters.
So inversely the smaller the gauge number the thicker the metal.
The larger the gauge number the thinner the metal.
Metal decking is most commonly 16 18 20 and 22 gauge in thickness.
Why gauge thickness matters.
Usually a bigger number means there s more of something but 18 gauge steel is thinner than 16ga not thicker.
How gauge thickness works.
Then we use hands for horses and gauge written as ga for metal.
The equivalent thicknesses differ for each gauge size standard which were developed based on the weight of the sheet for a given material.
Gauge is a dimensionless number sometimes spelled gage and confusingly it works backwards.
This is a great time saver because it ensures that the solidworks designer will not inadvertently create a model with a bend radius that we cannot manufacture with available tooling.
Sheet metal is specified in gauge so rather than design.
When working with sheet metal it is common for the term gauge to be used someone unfamiliar with the gauge system may not understand what is meant by 18 gauge steel for example.
These choices will be defined in our sheet metal gauge table based on available tooling and material wall thickness.
To help this blog will explain the gauge system and features a sheet metal gauge chart.
The coils are formed by running a continuous sheet of metal through a roll slitter.
In the u s the thickness of sheet metal is commonly specified by a traditional non linear measure known as its gauge.
A sheet metal gauge sometimes spelled gage indicates the standard thickness of sheet metal for a specific material.
Sheet metal is available in flat pieces or coiled strips.
As the gauge number increases the material thickness decreases.
Gague are used to specify the thickness of a metal sheet.