Welding shade vs amps

[Glenn]

By Irondragon from another thread

 

I have this chart saved, shade 11 will be a little light according to it. Most of my welding is at 175 amps or lower and I've found for me the chart is a little to dark so I set the hood at a number lower. That chart came from the Miller Welding web site, lots of good info there.

[Frosty]

That's a good chart to have if you do much welding. Not so important if you don't weld different weights but if, like me you use stick, for structural and GMAW for 1/4" and lighter they you do need to adjust your welding shield. 

Thanks for reposting  this Glenn.

Frosty The Lucky.

[52Ford]

The way I see it, as long as you can see the puddle when you're welding and you aren't seeing spots when you extinguish the arc, you're fine. Another way to think about it is, use as dark of a shade as you can while still having good visual of the puddle. I have a variable shade hood and honestly haven't looked at what shade I'm on in a few years. I'm probably around a shade 10 for most of my welds.

 

Edit: according to that chart, I should be around shade 11. I believe it. I lost the "shade indicator" that goes on the knob for my hood last month when I repainted it, but 11 sounds right.