Robert,

I own a wire stripper which is a series of holes, each marked with the
gauge. Such strippers are quite common. I'd strip the wire and then pass it
through the various holes until I got a close fit. That should be the gauge,
near about. The difference between 18 and 14 should be obvious.
My tool is a stripper, cutter, crimper, et c. multi-tool.

Dave M.

On Jan 21, 9:09*am, "Dave M." wrote:
Robert,

* *I own a wire stripper which is a series of holes, each marked with the
gauge. Such strippers are quite common. I'd strip the wire and then pass it
through the various holes until I got a close fit. That should be the gauge,
near about. The difference between 18 and 14 should be obvious.
* *My tool is a stripper, cutter, crimper, et c. multi-tool.

Dave M.
_________________
The general form factor of mine:
http://www.crimping-tool.com/Cable-C...e-stripper.jpg

Strange, I have to use 16AWG slot to avoid stripping strands from
18AWG copper and 14AWG slot to avoid stripping strands from 16AWG and
so on.

-CC

On Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:44:16 -0800 (PST), ChrisCoaster
wrote:

On Jan 21, 9:09Â*am, "Dave M." wrote:
Robert,

Â* Â*I own a wire stripper which is a series of holes, each marked with the
gauge. Such strippers are quite common. I'd strip the wire and then pass it
through the various holes until I got a close fit. That should be the gauge,
near about. The difference between 18 and 14 should be obvious.
Â* Â*My tool is a stripper, cutter, crimper, et c. multi-tool.

Dave M.
_________________
The general form factor of mine:
http://www.crimping-tool.com/Cable-C...e-stripper.jpg

Strange, I have to use 16AWG slot to avoid stripping strands from
18AWG copper and 14AWG slot to avoid stripping strands from 16AWG and
so on.

-CC
The overall size of a stranded wire of a given guage varies WIDELY
depending on the composition of the conductor. Many fine strands is
smaller for the same circular mills cross-section than a few heavier
strands - and ALL stranded wire will be at least a SMALL amount larger
than solid conductor of the same guage.

On Jan 22, 3:53*pm, wrote:
On Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:44:16 -0800 (PST),ChrisCoaster





wrote:
On Jan 21, 9:09*am, "Dave M." wrote:
Robert,

* *I own a wire stripper which is a series of holes, each marked with the
gauge. Such strippers are quite common. I'd strip the wire and then pass it
through the various holes until I got a close fit. That should be the gauge,
near about. The difference between 18 and 14 should be obvious.
* *My tool is a stripper, cutter, crimper, et c. multi-tool.

Dave M.
_________________
The general form factor of mine:
http://www.crimping-tool.com/Cable-C...e-cutter-and-w...

Strange, I have to use 16AWG slot to avoid stripping strands from
18AWG copper and 14AWG slot to avoid stripping strands from 16AWG and
so on.

-CC

The overall size of a stranded wire of a given guage varies WIDELY
depending on the composition of the conductor. Many fine strands is
smaller for the same circular mills cross-section than a few heavier
strands - and ALL stranded wire will be at least a SMALL amount larger
than solid conductor of the same guage.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
________________
Hence the markings on my stripper - "14AWG Solid insert conductor
here16AWG Strd"
Next ratchet: "12AWG Solid 14WG Strd" (this is the one I
have to use to strip 16AWG stranded and not see any copper come off
with the insulator)

-CC

"Dave M." wrote in message
...
Robert,

I own a wire stripper which is a series of holes, each marked with the
gauge. Such strippers are quite common. I'd strip the wire and then pass
it
through the various holes until I got a close fit. That should be the
gauge,
near about. The difference between 18 and 14 should be obvious.
My tool is a stripper, cutter, crimper, et c. multi-tool.

I've got one of those, and I'll include that test in the photos I am making
up to send to Amazon. This is the first time some "marketplace vendor" has
tried a "bait and switch" of some sort. Eventually, it's going to hurt
Amazon's reputation, probably long after the fraudulent vendor is gone. I
think the best examples I have so far are a cross-wise cut of real and
"ersatz" 14GA where you can see how small the copper core is in the fake
wire and a feather-out of the two wires stripped of about an inch of
insulation. I think the weight suggestion from Stormie will work out well,
too, since it provides an absolute metric as to the amount of copper per
inch of wire.

Thanks for your input!

--
Bobby G.

wrote in message
...

stuff snipped

The overall size of a stranded wire of a given guage varies WIDELY
depending on the composition of the conductor. Many fine strands is
smaller for the same circular mills cross-section than a few heavier
strands - and ALL stranded wire will be at least a SMALL amount larger
than solid conductor of the same guage.

That's why I like the weight idea. I've been looking for, but can't find an
example of a standard when it comes to evaluating stranded wire gauges,
perhaps for the variability reasons you mentioned. Is it the total area of
all the strands combined?

--
Bobby G.

On Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:36:03 -0500, "Robert Green"
wrote:

wrote in message
.. .

stuff snipped

The overall size of a stranded wire of a given guage varies WIDELY
depending on the composition of the conductor. Many fine strands is
smaller for the same circular mills cross-section than a few heavier
strands - and ALL stranded wire will be at least a SMALL amount larger
than solid conductor of the same guage.

That's why I like the weight idea. I've been looking for, but can't find an
example of a standard when it comes to evaluating stranded wire gauges,
perhaps for the variability reasons you mentioned. Is it the total area of
all the strands combined?
Yes. Total circular mils cross swection area of the conductor.

Below is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

By definition, No. 36 AWG is 0.0050 inches in diameter, and No. 0000
is 0.4600 inches in diameter. The ratio of these diameters is 92, and
there are 40 gauge sizes from No. 36 to No. 0000, or 39 steps. Using
this common ratio, wire gauge sizes vary geometrically according to
the following formula: The diameter of a No. n AWG wire is


or equivalently


The gauge can be calculated from the diameter using

[3]
and the cross-section area is

,
The ASTM B 258-02 standard defines the ratio between successive sizes
to be the 39th root of 92, or approximately 1.1229322.[4] ASTM B
258-02 also dictates that wire diameters should be tabulated with no
more than 4 significant figures, with a resolution of no more than
0.0001 inches (0.1 mils) for wires larger than No. 44 AWG, and 0.00001
inches (0.01 mils) for wires No. 45 AWG and smaller.

Sizes with multiple zeros are successively larger than No. 0 and can
be denoted using "number of zeros/0", for example 4/0 for 0000. For an
m/0 AWG wire, use n = -(m-1) = 1-m in the above formulas. For
instance, for No. 0000 or 4/0, use n = -3.

[edit] Rules of thumbThe sixth power of this ratio is very close to
2,[5] which leads to the following rules of thumb:

When the diameter of a wire is doubled, the AWG will decrease by 6.
(e.g., No. 2 AWG is about twice the diameter of No. 8 AWG.)
When the cross-sectional area of a wire is doubled, the AWG will
decrease by 3. (e.g., Two No. 14 AWG wires have about the same
cross-sectional area as a single No. 11 AWG wire.)
Additionally, a decrease of ten gauge numbers, for example from No. 10
to 1/0, multiplies the area and weight by approximately 10 and reduces
the resistance by a factor of approximately 10.

[edit] Table of AWG wire sizesThe table below shows various data
including both the resistance of the various wire gauges and the
allowable current (ampacity) based on plastic insulation. The diameter
information in the table applies to solid wires. Stranded wires are
calculated by calculating the equivalent cross sectional copper area.
Fusing Current (melting wire) is estimated based on 25°C ambient
temperature. The table below assumes DC, or AC frequencies equal to or
less than 60 Hz, and does not take skin effect into account. Turns of
wire is an upper limit for wire with no insulation.

AWG Diameter Turns of wire Area Copper
resistance[6] NEC copper wire
ampacity with
60/75/90 °C
insulation (A)[7] Approximate
standard metric
equivalents Fusing Current
(copper)[8][9]
(inch) (mm) (per in) (per cm) (kcmil) (mm2) (O/km)
(mO/m) (O/kFT)
(mO/ft) Preece
(~10s) Onderdonk
(1s) Onderdonk
(32ms)
0000 (4/0) 0.4600 11.684 2.17 0.856 212 107 0.1608 0.04901 195 / 230 /
260 31 kA 173 kA
000 (3/0) 0.4096 10.404 2.44 0.961 168 85.0 0.2028 0.06180 165 / 200 /
225 24.5 kA 137 kA
00 (2/0) 0.3648 9.266 2.74 1.08 133 67.4 0.2557 0.07793 145 / 175 /
195 19.5 kA 109 kA
0 (1/0) 0.3249 8.252 3.08 1.21 106 53.5 0.3224 0.09827 125 / 150 / 170
1.9 kA 15.5 kA 87 kA
1 0.2893 7.348 3.46 1.36 83.7 42.4 0.4066 0.1239 110 / 130 / 150 1.6
kA 12 kA 68 kA
2 0.2576 6.544 3.88 1.53 66.4 33.6 0.5127 0.1563 95 / 115 / 130 1.3
kA 9.7 kA 54 kA
3 0.2294 5.827 4.36 1.72 52.6 26.7 0.6465 0.1970 85 / 100 / 110
196/0.4 1.1 kA 7.7 kA 43 kA
4 0.2043 5.189 4.89 1.93 41.7 21.2 0.8152 0.2485 70 / 85 / 95 946 A
6.1 kA 34 kA
5 0.1819 4.621 5.50 2.16 33.1 16.8 1.028 0.3133 126/0.4 795 A 4.8 kA
27 kA
6 0.1620 4.115 6.17 2.43 26.3 13.3 1.296 0.3951 55 / 65 / 75 668 A
3.8 kA 21 kA
7 0.1443 3.665 6.93 2.73 20.8 10.5 1.634 0.4982 80/0.4 561 A 3 kA 17
kA
8 0.1285 3.264 7.78 3.06 16.5 8.37 2.061 0.6282 40 / 50 / 55 472 A
2.4 kA 13.5 kA
9 0.1144 2.906 8.74 3.44 13.1 6.63 2.599 0.7921 84/0.3 396 A 1.9 kA
10.7 kA
10 0.1019 2.588 9.81 3.86 10.4 5.26 3.277 0.9989 30 / 35 / 40 333 A
1.5 kA 8.5 kA
11 0.0907 2.305 11.0 4.34 8.23 4.17 4.132 1.260 56/0.3 280 A 1.2 kA
6.7 kA
12 0.0808 2.053 12.4 4.87 6.53 3.31 5.211 1.588 25 / 25 / 30 235A 955
A 5.3 kA
13 0.0720 1.828 13.9 5.47 5.18 2.62 6.571 2.003 50/0.25 198 A 758 A
4.2 kA
14 0.0641 1.628 15.6 6.14 4.11 2.08 8.286 2.525 20 / 20 / 25 166 A
601 A 3.3 kA
15 0.0571 1.450 17.5 6.90 3.26 1.65 10.45 3.184 30/0.25 140 A 477 A
2.7 kA
16 0.0508 1.291 19.7 7.75 2.58 1.31 13.17 4.016 €” / €” / 18 117 A 377 A
2.1 kA
17 0.0453 1.150 22.1 8.70 2.05 1.04 16.61 5.064 32/0.2 99 A 300 A 1.7
kA
18 0.0403 1.024 24.8 9.77 1.62 0.823 20.95 6.385 €” / €” / 14 24/0.2 83
A 237A 1.3 kA
19 0.0359 0.912 27.9 11.0 1.29 0.653 26.42 8.051 70 A 189 A 1 kA
20 0.0320 0.812 31.3 12.3 1.02 0.518 33.31 10.15 16/0.2 58.5 A 149 A
834 A
21 0.0285 0.723 35.1 13.8 0.810 0.410 42.00 12.80 13/0.2 49 A 119 A
662 A
22 0.0253 0.644 39.5 15.5 0.642 0.326 52.96 16.14 7/0.25 41 A 94 A
525 A
23 0.0226 0.573 44.3 17.4 0.509 0.258 66.79 20.36 35 A 74 A 416 A
24 0.0201 0.511 49.7 19.6 0.404 0.205 84.22 25.67 1/0.5, 7/0.2,
30/0.1 29 A 59 A 330 A
25 0.0179 0.455 55.9 22.0 0.320 0.162 106.2 32.37 24 A 47 A 262 A
26 0.0159 0.405 62.7 24.7 0.254 0.129 133.9 40.81 1/0.4, 7/0.15 20 A
37 A 208 A
27 0.0142 0.361 70.4 27.7 0.202 0.102 168.9 51.47
28 0.0126 0.321 79.1 31.1 0.160 0.0810 212.9 64.90 7/0.12
29 0.0113 0.286 88.8 35.0 0.127 0.0642 268.5 81.84
30 0.0100 0.255 99.7 39.3 0.101 0.0509 338.6 103.2 1/0.25, 7/0.1
31 0.00893 0.227 112 44.1 0.0797 0.0404 426.9 130.1
32 0.00795 0.202 126 49.5 0.0632 0.0320 538.3 164.1 1/0.2, 7/0.08
33 0.00708 0.180 141 55.6 0.0501 0.0254 678.8 206.9
34 0.00630 0.160 159 62.4 0.0398 0.0201 856.0 260.9
35 0.00561 0.143 178 70.1 0.0315 0.0160 1079 329.0
36 0.00500 0.127 200 78.7 0.0250 0.0127 1361 414.8
37 0.00445 0.113 225 88.4 0.0198 0.0100 1716 523.1
38 0.00397 0.101 252 99.3 0.0157 0.00797 2164 659.6
39 0.00353 0.0897 283 111 0.0125 0.00632 2729 831.8
40