Library › Hardware › Materials & stock ·

Birmingham wire gauge (BWG) table: 5/0 to 36 in inches and mm; BWG 14 / 16 / 18 tube wall

What is the thickness or diameter of BWG (Birmingham wire gauge) 10, 14, 16 and 18, in inches and mm? · Standard part · basis: The Engineering ToolBox and Wermac BWG tables (inches agree on all 41 gauges; mm = inches x 25.4)

Also called: bwg gauge chart, bwg 14 thickness, bwg 16, bwg 18 thickness mm, birmingham gauge table, bwg to mm, bwg 10 inches, bwg vs swg, bwg tube wall thickness, stubs iron wire gauge, bwg 12

Exact dimensions. True size, with no tolerance added.

sizes
41 in table

Notes

  • BWG (Birmingham Wire Gauge, also Stubs' Iron Wire Gauge, B.W.G.): gauge number to thickness. For wire and fine tube the number is the outside diameter; for mechanical and boiler tubing it is the wall thickness whatever the tube's OD. Used for tube wall (BWG 14 = 0.083 in, BWG 16 = 0.065 in, BWG 18 = 0.049 in), hypodermic needle outer diameters (gauge numbers are the same series) and drill rod.
  • Inches are from The Engineering ToolBox and Wermac, which agree on every gauge from 5/0 (0.500 in) to 36 (0.004 in). The mm column is inches x 25.4; Wermac's printed mm agree to 0.001 mm (7.214 vs 7.213 for gauge 2 and 0.889 vs 0.888 for gauge 20 are rounding of 0.284 x 25.4 and 0.035 x 25.4).
  • BWG is not SWG (British Standard) and not AWG: BWG 10 is 0.134 in, SWG 10 is 0.128 in and AWG 10 is 0.1019 in. See the SWG and AWG pages.
  • No standard document was read; the sources name the system, not a BS or ASTM number for the values.

Birmingham wire gauge (BWG) table: 5/0 to 36 in inches and mm; BWG… size chart

BWGinchesmm
5/00.50012.700
4/00.45411.532
3/00.42510.795
2/00.3809.652
00.3408.636
10.3007.620
20.2847.214
30.2596.579
40.2386.045
50.2205.588
60.2035.156
70.1804.572
80.1654.191
90.1483.759
100.1343.404
110.1203.048
120.1092.769
130.0952.413
140.0832.108
150.0721.829
160.0651.651
170.0581.473
180.0491.245
190.0421.067
200.0350.889
210.0320.813
220.0280.711
230.0250.635
240.0220.559
250.0200.508
260.0180.457
270.0160.406
280.0140.356
290.0130.330
300.0120.305
310.0100.254
320.0090.229
330.0080.203
340.0070.178
350.0050.127
360.0040.102

Where the files are

Other publishers' files are linked, not hosted. "verify" = check the license at the link before commercial use.

The Engineering ToolBoxBWG (Birmingham Wire Gauge): gauge, incheswebPublisher's page; dimensions are facts
WermacBirmingham wire gauge table: inches and mmwebPublisher's page; dimensions are facts

Xem scan

File coming

No downloadable true-size file yet: the published figures do not fix the whole shape, and Xem never guesses a number. A measured scan is planned; request it and it moves up.

Let your AI pull this. Add https://xemstudio.com/mcp to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client (free, no account, one minute) and it can look up exact sizes, mating fits and free STEP/STL from every chat.
Set it up →

Plain text: sheet.txt · JSON: /api/geometry?object=birmingham-wire-gauge-bwg-table

length
Schematic, not to scale.

Fits with

Questions

What is BWG 16 in mm?

0.065 in = 1.651 mm.

What is BWG 14 in inches?

0.083 in (2.108 mm).

Is BWG the same as SWG?

No: BWG 10 is 0.134 in, SWG 10 is 0.128 in.