Guide to Material Thickness – Stainless Steel, Aluminum, Copper, & Brass
What are sheet metal gauges?
Gauges are used to measure the material thickness of a sheet of metal. These units are neither standard of metric and are completely independent of those typical measurement systems. Keeping a gauge conversion chart nearby is an easy way to determine the actual thickness of a sheet of metal in inches or millimeters. For example, a 14 gauge stainless-steel is .07812 inches thick. The gauge number 14 holds no relevance to the actual measurements.
It is important to know that the gauge thicknesses also vary depending on the type of sheet metal being referenced. Take for instance 12-gauge thickness across the material types listed below; stainless steel is 0.105″ thick, aluminum is 0.080″, copper is 0.108″, and brass is 0.081″.
Thickness Chart
You can use any number of calipers to measure the material thickness or a handy thickness gauge like the one pictured below.
Thickness Guage Tools
If you have any questions about the material thickness or plate sizes, please contact our sales team at sales@metafab.com. They will be more than happy to answer any questions and get you started on your next project.