AWG HISTORY:
The American Wire Gauge system (originally called the Brown and Sharpe (B + S) Gauge) originated in the wire drawing industry. The gauge is calculated so that the next largest diameter always has a cross-sectional area that is 26% greater than the previous diameter. The AWG system is a geometrical progression that came about due to the method of wire drawing. For example 36 AWG is defined as 5 mil diameter going all the way to (and beyond) 4/0 AWG at 460 mil diameter.
To calculate mm from the inch measurement: multiply the inch figure by 25.4
To obtain the cross sectional area use the formula: A = 3.142 (Pi) x D (squared)/4
| AWG | Inch | Metric |
| 40 | 0.0031 | 0.079 |
| 39 | 0.0035 | 0.89 |
| 38 | 0.004 | 0.102 |
| 37 | 0.0045 | 0.114 |
| 36 | 0.005 | 0.127 |
| 35 | 0.0056 | 0.142 |
| 34 | 0.0063 | 0.16 |
| 33 | 0.0071 | 0.18 |
| 32 | 0.008 | 0.203 |
| 31 | 0.0089 | 0.226 |
| 30 | 0.01 | 0.254 |
| 29 | 0.0113 | 0.287 |
| 28 | 0.0126 | 0.32 |
| 27 | 0.0142 | 0.361 |
| 26 | 0.0159 | 0.404 |
| 25 | 0.0179 | 0.455 |
| 24 | 0.0201 | 0.511 |
| 23 | 0.0226 | 0.574 |
| 22 | 0.0253 | 0.643 |
| 21 | 0.0285 | 0.724 |
| 20 | 0.032 | 0.813 |
| 19 | 0.0359 | 0.912 |
| 18 | 0.0403 | 1.02 |
| 17 | 0.0453 | 1.15 |
| 16 | 0.0508 | 1.29 |
| 15 | 0.0571 | 1.45 |
| 14 | 0.0641 | 1.63 |
| 13 | 0.072 | 1.83 |
| 12 | 0.0808 | 2.05 |
| 11 | 0.0905 | 2.3 |
| 10 | 0.102 | 2.6 |
| 9 | 0.114 | 2.91 |
| 8 | 0.128 | 3.26 |
| 7 | 0.144 | 3.67 |
| 6 | 0.162 | 4.11 |
| 5 | 0.182 | 4.62 |
| 4 | 0.204 | 5.19 |
| 3 | 0.229 | 5.83 |
| 2 | 0.257 | 6.54 |
| 1 | 0.289 | 7.35 |
| 0 | 0.324 | 8.25 |
| 00 | 0.364 | 9.26 |
| 000 | 0.409 | 10.4 |
| 0000 | 0.460 | 11.7 |
| E&OE | ||
E&OE