TIG Welder Settings for Carbon Steel from thinnest to thickest

TIG welding 18 ga steel...arc shots, tips, techniques

TIG welding 11ga cold rolled steel settings

TIG Welding 1/4" thick carbon steel settings

Use this page like you would use a weld calculator to find good tig welder settings for carbon steel welds.

Each settings video is typically very short and shows an arc shot as well as all settings used.

...Introducing the New WeldMonger Challenger TIG kit that includes the most frequently used Cups. 

Tig welder settings for thin carbon steel .020" -.063" (0.5mm-1.6mm)

Tig welding carbon steel from .063" -  1.00"
(1.6mm- 25mm) settings

Tig Welder Settings for Carbon Steel Fillet Welds

TIg Welder settings for Carbon Steel Groove welds

TIG Welding Carbon Steel Pipe settings

tig welder settings for 11ga 1F outside corner joint carbon steel

Setting amperage for TIG welding carbon steel using a foot pedal 

Some experienced tig welders like to set amperage on the machine to around 200-250 amps regardless of what is being welded and just control the amperage with the foot pedal.

This practice is common with experienced tig welders and I have done it plenty of times as well.

But here is why I don't do it anymore...'

With newer inverter machines, weird things can happen

I once had a machine glitch where the amperage bypassed the foot pedal and went to max amperage immediately.

On some jobs, this wouldnt cause a big problem. You might be able to just grind a spot, get the machine fixed and carry on.

But having worked in the aerospace industry where parts can cost 200,000 dollars or more, I couldn't help but think what would have happened if I were welding on an exhaust sleeve made from .020" thick stainless.  

200 amps all at once on .020" stainless would blow a hole and might even scrap the part.

It's a lot safer to just set the amperage about 25% higher than what you think you will need.  

Top 3 TIG tips for general TIG welding carbon steel

1. aim for an arc length that is equal to or slightly less than electrode diameter (arc length is distance from tip of tungsten to puddle)
2. limit torch angle to around 15 degrees ( torch angle can be very forgiving provided you hold a tight arc)
3. Keep the hot tip of filler rod shielded in the argon plume and snip off the tip for restarts if tip has is discolored... or not kept shielded in argon