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Question- tig technique- pause and dab or??

Trboatworks

Trboatworks

Diamond
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Location
Maryland- USA
I am a relative beginner with tig welding.
I am confident in the work for the things I am welding but want to improve my speed.

What I’m doing:

-I have good torch control and can keep the torch at correct height and steady.

-I can keep the filler wire off the tungsten and I am dabbing at leading edge of puddle.

-I stop the torch and wait to see the root wet out then dab the filler rod, move the torch forward and repeat.

So question- should I keep the torch moving with more heat perhaps and just keep dabbing the rod to fill or is it correct that I stop the torch.
I was watching one of those videos on how to tig and that guy seemed to keep it moving.
Both can be right?

This is about how my welds look when my head is screwed on right- that’s a fillet on 3/8” steel plate running 200 amps:

B9BE3703-F6C2-4646-92B7-0643925B57A8.jpg

Thanks all
 
The answer to your question is... it depends on your job requirements.

Any weld can look amazing from the torch side and like total crap from a penetrating side.

The main thing understanding how to weld and achieve the result you require. This can be done by adding heat so it is more consistent or just staying in 1 spot longer. Usually people do 1 thing wrong, they use too large of a filler wire. People use a thicker wire so they dont have to move or dab as often, the problem with having too large of a filler rod is that it takes a massive amount of heat to melt it. It's like welding 1/8 diamond plate and running over the diamonds with the same heat setting as the plate. You dont get the good results you need. I personally run the smallest realistic rod I can. That way i can massive feed if needed or just take my time. Either way I never starve heat.

The other thing is your prep, which I am sure you already know.

Being comfortable is the most important thing about tig welding. If your cramped into a joint, you cant learn too well. Relax, have something hold the tig torch weight, and make sure you dont have "sticky" gloves that interferes with hand movement.


Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Weld looks good. One good habit you should do with the rod is keep the tip of the rod in the argon flow, The molten tip of the rod will stay pure this way.
It looks like you have good technique, speed will come with practice.

My first welding job was aluminum tig, we were on piece rate. The welds my coworkers and I were making were nice looking welds, like you see on bicycles or motorcycles. Then the piece rate was dropped so we all moved on. The guys that were our helpers instantly became welders and to make a decent wage they had to go fast. So fast the welds looked like mig.:nutter: There is a max speed you can go and still have a nice looking weld.
Another good thing to learn is to feed the entire rod with one hand, you just move the rod through you hand by moving you fingers back and forth. This will also keep the rod tip always in the gas flow.
 
Rob F. said:
Weld looks good. One good habit you should do with the rod is keep the tip of the rod in the argon flow, The molten tip of the rod will stay pure this way.
It looks like you have good technique, speed will come with practice.

My first welding job was aluminum tig, we were on piece rate. The welds my coworkers and I were making were nice looking welds, like you see on bicycles or motorcycles. Then the piece rate was dropped so we all moved on. The guys that were our helpers instantly became welders and to make a decent wage they had to go fast. So fast the welds looked like mig.:nutter: There is a max speed you can go and still have a nice looking weld.
Another good thing to learn is to feed the entire rod with one hand, you just move the rod through you hand by moving you fingers back and forth. This will also keep the rod tip always in the gas flow.
Click to expand...

I've never been able to get that down lol
 
plastikdreams said:
I've never been able to get that down lol
Click to expand...

Cole2534 said:
Me neither. Not with bare hands and sure as hell not with gloves.
Click to expand...

Its really not that hard, if you can work chop sticks this is easier. ;)
Just a takes little practice.
Try it with a large dia rod (1/8"- 1/4")to get the technique down before trying on small rod. Way easier to perfect the method with the bigger diameters.
 
5ADB7E2E-AA1A-4111-95FA-6F2D2FE78032.jpg

here was some 1/2” welded to some 1/4” wall square tube. 200 amps and a little pre heating. i used 3/32 for almost everything. if you need s little more rod to fill in the puddle just push a little more in. i like to pulse with my foot, seems to give me good control that way. most important thing is consistency. get comfortable and make sure your tungsten is sharp. if you dip it, sharpen it.
 
I, too, am teaching myself tig welding. I asked the same question about dabbing or steady moving and the guys I used to work with that weld at a pressure vessel factory told me to do the dab method. They call it the "key hole method". They told me to wait and see the puddle drop a little before dabbing in some filler and then move on. This helps ensure better penetration. When you see the puddle drop, this indicates that the puddle is penetrating. So, that is the method I am going with. Stack the dimes...

Again, I'm just learning, but this is what I'm hearing from guys who need to pass x-ray joints.

Ted
 
That’s what I’m doing- I watch the root to wet out and then dab.
To open this up a little I have a project coming up with lots of 1/16” wall tube welded to 1/8” and was wondering about a torch technique with not stopping the torch- just dab dab dab on the filler..

Edit- job coming up is in aluminum.
 
If you have the heat turned up and are moving fast on thin material there's hardly time to stop the torch so I just keep moving and dabbing.

I had a customer watch me welding on his car ask me "how do you make your fingers move like that?" referring to how I was feeding the filler. When I looked at my hand and thought about it I couldn't do it quite the same, so I guess it's just lots of practice and muscle memory. I tell new guys to buy a couple pieces of 1/4" rod and cut it to short lengths to practice TIG on, it's cheap and makes a natural V to fill with a bead.
 
I use basic driver gloves, Tillman makes a nice pair that I use now.

I run a lot of .035 tig wire. That stuff has a feeding learning curve.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
I used to weld bicycles for a living. Thinnest we'd weld was about .7mm steel. I'd use a lay wire technique and just pulse over the wire. If I needed more filler, I'd just push it a little more and it would infeed on the next pulse.

For aluminum and thicker steel I start out pausing and dabbing. Once everything is up to temp, there's barely a pause or none at all until I come to a thicker section or something tricky where I'll back off the pedal so I can take more time with it.

One trick to feeding wire is to let the puddle cool slightly with the wire in it as you reposition your hand. Not the best on cosmetic welds as it can leave a bulge but for production it can make things easier.

Teryk

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk
 
Just my personal experience is to never pulse the pedal. One steady movement of the torch if all possible.

Pulsing the pedal lowers inches per minute and costs money.

Same with walking the cup it’s normally a slower process. Not saying you can’t get fast at either style just has been a big no no at every production TIG welding job I’ve had even on the road pipe welding.

At home with spare time and extra argon to burn then knock yourself out.
 
Bondo said:
I run a lot of .035 tig wire. That stuff has a feeding learning curve.
Click to expand...
True that. I use .045 for most everything under 1/8, .035 for the .028-.035 wall, under that I cut a piece of .025 or smaller MIG wire and twist it with safety wire pliers to straighten it. I can weld better with wire too small than with wire too big. And use the smallest tungsten you can use without it melting off.
 
Mud said:
True that. I use .045 for most everything under 1/8, .035 for the .028-.035 wall, under that I cut a piece of .025 or smaller MIG wire and twist it with safety wire pliers to straighten it. I can weld better with wire too small than with wire too big. And use the smallest tungsten you can use without it melting off.
Click to expand...

Yup, same here. I can manage my heat input a lot better with smaller wire, just using what I need to melt the parent material rather than having to use extra heat just to melt the wire.
 
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