What is here
- Sheet metal gauge chart: thickness in inches and mm for gauge 3 to 30 in steel, galvanized, stainless and aluminum, with steel and galvanized weight per square foot.
- Pipe schedule chart: OD, wall, ID and carbon steel weight for every schedule from 5S to XXS, NPS 1/8 to 24.
- Pipe size chart: nominal size against actual OD, wall and ID for steel and PVC pipe, Type K, L and M copper water tube, and ACR tube in both tempers.
Where the numbers come from
Steel sheet gauges are computed from the weights in the 1893 US Standard Gauge law (15 U.S.C. 206), divided by 41.82 lb per square foot per inch, the ratio between thickness and weight in Alro's Manufacturers' Standard Gauge chart. Aluminum sheet uses the American Wire Gauge, which NBS Letter Circular 24 describes as the gauge for nearly all nonferrous sheet; its diameters come from ASTM B258. Pipe walls follow ASME B36.10M and B36.19M as published in InfraBuild's data charts, and copper tube comes from the Copper Development Association's Copper Tube Handbook. Every table was checked against at least two independent published tables, and the result and any differences are printed under each chart.
Gauge, schedule and type are not measurements
A gauge number, a schedule and a nominal size are all names. 16 gauge is 0.0598 in in steel but 0.0508 in in aluminum. Schedule 40 is 0.109 in thick at 1/2 in and 0.406 in at 12 in. 1/2-inch pipe is 0.840 in OD, while 1/2-inch copper tube is 0.625 in. When it matters, order and inspect by decimal dimensions.