Wire gauge

jlupine · « **on:** 5 May 2004, 08:02 pm »

I had always assumed that we all meant the same thing when discussing the gauge of wire. Now I come across different standards: Brown & Sharpe, Birmingham (the same as Stubs ?), and Washburn & Moen. Is one of these the U.S. standard or at least much more commonly used than the others ?

Jan

mgalusha · « **Reply #1 on:** 5 May 2004, 11:22 pm »

Nearly any wire you buy commercially in the US will be measured in AWG - American Wire Gauge. I have heard of the Brown & Sharpe but not the others. I suspect wire sized to anything other than AWG is fairly rare. Note this does not apply to wire made outside of the US. It's often specified by diameter in mm or in square mm cross section area. You can find charts for the conversions fairly easily. Some folks who import Japanese wire will provide the US equivilent, such as Vampire. They sell a continuous cast copper that is 26.5 gage. Here is a conversion chart

mike g

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #2 on:** 6 May 2004, 01:33 am »

Mike, great resource to keep around - thanks!

Hey, in somewhat related questions....how are wire guages figured? For instance four 19 ga. wires = 13.5 ga (Kimber 4TC).

How is this arrived at...is there a formula for figuring this out? Inquiring minds wanna' know; it's bugged me for a while.

Thx, TCG

mgalusha · « **Reply #3 on:** 6 May 2004, 03:38 am »

From what I understand if you double the conductors the AWG goes down by approximately three. So two 19ga = 16ga and four 19ga = 13ga. If Kimber specifies 13.5 for four strands of 19ga, then what I read was pretty accurate.

mike

Edit - I just clicked the "hotwire" link on the cable reference. Not what you would expect.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #4 on:** 6 May 2004, 03:49 am »

Quote from: mgalusha

From what I understand if you double the conductors the AWG goes down by approximately three. So two 19ga = 16ga and four 19ga = 13ga. If Kimber specifies 13.5 for four strands of 19ga, then what I read was pretty accurate.

mike

Mike, but at what point does that 'formula' not work. Like, seven 19 ga's bundled is what, minus 2 ga (AWG)? There's got to be a better system out there to arrive at the correct gauge when bundling.

I kinda' sorta' arrived at the same approximation looking at different bundles from different makers. You think there may be no formula, it's strictly sizing of the bundle and the approximation we are both using is merely a rough guide?

Wiregeeks, anybody out there? Robert/Ridge Street, Wayne/Bolder, Dan Banquer (hehe) or anybody else care to help the hapless here in The Lab?

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #5 on:** 6 May 2004, 05:27 am »

"Nearly any wire you buy commercially in the US will be measured in AWG - American Wire Gauge."

.....Now I know what those letters mean...thanks !!

_scotty_ · « **Reply #6 on:** 6 May 2004, 08:06 am »

Here is a link to a table of AWG sizes and their equivalent circular mill
area. Just add or subtract the cross sectional area to see what equals what. No formulas required. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Tables/wirega.html

Copper wire gauge vs.other gauge applications. http://shopswarf.orcon.net.nz/wiregage.html

Scotty

jlupine · « **Reply #7 on:** 7 May 2004, 08:51 pm »

Thanks Mike and Scotty.
It looks as if AWG is the same as Brown & Sharpe.

Jan

Dan Banquer · « **Reply #8 on:** 8 May 2004, 01:30 am »

Does it now mean that B+S=AWG.

Try not to groan to much;
d.b.