Sheet metal is manufactured and delivered from the processing mill rolled to the standard thickness that you specify, which is now metric. The sheet metal does however have a tolerance on the rolling thickness which needs to be taken into account when designing a tight fitting assembly, especially as the sheet metal material gets thicker.
To see how we start to process the ferrous and non-ferrous sheet metal materials please take a look at our web page on CNC punching, Trumpf 200/3000 CNC punching and Trumpf 3030 fibre laser cutting
Sheet metal thickness tolerances for Austenitic, Ferritic and Martensitic Stainless steels.
Thickness tolerance in mm (+ or -) for given width in mm |
Thickness |
1000 mm wide sheet metal |
1250 mm wide sheet metal |
0.6 to 0.79 |
0.05 |
0.05 |
0.8 to 0.99 |
0.055 |
0.06 |
1.0 to 1.19 |
0.06 |
0.07 |
1.2 to 1.49 |
0.07 |
0.08 |
1.5 to 1.99 |
0.08 |
0.09 |
2.0 to 2.49 |
0.09 |
0.1 |
2.5 to 2.99 |
0.11 |
0.12 |
3.0 to 3.99 |
0.13 |
0.14 |
You can use this sheet metal data table for all the common commercial grades of stainless steel such as 304, 316 and 430. These are the most common grades asked for by our customers when wanting sheet metal fabrications.
The sheet metal data table below covers all the standard alloy grades of aluminium.
Group I = 1000 series, 3000 series, 4006, 4007, 5005, 5050 and 8011A
Group II = 2000 series, 6000 series, 7000 series, 3004, 5040, 5049, 5251, 5052, 5154A, 5454, 5754, 5182, 5083 and 5086
Thickness |
1000 mm wide sheet metal |
1250 mm wide sheet metal |
|
Group I |
Group II |
Group I |
Group II |
0.61 to 0.80 |
0.03 |
0.04 |
0.06 |
0.07 |
0.81 to 1.00 |
0.04 |
0.05 |
0.06 |
0.08 |
1.01 to 1.20 |
0.04 |
0.05 |
0.07 |
0.09 |
1.21 to 1.50 |
0.05 |
0.07 |
0.09 |
0.11 |
1.51 to 1.80 |
0.06 |
0.08 |
0.10 |
0.12 |
1.81 to 2.00 |
0.06 |
0.09 |
0.11 |
0.13 |
2.10 to 2.50 |
0.07 |
0.10 |
0.12 |
0.14 |
2.60 to 3.00 |
0.08 |
0.11 |
0.13 |
0.15 |
3.10 to 3.50 |
0.10 |
0.12 |
0.15 |
0.17 |
3.60 to 4.00 |
0.15 |
0.20 |
4.10 to 5.00 |
0.18 |
0.22 |
5.10 to 6.00 |
0.20 |
0.24 |
6.10 to 8.00 |
0.24 |
0.30 |
8.10 to 10.00 |
0.27 |
0.33 |
10.10 to 12.00 |
0.32 |
0.38 |
12.10 to 15.00 |
0.36 |
0.42 |
Hot dipped steel grade DX51D = Galvanised finish |
Nominal Thickness (in mm) |
Normal tolerance (+ or – in mm) |
0.40 to 0.60 |
0.05 |
0.61 to 0.80 |
0.06 |
0.81 to 1.00 |
0.07 |
1.01 to 1.20 |
0.08 |
1.21 to 1.60 |
0.11 |
1.61 to 2.00 |
0.14 |
2.01 to 2.50 |
0.16 |
2.51 to 3.00 |
0.19 |
Cold Reduced / Electro Zinc = mild steel and Zintec |
Nominal Thickness (in mm) |
Normal tolerance (+ or – in mm) |
0.40 to 0.60 |
0.03 |
0.61 to 0.80 |
0.04 |
0.81 to 1.00 |
0.05 |
1.01 to 1.20 |
0.06 |
1.21 to 1.60 |
0.08 |
1.61 to 2.00 |
0.10 |
These tables cover the most commonly used sheet metal materials in the UK. If there is something else you have in mind and it’s not covered here simple contact us and we will be happy to investigate for you.