I spent several hours today making puddles and moving them with the OA torch. If I use my left hand to support the handle, I get even, not rushed circles. Knowing that one day I'll use filler rods, I try for the same evenness using one hand. Not a lot of luck.
Is there a trick to bracing the torch hand? - Mike
Your handle can be held horizontally and the bend of the torch will give you the correct lead angle for welding. If you try to hold your hand completely still your muscles will tense, you'll cramp up and get frustrated. Try holding the torch and set your mind to only controlling forward and backward motions. Allow your random movements side to side just happen. You need the side to side to blend your puddle anyway. You need the one handed skill for both TIG and gas welding. If you are standing sit on a bar stool or lean against the welding table. That way your brain is not dealing with the leg and torso muscles. When you are in a darkened visual field your body needs references. Even a skilled pilot cannot fly in the fog. Your visual reference is a small area around the weld pool which does not give you many cues. As soon as you lean or touch something with your other arm you have another reference. Randy
Is there a trick to bracing the torch hand? - Mike
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ While I am bringing the weld area up to the melting temperature, I often support the tip with the rod I am holding in my left hand. Once you start the actual weld, I think you will find the little jitters and wanderings will be absorbed into the weaving motion of welding, and they won't be a problem.
Biggest thing I did to smooth out my TIG torch movement was to detemine the torch's balance point and then figure out how to hold it so the weight of the cable and the rest of the torch balanced itself out. The rest of the movement came from light movement of the torch, not a firm grasp. OA torch should be similar. Makes for holding it for a long period pretty darn easy.
Bart D. Hull snipped-for-privacy@inficad.com Tempe, Arizona
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Leo Lichtman wrote:
I have found with the little bit of teaching I have done for night welding courses and the standard welders course that most beginners have a death grip on the torch/electrode holder. This makes the shaking problem worse so they hold on tighter to gain control over the movement; a vicious little circle.
What I suggest is that the torch/electrode holder should be held with a very light grip; this reduces the tendency for shaking. Occasionally I would have a student who couldn't relax the grip enough while welding so I would have them hold the torch / electrode holder as if they were using it and would try and pull it from their hand; once they learned to hold it loose enough for me to move it easily their welding started too improve noticeably.
When you have a GTAW handle that wants to point in the opposite direction; forcing you to twist it around and hold on tighter than recommended. Best bet is too try and take the twist out of the torch right at the machine and not at the last few inches.
Since I am writing a book LOL people tend to focus on the electrode while learning to weld; ignore it is not going anywhere. The area of importance is the puddle, the shape of the pool of weld metal tells you everything you need to know.
short wide puddle-too slow pointy puddle-too fast rounded one diameter from electrode-about right (subjective measurement) puddle droops-center too low (lower electrode angle) puddle points up-center too high (raise electrode angle)
A little GTAW secret
Beginner level- torch on bench: filler metal appears on tungsten, remove contamination and regrind. It is easier to feed your glove into the puddle than the filler metal. Strong magnetic attraction appears too attach the filler rod to the tungsten. welds look nothing like the pictures in the book
Novice level- puddle jumps onto tungsten at worst possible moment. stopped setting gloves on fire, still have arguments with the filler metal but more makes it to the puddle. welds start to resemble the pictures, occasionaly even worth showing the neighbors.
Intermediate- Filler metal attaches to tungsten when you are showing how good you are. You always run out of filler metal 1 inch before end of weld. Welds are looking good; friends and neighbors ask you to weld things for them.
Advanced- dips tungsten into puddle and nothing sticks, keeps right on going. Finds filler metal rolling around the bench while welding, continues welding without breaking stride. Their welds are the ones used in the books; have been known too finish a weld while sleeping.
John Noon
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