TIG guys......feeding the filler technique?

[broberts5]

The Tig Pen really helps too.

[Hi-Tech-Welding]

Try feeding the wire between your ring finger and your middle finger and slowly push with your thumb leave your index finger free. Also you can practice by taking pair of thin cloth gloves (brown jesery gloves you can buy at dollar general or a store) and start with a piece of 1/16 wire a full stick and start buy placing wire in between ring finger and middle finger and slightly make a C shape with your hand and slowly push rod with your thumb. Trust me it takes practice but if you have free time just practice and it time you will get the feel

[go2building]

I feed with my index and middle fingers, I use my thumb to put a constant slight pressure on the filler rod to keep it stable. I can tack weld 10' of filler together and weld a joint with it non stop. Saves a huge amount of time versus bumping the filler out with your shoulder ect.

I have a 4' X 16' fab table and I don't know what I would do with 10' of filler. I hope your Joking!!!! I just can't see wasting the time to tack 10' of filler together. Just my .02

[jrscgsr]

Lol no I don't actually tack filler rods together. Just making a point. I have seen others weld and stop to bump out more filler rod, if you added up all the lost arc time it would be surprising, not to mention all the stops and starts in your welds.

[go2building]

Lol no I don't actually tack filler rods together. Just making a point. I have seen others weld and stop to bump out more filler rod, if you added up all the lost arc time it would be surprising, not to mention all the stops and starts in your welds.

Cool, I thought so. With a little practice it's not all that hard to get the hang of advancing the filler.

[Jeff2013]

Hey,

The instructor at the shop where I plan on taking a few TIG lessons reinforces what you all are saying.... feeding the rod is one of the techniques that is tough to perfect. He suggested practicing with a pencil, too.

I began practicing with a piece of coat hanger wire. It's probably a little bigger around than most filler wire; but, working my fingers around a smaller rod shouldn't be too much different (hopefully).

Before I totally screw up my technique, I was wondering if anyone could comment on the two techniques presented on WeldingTipsandTricks. The itsy-bitsy spider technique he demonstrates seems to be the most comfortable for me when you practicing on the couch. I use my thumb and three fingers to move the rod along (without a glove). Using a rolling motion it seems like advancing the rod is fairly smooth. How much stick-out is generally good?

Any thoughts about these two techniques would be appreciated. (Any other suggestions would be great, too.)

(I'll post on a separate thread regarding gloves.)

Thanks for your help.

Jeff