Welding Wire Size Guide

Double click on chart to view quick guide for selecting mig wire size and welder amperage for your application.

Welding wire size guide.

Electrical cable is typically categorized by an awg american wire gauge size where the smaller diameter cable has a larger number. Gauge or gage sizes larger than one are zero also expressed as 1 0 pronounced one aught two zeros expressed as 2 0 pronounced two aught 3 0 and 4 0. Figure 2 shows a comparison between welding cables in awg sizes and metric sizes. If one or more of the criteria is not defined on the welding cable size chart it would be safe to go with a wire that correspond to the larger size from your required specs.

Check with your machine manufacturer for any information that may pertain to your welding system. Cable sizes between 4 and 4 0 are typically used for welding cable. The american welding society aws code 5 18 allows some flexibility on the contact tip. If your wire is solid the code states that there is a 0 001 tolerance range for 0 045 wire.

Multi pass welding or a beveled joint design may be required on material thickness 3 16 and greater depending on your welding machine s amperage capability. Figure 1 lists the awg sizes. Fully annealed stranded bare copper per astm b 172. Multi pass welding or a beveled joint design may be required for material thickness 3 16 and greater depending on power output capability.

In the metric system welding cable size is typically expressed in square millimeters mm2 representing the cross sectional area of the cable.