Choosing Sheet Metal Gauge

It is very important that you are using the correct product to optimize efficiency and functionality.

Choosing sheet metal gauge.

Choose the check mark to use a gauge table. The thicker the piece of sheet metal the heavier in weight the material is for building. This is choosing the right thickness or gauge of sheet metal. With a sheet metal gauge table the process is simplified to just a few clicks.

A gauge conversion chart can be used to determine the actual thickness of sheet metal in inches or millimeters. For cnc machined parts panels and enclosures 6061 aluminum is ideal because the material is softer and is easily milled. With custom sheet metal fabrication always note that the higher the number of the gauge the thinner the metal. The gauge number 18 holds no relevance to the actual measurements.

The manufacturers standard gage provides the thicknesses for standard steel galvanized steel and stainless steel. 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. Next we use the pull down menu to select the appropriate table. The equivalent thicknesses differ for each gauge size standard which were developed based on the weight of the sheet for a given material.

First we choose the option to use a gauge table. For sheet metal parts 5052 is preferred as the metal can bend to a tighter radius than 6061 without cracking.