In books they always recommend the basic TIG technique where you move, stop, feed, repeat. But is there anything wrong with moving the torch continually and feeding whenever you think there's not enough metal in the puddle to go around? Another technique I use if the filler diameter is just right is to lay the entire rod in the joint and then TIG to melt the rod where it lays. Is any of this morally wrong?
--zeb
I am a complete newbie, so I will not say anything authoritative, but laying the entire rod into the groove and then continuously melting always gives me the nicest looking welds.
i
Well you will of course burn in hell...
...just kidding.
Moving continuously is what I teach, and have been teaching for 10 years. Torch travels at a constant speed. The filler rod taps into the puddle in a steady even cadence.
Laying the rod in the joint is not one I recommend, because you surrender control over the amount of filler you are adding.
Another useful technique for fillet welds with big gaps, is to shove the rod directly into the puddle very quickly. This allows you to add a great deal of filler fast for jumping gaps and bridging between parts.
I'll echo the technique described by Ernie. It's the method taught at the shipyard where I work.
One other item to mention. Keep the end of the filler rod inside the shield gas cone. I watched "the best welder in the Los Angeles area" repair a mis-machined aluminum intake manifold on one of the Discovery Channel shows and he was dipping his rod into the puddle OK, but at the same time he was withdrawing it away from the work and out of the shield gas cone. It's likely that deposit was full of aluminum oxide. Not that it made much difference in that case, but if the same technique was used on titanium the joint would have become unacceptably hard and brittle.
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