TABLE OF CONTENTS The branch of metalworking known as sheet metal represents a large and important element. Sheet-metal parts are used in countless commercial and military products and are found on almost every product produced by the metalworking industries throughout the world.
Sheet metal gauges run from under 0.001 to 0.500 in. Hot-rolled steel products can run from in thick to 18-gauge (0.0478 in) and still be considered as sheet, although many authorities consider any sheet-metal thickness of 0.250 in and greater as plate. Cold-rolled steel sheets are generally available from stock in sizes from 10-gauge (0.1345-in) down to 28-gauge (0.0148-in). Other sheet thicknesses are available as special-order mill-run products, when the basic order is large enough to justify a mill-run order. Large manufacturers who use vast tonnages of steel products such as the automobile manufacturers, appliance industry, switchgear producers, and other sheet-metal fabricators may order their steel to their own company specifications (composition, gauges, and physical properties).
The steel sheets are supplied in flat form or rolled into coils. Flat-form sheets are made to specific standard sizes, unless ordered to special nonstandard dimensions. Common American steel mill parlance denotes 0.250 in-thick steel plate as ten-pound-two (10-lb-2). This designation is derived from the fact that one square foot of normal mild carbon steel in thick weighs 10.2 lb. Thus a 1-ft 2 piece of ?-in-thick steel would weigh about 5.1 lb and is called five-pound-one (5-lb-1).
Carbon...
