Dear all, Can anyone give me a quick pointer to where I might
find a conversion table to convert wire gauges to millimeters.
I’m having trouble with a pattern which gives wire size in
gauge. Also is there a difference between American wire gauge and
UK (imperial?) wire gauge?
Thanks,
Alex
Alex Ball
Electron Microscope Unit
The Natural History Museum
London SW7 9BD
Tel 0171 938 8973/9348
Fax 0171 938 9268
Hello Alex, I do not have a conversion formula, but I do have a
steel wire gauges chart. There are 5 wire standards listed in my
reference book. American, Birmingham, Washburn,W&M, and Imperial.
The book I have "Pocket Ref"is published by Sequoia Publishing,
inc., Littleton, Colorado, USA (303) 972-4167, they have a
software version called MegaRef. Maybe you can find them online. I
will be happy to look up your wire size and convert for you. You
can contact me directly using my email address.
Regards,
Kevin Willis
Advantage Tool & Microweld
Decatur, Alabama
betkev@aol.com
Dear Anna and Alex, The most comprehensive conversion tables for
metal-work are to be found in Oppi Untracht’s Jewelry; Concepts
and Technology. See pages;741 for Alex’s conversion table, and
744 the specific gravity chart (Use this as a"multiplier" of the
weight of the wax model) for Anna.
This book has more esoteric measuring systems (explained and
converted) than any other text; Douzieme/Ligne, Apothecaries’
weight, plus conversion tables for all the commonly known
Finger-sizing systems, the various “Wire Gauge” systems, as well
as a host of recipes for Alloying / Plating / Pickling /
soldering /… the list is quite long.
Buy this book! It is worth every cent of the approximate $80
price. Hope this helps , Eben
Hi Alex,
Can anyone give me a quick pointer to where I might find a conversion table to convert wire gauges to millimeters.
Tim McCreight’s ‘The Complete Metalsmith’ (ISBN 0-87192-240-1)
has a a chart that converts Brown & Sharpe gauges to mm, inches &
numbered drill sizes. The Complete Metalsmith is available at
most jeweler’s supplys in the US for less than $20.00. It’s a
great little book (about 200 pages of very useful stuff).
I’m having trouble with a pattern which gives wire size in
gauge. Also is there a difference between American wire gauge and
UK (imperial?) wire gauge
There’s a size difference between the systems, Oppi Untracht’s
‘Jewelry Concepts & Technology’ has tables of the 2 systems on
pages 738 & 739. A few examples of the differences: B&S ga 1 =
.2893 inches, British Standard Wire Gauge (SWG) ga1 = .300
inches; B&S ga 20 = .031961 in, SWG ga 20 = .036 in, B&S ga 40
= .003144 in, SWG ga 40 = .0048 in.
Although the differences are small, percentage wise the
variation varies from one gauge to the other.
Dave
Dear all, Can anyone give me a quick pointer to where I might
find a conversion table to convert wire gauges to millimeters.
Here you go. This is from Tim McCreight’s “The Complete
Metalsmith” – it’s excellent.
mm inch B&S (gauge)(American)
6.54 .2576 2
5.19 .2043 4
4.11 .1620 6
3.26 .1285 8
2.59 .1019 10
2.05 .0808 12
1.63 .0641 14
1.29 .0508 16
1.02 .0403 18
.813 .0320 20
.643 .0253 22
.511 .0201 24
.404 .0154 26
.330 .0126 28
.254 .0100 30
IMPERIAL – (British) Standard Wire Gauge (from Oppi Untracht’s “Jewelry
Concepts and Technology”)
SWG in mm
7/0 .500 12.70
6/0 .464 11.79
5/0 .432 10.97
4/0 .400 10.16
3/0 .372 9.45
2/0 .348 8.84
1/0 .324 8.23
1 .300 7.62
2 .276 7.01
3 .252 6.40
4 .232 5.89
5 .212 5.38
6 .192 4.88
7 .176 4.47
8 .160 4.06
9 .144 3.66
10 .128 3.25
11 .116 2.95
12 .104 2.64
13 .092 2.34
14 .080 2.03
15 .072 1.83
16 .064 1.63
17 .056 1.42
18 .048 1.22
19 .040 1.016
20 .036 .914
21 .032 .813
22 .028 .711
23 .024 .610
24 .022 .559
25 .020 .508
26 .018 .457
27 .0164 .417
28 .0148 .376
29 .0136 .345
30 .0124 .315
This goes all the way to fifty, by the way, but I figure a third
of a millimeter will do you for now. If you’d like the rest,
please email me! 
-Kieran