Commercial welders know that the tungsten electrode charts come with a list ranging for q 2.4 mm, ceriated, lanthanated or thoriated electrode which is around 150 and 250 amps. Yet many commercial welders use the tungsten electrodes at lower amperages and have no issues with that. The 3 /32 ‘’ tungsten electrode or is it possible to do TIG welding with thin sheet metal? A professional commercial welder will tell you that if you want to perform TIG welding on very thin metal, the electrode must be tapered like a needle. In such cases one should use a fine grit disc, a sanding belt or a diamond wheel.

In such cases one should avoid the scratches that are running sideways. The commercial welder can start the TIG welding process at high amperage or can get a crisp start. If the application is pipe welding, then one might use a scratch start TIG setup. Many pipe welders use the 1 / 8’’ electrode even in cases when the amperages are around 100 amps. Then the material is thinner metal, the commercial welder can use electrode with a smaller diameter.

Commercial welders are also aware that the arc can also be started with a piece of aluminum or copper used as backing. Both the aluminum and the copper perform well as backing material which provides heat sink and further serves to trap the argon shielding gas which helps shield the penetration side. If there is no argon as or other backing gas the stainless steel will get severe oxidation. Sometimes the commercial welders do not have copper on the back side and they have to tap a piece of copper next to the place where they will strike the arc, which will help them avoid poor starts or wandering of the arc.  They have to light up on the copper at low amps and then increase the amps until the moment when the arc jumps to the point and then move the arc where they want.