TIG Welding Chart PDF: Settings, Amperage & Free Reference

A hobbyist welder once spent an entire Saturday ruining 1/8-inch aluminum tabs, blowing holes through one side and leaving cold, sugary beads on the other, because he kept guessing the amperage from memory. The fix wasn’t a new machine or a new tungsten — it was a single printed TIG welding chart taped to the wall that gave him a proven starting number in two seconds.

Why a TIG Welding Chart Is the First Thing You Should Print

For most welders, the hardest lessons are learned one ruined piece at a time. It’s easy to spend hours swapping parts and blaming your machine, when the real culprit is guessing your amperage before you ever strike an arc. That is exactly why printing a reliable tig welding chart pdf is the most cost effective upgrade you can make to your welding station.

The Problem With Guesswork

TIG welding, also known as GTAW, has very little room for error. A slight miscalculation on thin material can lead to a blowout, while the same guess on a thick piece can result in a cold, porous weld. Without a reference, the settings become nothing but trial and error. This not only wastes material, but it also wears down your consumables and your patience.

Instead of trying to recall a number from the last job, a chart gives you a proven starting point for the exact material and thickness that you’re working with. That small change turns frustration into consistency from your very first test bead.

What Exactly Does a TIG Chart Cover?

A proper TIG welding chart is more than just an amperage list. It’s a complete setup guide that connects every variable of your weld together. A well built chart will include the following:

• Amperage range: The heat input based off of your alloy and thickness.
• Tungsten diameter and type: Matched to safely carry the recommended current.
• Filler rod diameter: Sized to fit the joint without overfeeding or starving it.
• Cup or nozzle size: Dictating the amount of shielding gas coverage.
• Shielding gas and flow rate: Specified in CFH or liters per minute for your material.
• Polarity: DCEN for steel and stainless, or AC for aluminum.
• Travel speed guidance: Adjustments based off of joint type and position.

Many charts will also include AC balance, AC frequency, and pulse settings for inverter machines. These values work together as a system, so changing one will often require tweaking another.

Why Amperage Comes First

The most important reason amperage leads every chart is how GTAW operates. Unlike MIG or stick welding, voltage is largely a byproduct of arc length, not a preset value. When you set your machine to a specific amperage, the voltage will follow based off of how far you hold your tungsten from the workpiece.

This makes amperage your commitment before ignition. A very common baseline is 1 amp per 0.001 inch of material thickness for mild steel, meaning 0.125-inch plate would call for roughly 125 amps. While this rule isn’t universal, it’s the logic that every chart is built upon.

The Practical Value of a Printed PDF

The convenience of a chart only matters if it’s accessible in the shop. As noted within the Miller TIG welding basics guide, 3/32-inch tungsten covers general TIG work up to about 220 amps with a #8 cup. These types of practical ranges are compiled throughout published GTAW parameter guidelines and organized onto one page for you.

A laminated, printed sheet can be taped directly beside your machine, surviving gloves, dust, and spatter far better than any phone screen ever could. It’s readable at a glance from inside your hood, eliminating any time spent scrolling with dirty hands.

With that being said, amperage isn’t the only hurdle for certain metals. For those working with aluminum, correct settings must be paired with proper surface prep. Our guide on aluminum cleaner for welding explains how oxides can ruin an otherwise perfect arc. If you’re still debating your process, our breakdown of aluminum MIG welding can help determine if TIG is the right choice for your job.

Most importantly, while GTAW produces the lowest fume volume among arc welding processes, it is not fume free. Be sure to review the official welding safety fact sheet from OSHA to ensure your ventilation and respiratory protection are up to standard. With those precautions in tow, a chart becomes the safest and smartest place to start.

How to Read a TIG Welding Chart: The Columns That Matter

A TIG welding chart looks like a spreadsheet, and that’s exactly why people misread it. Welders glance at the first number they see, dial it in, and skip the columns that explain when that number actually applies. Ten minutes later they’re welding a lap joint at settings meant for an open root. Chart literacy is the difference between a reference tool and a decorative sheet of paper taped above the machine.

The Nine Columns You’ll Always Find

Most charts run thickness down the left side and settings across the top. Here is what each column is really telling you:

• Material thickness or gauge — the entry point. Find your sheet or plate here first, then read across the row. Never start from the amperage and work backwards.
• Joint type — butt, open-root butt, fillet, lap, or outside corner. This is the column casual readers ignore and the one that changes your amps the most.
• Amperage range — usually written as a band, not a single number, because travel speed and heat sink move the ideal point within it.
• Tungsten diameter and type — matched to both thickness and current, with a note on whether the tip should be pointed or balled.
• Filler diameter and AWS classification — for example ER70S-2 for mild steel or ER4043 for aluminum, with a rod diameter close to the joint thickness.
• Cup or nozzle size — a #6 through #10 is common, sized to the width of the shielding envelope the weld needs.
• Shielding gas and flow rate — expressed in CFH in American charts or liters per minute in European ones.
• Polarity — AC for aluminum and magnesium, DCEN (straight) for most steels and stainless.
• Travel speed — sometimes a column, sometimes a footnote, but it quietly controls heat input more than most welders admit.

Why Joint Type Moves the Number

Two pieces of 1.2 mm mild steel, same alloy, same mill, same thickness — one welded as an open root butt, one as a fillet. They do not want the same amperage. In a fillet or lap joint, the two members act as heat sinks drawing warmth away from the puddle, so you push harder to keep up. An open root has almost nothing behind the arc, and the edges melt away fast. The DIY TIG calculator puts the gap at roughly 30 amps for an open-root butt on 1.2 mm steel versus 45 amps for a fillet on the same gauge — a 50% difference from geometry alone. CK Worldwide’s technical guide likewise separates butt and fillet amperages for the same gauge rather than collapsing them into one row.

That single column explains most “the chart is wrong” complaints. If your bead sits on top of the joint instead of tying in, check joint type before you touch the dial.

Converting Thickness Units Without Guessing

Charts arrive in three systems: inches, millimeters, and U.S. sheet gauge. The conversions you’ll use constantly:

• 1 inch = 25.4 mm exactly, so 1.2 mm ≈ 0.047 in (roughly 18 gauge steel).
• The one-amp-per-.001-inch rule translates to about 40 amps per millimeter of thickness.
• Common steel gauges: 16 ga ≈ 0.060″, 18 ga ≈ 0.048″, 20 ga ≈ 0.036″, 22 ga ≈ 0.030″, 24 ga ≈ 0.024″.

One caution: gauge numbers are alloy-specific. 18 gauge aluminum and 18 gauge steel are not the same thickness, so when in doubt convert to decimal inches or millimeters and work from there. Good charts also assume clean, degreased material — for aluminum that means proper chemical prep, which our aluminum cleaning guide covers in detail.

Sample Annotated Chart Row

Thickness	Joint	Amps	Tungsten	Filler	Cup	Gas flow	Polarity
0.040″ (1 mm)	Butt, open root	35–45	3/32″ lanthanated	0.045″ ER70S-2	#6	15–20 CFH	DCEN
0.063″ (1.6 mm)	Fillet	60–80	3/32″ lanthanated	1/16″ ER70S-2	#8	15–20 CFH	DCEN
0.125″ (3 mm)	Lap / outside corner	110–130	1/8″ thoriated	3/32″ ER70S-2	#8	20 CFH	DCEN

Read it as a sentence: at this thickness, in this joint, these settings belong together. The tungsten, filler, and cup columns are not free-standing recommendations — they are dependencies of the first two columns.

Once you can read across a row instead of jumping to a favorite number, the chart stops being a suggestion and starts being a system — and every later section of this article builds on that habit.

The 1 Amp per .001 Inch Rule — and Where It Breaks

Ask a hundred TIG welders how they set amperage and you will hear the same sentence: “one amp per thousandth of an inch.” It is the closest thing GTAW has to a universal starting formula. A 0.065-inch wall tube gets about 65 amps; a 1/8-inch plate gets about 125. The number is available in your head instantly — no app, no chart, no scrolling.

The honest part: the rule is a doorway, not a destination. It assumes mild steel, a butt joint, full access, a cold workpiece and a steady hand. Change one assumption and the true setting drifts. Miller’s TIG welding basics guide puts it the way most manufacturers do: treat chart and formula numbers as a place to begin, then let the weld tell you where to go.

Why Material Changes Everything

Thermal conductivity is the biggest rule-breaker. Aluminum moves heat away from the arc far faster than steel, so the same thickness needs more energy to reach fusion. In practice, aluminum typically runs roughly 20 to 50 percent more amperage than steel of equal thickness, with the higher end showing up on thicker, highly conductive alloys. A 1/8-inch aluminum butt joint that “should” take 125 amps by the formula often prefers 140 to 155, and it still sheds heat fast enough that you can hover without burning through the way you would on steel.

Stainless runs the other direction. Its conductivity is lower than mild steel’s, so heat stays where the arc put it. Charts commonly list stainless about 10 percent cooler than the equivalent mild steel setting, a cushion that guards against the two classic stainless failures: warping and carbide precipitation, the sensitization that leaves beads sugary and vulnerable to corrosion. If you join stainless regularly, the Alloy Steel Welding Electrodes: Selection, Use & Safety guide covers how filler and base metal choices interact with heat input.

Material	Starting Point vs. Steel Rule	Why
Mild steel	Baseline (1 A per .001 in)	The rule was built around it
Aluminum	+20 to +50%	High thermal conductivity pulls heat away
Stainless steel	About −10%	Low conductivity concentrates heat; limits warping
Chromoly / alloy steel	Near baseline, watch HAZ	Heat-affected zone properties matter

Where a Few Amps Decide Everything

Below about 1/16 inch (1.5 mm), the window between “not enough to fuse” and “blown a hole” narrows to a handful of amps. This is thin-gauge territory, and it is why experienced welders stop dialing a fixed number and start modulating with a foot pedal or switching to pulse TIG. The pedal lets you enter the joint hot and back off as the puddle grows; pulse gives the material a cooling beat between peaks so heat never accumulates. On sheet this thin, the dial setting is only a ceiling you are allowed to touch.

There is also a hard floor. EWM’s TIG basics put the practical lower limit of GTAW at about 0.3 mm for steel and 0.5 mm for aluminum. Below those thicknesses, arc stability, filler transfer and torch control degrade, and other processes make more sense. At the other end, anything past roughly 1/4 inch stops being single-pass work: edge bevels, joint preparation and multiple passes are required, because no amount of extra amperage lets one bead lay a sound root in thick stock. Miller’s GTAW guideline PDF shows joint designs for exactly this reason.

Three Modifiers That Move the Number

• Heat sink. A part bolted to a larger mass, resting on a chill bar, or surrounded by previous welds will conduct heat away and demand more amps than the chart suggests. Heavy fixturing on aluminum makes this dramatic.
• Joint geometry. An open-root butt joint has nothing behind it to absorb heat, so it runs cooler and is easy to blow through. A fillet or lap joint stacks material on both sides of the arc and needs the fuller setting. Same thickness, different answer.
• Travel speed. Amps describe energy delivered per second, not per inch. Move faster and each point of the seam sees less total heat; crawl, and you have effectively raised your amperage without touching the dial. This is why the right number on a coupon can feel too hot on a real assembly, and why surface prep matters — clean metal arcs cleanly, and contamination only adds variables. See Aluminum Cleaner for Welding: How to Prep Aluminum Right for the cleaning side of that equation.

Use the rule to start, watch the puddle to finish, and note what actually worked. The chart narrows the search from a whole dial to a small window; your eyes close it the rest of the way.

TIG Welding Amperage Chart by Material and Thickness

This is the table most people print, laminate, and tape to the machine. It gives you a starting amperage range for the three metals you are most likely to run through a GTAW torch: mild steel, stainless steel, and aluminum, from thin sheet up to half-inch plate.

TIG Amperage Chart by Metal and Thickness

Thickness	Mild Steel (DCEN)	Stainless (DCEN)	Aluminum (AC)
0.040 in (1 mm)	20–45 A	18–40 A	25–55 A
1/16 in (1.6 mm)	35–65 A	30–60 A	40–75 A
3/32 in (2.4 mm)	60–100 A	55–90 A	60–110 A
1/8 in (3.2 mm)	80–130 A	75–120 A	80–130 A
3/16 in (4.8 mm)	110–160 A	100–150 A	120–180 A
1/4 in (6.4 mm)	150–200 A	130–190 A	160–240 A
3/8 in (9.5 mm)	200–300 A	180–260 A	230–320 A
1/2 in (12.7 mm)	250–350 A	220–310 A	280–400 A

Read the numbers as a band, not a single dial position. An 1/8-inch mild steel butt joint at the low end of 80 amps may be right for a fast, root pass on a tacked joint; at the high end, 130 amps may be what you need when the workpiece is clamped to a heavy steel table acting as a heat sink. CK Worldwide’s parameters table splits the difference on a 1/8-inch mild steel butt joint, calling for 125–145 amps with 17 CFH of argon — a good illustration of how specific published charts can get. You can see their full sheet in the CK Worldwide technical guide.

Stainless runs cooler than mild steel at the same thickness, typically about 15–20% below the mild steel number, because stainless conducts heat poorly and stays hot longer. That lingering heat is what causes warping and, on longer passes, carbide precipitation. The 1/4-inch row shows it plainly: 150–200 amps for mild steel versus 130–190 amps for stainless.

Adjusting for Joint Type and Multipass Work

• Fillet and T-joints run at the top of the range or slightly above. Two plates meeting at an angle double the heat sink, so a 1/8-inch fillet often wants 110–130 amps rather than 90.
• Open-root butt joints run at the bottom of the range. There is less material behind the arc and nowhere for excess heat to go but through the gap.
• Lap and outside-corner joints sit in between, usually mid-range, with the corner joint leaning low to protect the thin edge.
• Material over 1/4 inch should be beveled and welded in multiple passes. Drop back to roughly the 3/16-inch amperage for each pass instead of trying to fuse a half-inch edge in one bead. Miller’s GTAW guidelines cover bevel geometry and pass sequencing in more detail.

Why a range instead of one number? Travel speed is the biggest variable: double your speed and you need roughly double the current to produce the same puddle. Heat sink is second — a plate bolted to a frame chills differently than a loose coupon on a copper backing. Machine duty cycle is the quiet third. A 200-amp machine at 60% duty cycle will not hold 240 amps on an aluminum joint all afternoon, so you either slow down, let the machine rest, or upgrade. The same reasoning applies when choosing equipment for heavier work; our Aluminum MIG Welding: The Complete Practical Guide walks through duty cycle ratings.

Foot Pedal versus Fixed Dial

If you have a foot pedal, treat the chart number as your maximum ceiling and modulate down when you approach a corner, a tack, or the end of a run. On AC aluminum especially, the pedal lets you dial 130 amps for the flat section and drop to 90 as you finish a lap. With a machine set to a fixed output, or a compact inverter with no pedal input, you must pre-commit to a single value, so choose the middle of the range and control heat with travel speed instead.

Tungsten Electrode Chart: Size, Type, Tip Shape and Current Range

The tungsten column is the one most beginners skim past, and it’s the reason arcs wander, start badly, or spit tungsten into a clean aluminum bead. Tungsten is the one part of the TIG setup that doesn’t melt into the weld, so its only job is to carry the current and hold a stable arc shape. Get the diameter, alloy and tip right and the rest of the chart behaves. Get it wrong and no amperage setting will save you.

Matching Tungsten Diameter to Amperage

Diameter is a current-carrying decision, not a thickness decision. A given electrode size has a workable amperage window, and your chart’s amperage picks the size first.

Tungsten diameter	Typical DCEN range	Typical use
0.020 in (0.5 mm)	Under ~30 A	Micro TIG, wire EDM, razor-thin foil
1/16 in (1.6 mm)	About 60–150 A	Sheet metal, thin steel and stainless
3/32 in (2.4 mm)	About 120–250 A	The all-round shop size
1/8 in (3.2 mm)	About 160–330 A	Heavy plate, multipass fillets
5/32 in (4.0 mm)	Above ~250 A	Thick sections, high-production AC

Manufacturer tables agree on the shape of this scale. Kemppi’s TIG guide tables show a 1.0 mm electrode covering roughly 5–80 amps on DC, while a 3.2 mm electrode covers about 225–330 amps — the same upward shift, expressed in metric. The overlap between sizes is where you choose: if your setting sits at the top of a size’s window, step up one diameter so the tip isn’t running at its limit.

Why both extremes fail: an oversized tungsten on thin material starts reluctantly, wanders at low amps, and invites the tip to stick to the workpiece because the current density at the point is too low to sustain a clean arc. An undersized tungsten on heavy material does the opposite — the tip overheats, rounds off or melts into a blob, and you get arc wander, contaminated welds from tungsten inclusions, and a gritty bead you can’t explain. Match the size to the amps and the problem disappears.

Color Codes: What the Bands Mean

Color codes identify the alloy, not the quality. Learn five and you can read any chart:

• Green (EWPa) — pure tungsten: the traditional AC choice for magnesium and general AC work, but it spits and balls inconsistently on inverter machines.
• Red (EWTh-2) — 2% thoriated: the long-time DC favorite; easy to start, holds a sharp point well, slightly radioactive so grinding dust needs control.
• Blue (EWLa-2) — 2% lanthanated: a versatile DC and AC performer that starts easily at low amps.
• Gray (EWCe-2) — 2% ceriated: strong at low amperage, forgiving on thin work.
• White (EWZr-2) — zirconiated: built for AC on aluminum and magnesium, resistant to contamination.

Miller’s TIG guidance recommends moving from pure green to ceriated or lanthanated tungsten for most AC work, because modern inverter arc characteristics reward the newer alloys over the old pure tungsten habit. If your chart still says “green,” read it as a suggestion rather than a rule. For practice on aluminum joints, pair that choice with proper surface prep as covered in Aluminum Cleaner for Welding: How to Prep Aluminum Right.

Tip Shape, Grinding and Stick-Out

Tip geometry follows polarity. On DC (steel, stainless, copper), grind a sharp point — a 60° to 90° included angle with a slightly flattened end. On AC, ball the tip or use a truncated, flat-ground end; pure tungsten balls naturally, alloyed types do better with a balled-and-truncated shape. Grind longitudinally, with the wheel running along the length of the electrode rather than around it, using a dedicated diamond wheel so the grind lines run parallel to the current path. Circumferential scratches create multiple emission points and a lazy, dancing arc.

Keep stick-out short and consistent: roughly one cup diameter for a standard nozzle, a little more with a gas lens where the laminar flow can reach farther. Long stick-out means the gas has to travel farther to cover the puddle, and the arc cone gets a chance to wander before it lands.

Tungsten choice is one of several places where a written procedure beats memory — the same discipline that aerospace shops formalize in their process documentation, which we outline in Aerospace TIG Welding: Standards, Techniques, and Training. Mill the habit into your chart by writing the tungsten size and alloy next to each amperage range, using the reference tables from Miller’s GTAW guidelines, CK Worldwide’s technical guide and Kemppi’s TIG guide tables as your cross-check.

Filler Metal, Cup Size and Shielding Gas Flow Charts

Amperage gets the spotlight in every TIG chart, but the filler, cup and gas columns are what separate a clean, uniform bead from a weld you have to grind out and redo. Once the arc is lit, these three variables decide how the puddle behaves, how fast you can travel and whether the finished weld is sound. Read them together, because they interact: a larger cup means slower travel, a heavier rod needs more heat to stay wetted, and a gas lens lets you shield properly with less flow than a standard collet body.

Matching Filler Rod Diameter to Base Thickness

The practical rule is straightforward: rod diameter should sit close to the joint thickness, not to whatever number is on the machine’s dial. For 0.040-inch sheet edges you feed 0.030 or 0.045 rod; for 1/8-inch plate, 1/16-inch rod; for 3/16 to 1/4 inch, 3/32 or 1/8-inch rod. Step one size down when welding out of position, closed-root joints or thin-gauge work where heat input is limited, and one size up on open-root or multipass fills where you are building volume quickly. Rod that is too heavy acts as a heat sink and fights the puddle; rod that is too light forces you to linger, which overheats the base metal.

Base metal	AWS classification	Starting rod diameter	Typical use
Mild steel	ER70S-2	0.030–1/16 in for sheet, 3/32–1/8 in for plate	General fabrication; deoxidizers tolerate light scale
Stainless 304	ER308L	0.035–1/16 in, 3/32 in for heavier	304/304L food, architectural and process work
Stainless 316	ER316L	Same as 308L by thickness	316L chemical, marine and coastal exposure
Aluminum 6061	ER4043	1/16 in for sheet, 3/32–1/8 in for plate	Silicon-bearing, crack-tolerant, general purpose
Aluminum 5052/5356	ER5356	1/16 in for sheet, 3/32 in and up	Higher strength, better anodize color match

The “L” in ER308L and ER316L means low carbon, which limits carbide precipitation in stainless during the slow, hot TIG cycle. ER4043 flows beautifully and resists cracking on most aluminum, but its silicon content darkens under anodizing; ER5356 holds strength and anodize color better but cracks more readily on 6061 in restraint. None of these rods work on a dirty surface, which is why aluminum prep deserves its own article: see our guide on Aluminum Cleaner for Welding: How to Prep Aluminum Right.

Cup Size, Gas Lens and Argon Flow Rates

Cup numbers are sixteenths of an inch of orifice: a #4 cup has a 1/4-inch opening, a #8 is 1/2 inch, a #12 is 3/4 inch. Small cups suit tight fillets and root passes where the nozzle has to fit the joint; large cups cover a wider area and let you slow down on flat, open beads. Welding out of position or on curved surfaces shrinks your effective coverage, so the chart’s cup column is really a joint-geometry column in disguise.

Flow rate is where charts disagree the most. Miller’s GTAW guidelines list argon flow generally in the 10–30 CFH range, with helium requiring roughly twice that flow to achieve comparable coverage. Training material from HP Academy’s TIG course specifies 100% argon at about 8–9 L/min (17–19 CFH) for mild steel and chromoly. CK Worldwide’s technical guide shows that gas lens bodies deliver better shielding at lower CFH than standard collet bodies, because the screen breaks turbulence into a smooth, laminar column.

Argon versus argon/helium. Pure argon is the default for AC aluminum and DC work alike because it starts easily and gives predictable arc voltage. Helium-rich mixes (typically 25% helium with argon) run hotter, deepen penetration and speed up travel on thicker stock, which is why they show up on heavy aluminum and copper joints. The trade-offs are real: helium shortens electrode life, raises arc voltage for the same amperage, costs more, and demands reduced amps and closer cup control. On thin sheet, the chart’s argon number is almost always the right call.

Pre-flow and Post-flow Timing

Gas timing is the last column most welders ignore. Keep pre-flow short, about half a second to a second, enough to purge the cup before the arc strikes. Post-flow protects the still-glowing puddle and the tungsten after you release the pedal; Miller advises roughly one second of post-flow per 10 amps of weld current after arc termination. That means a 120-amp weld gets about 12 seconds of shielding gas. Hold the nozzle within roughly half an inch of the crater while post-flow runs — drift away and the shield follows you, leaving the hot crater exposed to oxidation, which is exactly where aluminum crater cracks begin. Aluminum and stainless both deserve longer post-flow than mild steel; heavy cup sizes naturally extend it too, since the same CFH takes longer to empty a larger volume.

AC Balance, AC Frequency, Pulse and Other Chart Variables

The amperage column of a TIG chart will get you in the ballpark, but for aluminum and magnesium on AC, the columns to its right often matter just as much. AC balance, AC frequency, pulse, slope, and gas timing don’t replace your starting amps, they change what those amps actually do. By adjusting the shape and delivery of heat, you can often fix a finicky puddle without cranking up the number.

AC Balance: Penetration Versus Cleaning

With AC, each cycle splits between two jobs. During electrode-negative (% EN), electrons flow from the tungsten to the work, driving penetration. During electrode-positive, the opposite flow helps blast the aluminum oxide layer off the puddle. AC balance simply sets how much of the cycle goes to each, shown as percent electrode negative.

For machines like Miller’s Multimatic 220, the AC balance range is 60 to 80 percent EN, with a Pro-Set value of 75 percent. Pushing closer to the high end brings deeper penetration and a narrower bead, but runs the tungsten hotter. Moving closer to the low end widens the etching zone and spreads the bead, at the cost of depth. CK Worldwide’s technical guide goes into more detail on the tungsten side of that tradeoff.

HP Academy recommends roughly 65 to 85 percent EN for aluminum, with the sweet spot dictated by cleanliness. Dirty, mill-scaled, or cast material will want the lower end to scrub oxide, while clean, prepped material benefits from the higher end for penetration. This is why arc cleaning should always be a backup, not a substitute. If your prep is solid, our aluminum cleaning and prep guide can help you get to a point where the arc needs to do less scrubbing.

AC Frequency: Focusing the Arc Cone

AC frequency controls how many times per second the polarity flips, and unlike amperage, it changes arc geometry more than raw heat input. The Multimatic 220 runs from 60 to 150 Hz with a 120 Hz Pro-Set, though many machines go higher.

• 60 to 80 Hz: A wider, softer arc cone with a larger cleaning zone. Great for dirty castings, wider joints, or gap filling.
• 100 to 130 Hz: The everyday middle ground, which is why 120 Hz has become the go-to default.
• 150 to 200 Hz: A tight, pencil-like arc that stays locked to the joint. Ideal for thin edges, outside corners, and out-of-position work, with slightly less cleaning action.

Pulse, Slope, and Gas Timing

Pulse is one of the most practical ways to control heat on thin aluminum. It alternates between peak current to melt, and background current to let the puddle freeze. On the Multimatic 220, pulse defaults to 25 percent background amperage of peak with peak time at 40 percent. This drop in average heat input allows for welding thin stock at a chart-friendly peak, while the freeze cycles improve control for vertical or overhead work and help produce the classic stacked-dime bead.

Upslope ramps current up at the start to avoid striking a cold, unfused puddle, while downslope tapers it at the end to fill the crater and prevent cracking. For gas coverage, pre-flow establishes your argon shield before striking the arc, and EWM’s TIG basics reference states post-flow keeps both the hot weld and tungsten protected as they cool. A common shop rule of thumb is one second of post-flow per ten amps, typically between five and fifteen seconds.

Variable	What It Changes	Move It When
% EN (AC Balance)	Penetration vs. oxide cleaning	Dirty material (lower EN) or clean, deep-penetration joints (higher EN)
AC Frequency (Hz)	Arc cone width and focus	Arc wanders on tight joints (raise Hz), or castings need coverage (lower Hz)
Pulse (Rate/Background %)	Heat delivery and freeze time	Thin material, vertical work, or distortion control
Upslope / Downslope	Start and stop behavior	Cold-start lack of fusion or crater cracking
Pre-flow / Post-flow	Gas coverage at start and finish	Porosity at tie-ins or discoloration at stop points

Tuning Before You Raise Amps

If the puddle feels too hot for the chart’s number, work in this order. First, check travel speed, as dragging the arc will add heat without progress. Second, use a foot pedal to modulate instead of increasing your setpoint. Third, on AC, raise frequency to tighten the arc onto the joint. Fourth, engage pulse if available. Fifth, inspect fixturing, as a thick backing bar or heavy clamp can be pulling a large amount of heat away and skewing expectations.

At this stage, it’s also worth revisiting tungsten size and stick-out, as Miller’s GTAW guideline sheet points out that excess extension with an oversized electrode can hurt arc stability and make the puddle feel far less predictable. The chart gives you an honest starting amperage. These variables are what allow you to tailor it to the job at hand.

Common TIG Chart Mistakes and How to Troubleshoot Them

Here’s the uncomfortable truth about TIG welding charts: most welds blamed on the chart were ruined by the person reading it. A chart gives a proven starting number, but it can’t see your joint, your torch, your drafty garage door or your travel speed. The same handful of errors recur, and each leaves a signature in the bead that tells you which dial to turn.

The Eight Mistakes That Send Welders Back to the Grinder

• Using the chart number with the wrong polarity. An amperage column only means something on the polarity it was written for: DC electrode negative for steel and stainless, AC for aluminum. DC on aluminum gives no cathodic cleaning, just a black, oxide-choked puddle; AC on steel wastes penetration and erodes the tungsten. Miller’s GTAW guidelines put polarity at the top of any troubleshooting checklist for exactly this reason.
• Ignoring joint type. An open-root butt joint on 1/8-inch material runs cooler than a fillet of the same thickness: a fillet has two parallel heat sinks feeding the puddle, an open root has nowhere for excess heat to go but straight through. If your chart lists only thickness, shave amps on roots and add them on fillets and outside corners.
• Running too much gas flow. More argon is not more protection. Once flow passes roughly 15–20 CFH the stream turns turbulent and aspirates room air into the shield, showing up as porosity and a milky, cloudy bead instead of a bright one. Turbulence is the classic case of “I turned it up because it looked better.”
• Wrong tungsten diameter. Oversized tungsten on thin sheet makes the arc wander and the tip ball unpredictably; undersized tungsten on heavy plate balls over, spits and contaminates the weld every few inches. Diameter must track both thickness and amperage.
• Cold welds from excessive travel speed. A ropey, narrow bead sitting high with cold toes is almost never an amperage problem alone; it’s heat per inch. Slow your hand or add 5–10 amps before rewriting the chart.
• Overheating stainless until it goes sugary. Push a stainless root too hot and the shielding breaks down into a rough, oxidized “sugary” surface. Worse, the heat-affected zone risks carbide precipitation, where chromium bonds with carbon at the grain boundaries and corrosion resistance locally disappears.
• Porosity from contamination. Oily base metal, a greasy fingerprint on the rod or damp filler will undo every setting on your chart. CK Worldwide’s technical guide advises heating damp filler rod for 2 hours at 250°F (121°C) before use, and aluminum needs a dedicated scrub rather than a wipe. Our Aluminum Cleaner for Welding: How to Prep Aluminum Right guide covers the cleaning steps that keep porosity out.
• Treating one manufacturer’s chart as universal. Every chart quietly assumes a particular machine’s calibration, torch, cable length and cup. A number that runs beautifully on a 200-amp inverter may be lukewarm on an older transformer rig with 25 feet of leads.

Symptom-to-Fix Troubleshooting Chart

What the bead looks like	Likely cause	Parameter to change
High, narrow, ropey bead with cold toes	Too little heat or travel speed too fast	Add 5–10 amps or slow travel; confirm chart thickness
Blow-through, holes or sagging root	Too much heat, long dwell at the joint	Drop amps, modulate with the pedal, shorten puddle time
Milky, cloudy bead or clustered porosity	Turbulent or excessive gas flow, drafts	Reduce to 15–20 CFH, check cup, block air movement
Rough, sugary stainless surface, heavy tint	Overheating and oxidation of the root	Lower amps, tighten travel, improve backing gas
Tungsten smeared into the puddle, ball collapse	Wrong polarity or tungsten too small for amps	Verify DCEN/AC, resize tungsten
Erratic, wandering arc with black speckling	Contaminated tip or wrong grind angle	Regrind longitudinally, replace tungsten, clean metal
Wide discolored heat-affected zone, warping	Excessive heat input on thin or heat-sensitive alloy	Lower amps, faster travel, use pulse

One habit worth building: log what actually worked. When the welder from our opening story recorded thickness, joint, amps, tungsten and cup size on tape beside the machine, his chart stopped being someone else’s opinion and became his own calibration. And remember that the arc damages unprotected skin and eyes: OSHA notes that inert-gas metal-arc welding produces ultraviolet radiation 5 to 30 times that of shielded metal arc welding, so the hood stays on any time the arc can be seen.

Troubleshoot in that order, symptom first and setting second, so you never chase three variables at once. Change one thing, run a test bead on an offcut, and let the bead tell you whether the chart was wrong or the setup was.

Getting, Printing and Using Your TIG Welding Chart PDF

Data on a screen is a rumor. Data taped to the machine is a decision. The point of a TIG welding chart PDF is that it survives the shop: grinder dust, spatter, coffee rings, and the moment when you’re holding a torch and can’t touch a keyboard.

Here’s how to turn the tables above into something you can actually use on a Tuesday night.

Free PDFs Worth Downloading First

You don’t need to build a chart from scratch. Several manufacturers publish legitimate reference documents at no cost:

• Miller’s Guidelines for Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) — covers gas selection, flow rates, tungsten preparation, and baseline settings in a clean, printable format.
• CK Worldwide’s Technical Guide — the standout feature is a full set of typical manual TIG parameter tables organized by metal gauge, plus torch and tungsten current ratings.
• Miller’s Guide to TIG Welding Basics — a readable overview that pairs well with any amperage table.
• Machine manuals. Your own owner’s manual often has a settings appendix tuned to that specific power source. It’s the most underrated chart in the shop.

Print It So It Lives Where You Weld

Print at full size on letter or legal paper, then laminate. A laminator pouch costs less than a pound of filler rod and lets you write on the sheet with a dry-erase marker: circle the column you’re working in, jot down the amperage that actually worked, wipe it clean for the next job. If you don’t own a laminator, most welding supply stores and office shops will laminate a page for pocket change.

Mounting matters more than people expect. Hang it at eye level beside the machine, not flat on the table where you have to bend over to read it. Keep it out of the direct spatter path and away from the grinder. In a shared shop, put it in a clear sleeve clipped to a pegboard so it can move with the machine.

Annotate It: Build a Living Chart

The printed chart is the baseline. Your notes are the value. After every job, add three things in the margin:

1. Material and thickness — actually measured, not guessed.
2. What you set — amps, tungsten size, filler, cup, gas flow.
3. What the bead did — one blunt sentence. “Ran hot at 130A, dropped to 110A, good wet-in on 1/8 in. fillet.”

After twenty or thirty entries, patterns appear. You’ll notice your machine runs about 5–10% hot compared to the chart, or that your particular torch setup loses heat faster on long beads. That’s not a flaw in the chart — it’s calibration, and calibration is personal.

Build Your Own Chart From Offcuts

This is the exercise that separates welders who guess from welders who know. Grab scrap in the thicknesses you actually use. For each one, run a bead at the chart’s starting amperage, then step down and up in increments — 10A on thin stock, 15–20A on heavy stock. Note which bead wet in cleanly, which sat too cold and crowned, and which blew through.

Mark the sweet spot for a butt joint, a fillet, and an outside corner on the same thickness, because joint geometry shifts the number significantly. Two hours of test beads gives you a personal chart worth more than any generic table.

Auto-Set Features vs. Manual Charts

Modern machines increasingly do the chart-reading for you. Miller’s Auto-Set Elite, for example, asks for material thickness and tungsten diameter, then suggests a starting amperage — genuinely useful for beginners and fast for experienced hands doing one-off work.

But auto-set is still a starting point. It doesn’t know your joint type, your travel speed, whether you’re welding a heat-sinked bracket or a free-standing tube, or whether your machine was calibrated last year. Use the suggested number, then validate it with a test bead on an offcut of the same material. If the machine and your chart disagree, trust the bead.

Adapting a Chart Across Brands

Charts travel better than machines. A CK table on a Miller, a Kemppi table on a Lincoln — the physics doesn’t change, but the readout does. Watch for these differences:

• Amperage display calibration. Two machines set to 120A may not deliver the same output. This is why test beads beat nameplate numbers.
• AC balance defaults. Some machines ship at 70% EN, others at 50%. Same chart, very different arc behavior. Check a supplier parameter sheet such as this typical TIG parameters PDF and note the assumed balance.
• Duty cycle and derating. A chart may list 200A, but if your machine derates at 60% duty, long beads will force you down.
• Frequency and pulse defaults. These change effective heat input without touching the amperage number.

The practical workflow is simple: pull a chart value, run a two-inch test bead on scrap, adjust once, then commit. Two minutes of validation beats an hour of rework — and it’s how a laminated sheet on the wall turns into real, repeatable skill.

Safety, Standards and Final Takeaways

A TIG chart tells you what to dial in. It does not tell you to turn on the exhaust fan, put on your helmet, or get out of a tank. Plenty of welders build a tidy system of numbers at the machine and then skip the part of the job that actually determines how they feel in ten years. Treat safety as the column sitting to the left of every other column, because nothing in the data matters if the air in the shop is wrong.

Ventilation, Fumes and the Standards Behind the Chart

GTAW looks clean next to stick or flux-core, and that is exactly why it gets underestimated. The arc still produces fumes and gases, the base metal and filler contribute whatever coatings, oxides and alloying elements they carry, and the shielding gas displaces normal room air around your head. OSHA’s general industry rule is blunt: where local exhaust ventilation is used to meet exposure limits, it must deliver at least 2,000 cubic feet per minute per welder under 29 CFR 1910.252(c)(2)(i). That is a floor, not a target, and general room ventilation alone often falls short when you are welding in a corner, a booth or a partly enclosed frame.

Confined spaces get stricter treatment. 29 CFR 1926.353 requires local exhaust ventilation whenever welding, cutting or brazing happens in a confined space, alongside atmospheric testing, permits and an attendant. If you are TIG welding a stainless line inside a vessel or a boat hull, read those rules before you strike an arc.

Stainless deserves its own warning. Heating chromium-bearing steel produces hexavalent chromium, and OSHA’s permissible exposure limit is 5 micrograms per cubic meter as an 8-hour time-weighted average. That is a low ceiling, and it is reached faster than most hobbyists expect when amperage is too high, travel too slow, or the exhaust sits too far from the joint. For broader context, an OSHA fact sheet notes that IARC has classified both welding fumes and welding UV radiation as Group 1 carcinogens, the highest hazard category. That is a solid argument for the unglamorous habits: fan on, door open, extractor at the joint, and a break outside the shop.

PPE: The GTAW Arc Is Harsher Than It Looks

TIG produces one of the most intense ultraviolet outputs of any common process, and AC aluminum work adds a hard, crackling brightness that catches people off guard. Minimum protection means a helmet with the right filter shade, safety glasses underneath, a flame-resistant jacket and sleeves, TIG gloves sized for lower heat, and no exposed skin on your arms or neck. Screens should shield anyone else in the room, including the person who “just needs to walk past.” If you can see the bare arc comfortably, your shade is too light.

This is also why process training matters more than memorizing numbers. For the formal grounding behind settings, fume control and procedure qualification, an Aerospace TIG Welding: Standards, Techniques, and Training walkthrough shows how tightly controlled work is documented, while an Aluminium Welding Course: What You Learn, Costs & Careers outlines what a structured program covers that a chart never can.

The One-Page TIG Setup Checklist

Pin this next to your laminated chart:

1. Identify material and thickness in both inches and millimeters before touching a dial.
2. Pick polarity: DCEN for steel and stainless, AC for aluminum and magnesium.
3. Set amperage from the chart as a starting range, then adjust by rod melt behavior and bead width.
4. Match tungsten to amperage, not habit; pointed on DC, balled or truncated on AC.
5. Match filler diameter and classification: ER70S-2, ER308L, ER316L, ER4043 or ER5356.
6. Set cup size and flow around 15–20 CFH of argon with a gas lens; turbulence, not low flow, is usually the culprit.
7. Adjust for joint type — open roots run cooler, fillets and outside corners run hotter.
8. Run a test bead on an offcut and log the result before committing to the workpiece.
9. Confirm ventilation, PPE and shielding for you and everyone else in the room.

When the Chart Matters Most

A TIG welding chart PDF earns its wall space exactly when guessing is most expensive: the first pass on an unfamiliar alloy, thin-gauge work where three amps separate fusion from a blowhole, a production run you must repeat tomorrow, and any time you switch machines or brands. On welds you have run a hundred times you will stop reading it, and that is fine. Its real job is compressing years of other people’s trial and error into a number you can trust in two seconds.

Print it. Laminate it. Tape it at eye level beside the machine. Then keep writing on it, because the best chart in your shop is eventually the one you customized yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a TIG welding chart?

A TIG welding chart is a reference table that lists recommended starting settings — amperage, tungsten size, filler diameter, cup size, gas flow and polarity — for a given material and thickness. It removes the guesswork from dialing in a TIG machine before you strike an arc.

What is the 1 amp per .001 inch rule in TIG welding?

It is a rule of thumb meaning a 0.100-inch thick piece of mild steel needs roughly 100 amps. It holds well for carbon steel up to about 1/8 inch, but aluminum needs roughly 20-50% more and stainless about 10% less.

How many amps do I need to TIG weld 1/8 inch mild steel?

Most charts put 1/8-inch mild steel at about 80-130 amps on DCEN, using a 3/32-inch tungsten and matching 3/32-inch filler with a #6 to #8 cup. Run the lower end for open-root or thin-corner joints and the higher end for fillets.

What argon flow rate should I use for TIG welding?

Start around 15-20 CFH (about 7-9 L/min) with a standard collet body, and 10-15 CFH with a gas lens. More flow is not better — excessive gas creates turbulence that pulls atmospheric oxygen into the puddle.

Why does aluminum need more amps than steel on the same chart?

Aluminum conducts heat away from the weld zone far faster than steel and has a tenacious surface oxide that must be broken up by the AC cleaning half of the cycle. Charts therefore add roughly 20-50% amperage over steel of equal thickness.

Can I use one TIG chart for all metals?

No. Polarity, heat input and filler selection change by alloy: mild steel and stainless run DCEN, aluminum and magnesium run AC, and each material has its own amperage multiplier. Use a chart section that matches the specific metal.

What tungsten size should I use as a beginner?

A 3/32-inch tungsten covers the widest range for general work, handling roughly 120-250 amps on DC. Step down to 1/16-inch for sheet metal under about 0.060 inch and up to 1/8-inch or larger for heavy sections.

Are TIG welding chart settings absolute?

No — they are starting points. Travel speed, joint geometry, heat sink, machine calibration, ambient airflow and your own technique all shift the ideal setting, so you should fine-tune with a foot pedal and test beads on scrap.

Is a free TIG welding chart PDF safe to trust?

Manufacturer and association charts — from companies like Miller and CK Worldwide and from standards-based guidance — are reliable as starting points, but always validate the numbers on your own material. Never treat an unsourced internet chart as a specification.