Welding Tips and Tricks

Probably never need to walk the cup but why not try it. I used a T joint of scrap and find it difficult to get the motion and movement to work for me. I rock around in a circle and kind of skid along, not the ideal motion. Used a #6 cup and little if any stick out and weld looks darn good. But my movement is just not getting me moving along the piece like it should. Also noticed hand is more likely to cramp as I seem to squeeze a bit more than just gliding along. Just need to practice the movement. Kind of thought if I did pipe or socket welding I would put a radius on outer edge of my ceramic to make it rock, and move along smoother. IDK just toying with a new technique.

Don't expect the technique to be magically perfect the first time around. It takes a bit of getting used to but can be really handy for things like vertical fillets. Try it without the arc on a few times to get the motion down and it may feel pretty natural before long. FWIW, I like using a cup large enough that the edge of the cup will always clear the weld bead.

-Sandow

Sandow wrote:Don't expect the technique to be magically perfect the first time around. It takes a bit of getting used to but can be really handy for things like vertical fillets. Try it without the arc on a few times to get the motion down and it may feel pretty natural before long. FWIW, I like using a cup large enough that the edge of the cup will always clear the weld bead.

-Sandow

Oh believe me as much I practiced dry run with machine off, anyone watching would ask "how do you plan to get anything done that way?" Had cup clearing and tungsten stick out short enough so that was all good. I guess a wiggle in slow motion would describe my movement. Which gave a nice weave pattern at times.

I'm just a beginner at tig but if I recall Jody talks about a figure 8 pattern to walk it along.

Try a larger cup.

You can use any sized cup, but they have their limits on how wide you can weave. Generally it's a wiggle back and forth in t joints and bevels. You don't actually get to walk the cover pass. It's just a weave back and forth in the joint.