Standard wire gauge
British Standard Wire Gauge is a set of wire sizes given by BS 3737:1964, and is generally abbreviated to SWG. Use of SWG sizes has fallen greatly in popularity, but is still in use. Cross sectional area in square millimetres is now a more popular size measurement.
Also known as: Imperial wire gauge, British Standard Gauge.
SWG was fixed by Order of Council August 23 1883. It was constructed by improving the Birmingham Wire Gauge. Made legal standard March 1 1884.
A table of wire gauges and diameters is shown below [1]
| SWG | in | mm |
|---|---|---|
| 7/0 | 0.5 | 12.700 |
| 6/0 | 0.464 | 11.786 |
| 5/0 | 0.432 | 10.973 |
| 4/0 | 0.4 | 10.160 |
| 3/0 | 0.372 | 9.449 |
| 2/0 | 0.348 | 8.839 |
| 0 | 0.324 | 8.230 |
| 1 | 0.3 | 7.620 |
| 2 | 0.276 | 7.010 |
| 3 | 0.252 | 6.401 |
| 4 | 0.232 | 5.893 |
| 5 | 0.212 | 5.385 |
| 6 | 0.192 | 4.877 |
| 7 | 0.176 | 4.470 |
| 8 | 0.16 | 4.064 |
| 9 | 0.144 | 3.658 |
| 10 | 0.128 | 3.251 |
| 11 | 0.116 | 2.946 |
| 12 | 0.104 | 2.642 |
| 13 | 0.092 | 2.337 |
| 14 | 0.08 | 2.032 |
| 15 | 0.072 | 1.829 |
| 16 | 0.064 | 1.626 |
| 17 | 0.056 | 1.422 |
| 18 | 0.048 | 1.219 |
| 19 | 0.04 | 1.016 |
| 20 | 0.036 | 0.914 |
| 21 | 0.032 | 0.813 |
| 22 | 0.028 | 0.711 |
| 23 | 0.024 | 0.610 |
| 24 | 0.022 | 0.559 |
| 25 | 0.02 | 0.5080 |
| 26 | 0.018 | 0.4572 |
| 27 | 0.0164 | 0.4166 |
| 28 | 0.0148 | 0.3759 |
| 29 | 0.0136 | 0.3454 |
| 30 | 0.0124 | 0.3150 |
| 31 | 0.0116 | 0.2946 |
| 32 | 0.0108 | 0.2743 |
| 33 | 0.01 | 0.2540 |
| 34 | 0.0092 | 0.2337 |
| 35 | 0.0084 | 0.2134 |
| 36 | 0.0076 | 0.1930 |
| 37 | 0.0068 | 0.1727 |
| 38 | 0.006 | 0.1524 |
| 39 | 0.0052 | 0.1321 |
| 40 | 0.0048 | 0.1219 |
| 41 | 0.0044 | 0.1118 |
| 42 | 0.004 | 0.1016 |
| 43 | 0.0036 | 0.0914 |
| 44 | 0.0032 | 0.0813 |
| 45 | 0.0028 | 0.0711 |
| 46 | 0.0024 | 0.0610 |
| 47 | 0.002 | 0.0508 |
| 48 | 0.0016 | 0.0406 |
| 49 | 0.0012 | 0.0305 |
| 50 | 0.001 | 0.0254 |