Standard wire gauge


British Standard Wire Gauge is a set of wire sizes given by BS 3737:1964, and is generally abbreviated to SWG. It is also known as: Imperial Wire Gauge or British Standard Gauge. Use of SWG sizes has fallen greatly in popularity, but is still used as a measure of thickness in guitar strings and some electrical wire. Cross sectional area in square millimetres is now the more usual size measurement for wires used in electrical installation cables. The current British Standard for metallic materials such as wire and sheet is BS 6722:1986, which is a solely metric standard.
SWG was fixed by Order of Council August 23, 1883. It was constructed by improving the Birmingham Wire Gauge. It was made a legal standard on March 1, 1884 by the British Board of Trade. SWG is not to be confused with American Wire Gauge which has a similar but not interchangeable numbering scheme.
A table of the gauge numbers and wire diameters is shown below. The basis of the system is the thou, or. Sizes are specified as wire diameters, stated in thou and tenths of a thou. The wire diameter diminishes with increasing size number. No. 7/0, the largest size, is dia., No. 1 is , and the smallest, No. 50, is .
The system as a whole approximates a exponential curve. The weight per unit length diminishes by an average of approximately 20% at each step. Because the weight per unit length is related to the cross sectional area, and therefore to the square of the diameter, the diameter diminishes by approximately 10.6%:
But the system is piecewise linear, only approximating the exponential curve loosely. Thus it runs in constant steps of through the range No. 49 - No. 39 and through No. 39 - No. 30.
SWGStep
7/00.50012.7000.036"/gauge
6/00.46411.7860.032"/gauge
5/00.43210.9730.032"/gauge
4/00.40010.1600.028"/gauge
3/00.3729.4490.024"/gauge
2/00.3488.8390.024"/gauge
00.3248.2300.024"/gauge
10.3007.6200.024"/gauge
20.2767.0100.024"/gauge
30.2526.4010.020"/gauge
40.2325.8930.020"/gauge
50.2125.3850.020"/gauge
60.1924.8770.016"/gauge
70.1764.4700.016"/gauge
80.1604.0640.016"/gauge
90.1443.6580.016"/gauge
100.1283.2510.012"/gauge
110.1162.9460.012"/gauge
120.1042.6420.012"/gauge
130.0922.3370.012"/gauge
140.0802.0320.008"/gauge
150.0721.8290.008"/gauge
160.0641.6260.008"/gauge
170.0561.4220.008"/gauge
180.0481.2190.008"/gauge
190.0401.0160.004"/gauge
200.0360.9140.004"/gauge
210.0320.8130.004"/gauge
220.0280.7110.004"/gauge
230.0240.6100.002"/gauge
240.0220.5590.002"/gauge
250.0200.50800.002"/gauge
260.0180.45720.0016"/gauge
270.01640.41660.0016"/gauge
280.01480.37590.0012"/gauge
290.01360.34540.0012"/gauge
300.01240.31500.0008"/gauge
310.01160.29460.0008"/gauge
320.01080.27430.0008"/gauge
330.01000.25400.0008"/gauge
340.00920.23370.0008"/gauge
350.00840.21340.0008"/gauge
360.00760.19300.0008"/gauge
370.00680.17270.0008"/gauge
380.00600.15240.0008"/gauge
390.00520.13210.0004"/gauge
400.00480.12190.0004"/gauge
410.00440.11180.0004"/gauge
420.0040.10160.0004"/gauge
430.00360.09140.0004"/gauge
440.00320.08130.0004"/gauge
450.00280.07110.0004"/gauge
460.00240.06100.0004"/gauge
470.00200.05080.0004"/gauge
480.00160.04060.0004"/gauge
490.00120.03050.0002"/gauge
500.00100.02540.0002"/gauge