----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Notton" <Richard@fv623.demon.co.uk>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2000 12:11 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] RE Body thickness
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ken Boge" <ken@clovermachine.com>
> To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
> Sent: Friday, November 24, 2000 9:33 PM
> Subject: Re: [MV] RE Body thickness
>
>
> > If anyone needs a sheet metal thickness chart, there's a nice one at
> >
> > http://www.eagle.ca/~ucs/2carb.html
> >
> Perhaps even better is http://www.screentg.com/gaugewire.htm
>
> This gives all the gauge number standards and their nominal inch
thickness.
>
> Richard
> Southampton - England
Richard,
That's a good link for wire sizes which may or may not apply to sheet metal.
When working on the restoration and repair of HMV's, it is advantageous to
know that there are a great number of "standards" for wire and sheet metal
gauges. The American Wire Gauge, Brown & Sharpe Gauge, Steel Wire Gauge,
Washburn and Moen Gauge, American Steel and Wire Gauge, Roebling Gauge,
British Standard Gauge, Music or Piano Wire Gauge, and Birmingham or Stub's
Gauge just to name a few.
The decimal thickness of the wire or sheet depends on which standard is used
and also on the type of material that is specified (copper, brass, aluminum,
stainless steel, steel, galvanized, etc.).
Then there is the tolerance factor to take into account. Using the table I
suggested shows that subtracting the tolerance from 20 gauge steel and
adding the tolerance to 22 gauge steel results in an overlap of thicknesses.
In other words, by measuring the sheet you cannot tell if the manufacturer
intended to produce or if the distributer sold this material as 20, 21, or
22 gauge due to the tolerances specified.
Another thing to consider is that not all gauges of sheet metal are
commercially produced. Odd gauges would have to be a special order item.
Consider also the case of special and proprietary coatings on steel sheet
and coil such as zinc, aluminum and paint. These coatings require their own
standards for thickness and tolerance.
Fortunately there is hope! It is becomming more common, in fact I would say
"standard", to specify sheet and wire thickness by decimal inch (or
milimeter if you must) to avoid a lot of this potential confusion.
I hope this sheds some light on the confusing world of steel gauges. [:o)
Ken
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Dec 03 2000 - 20:29:58 PST