Will the welding police....?

Rod sticking in OAW is most commonly caused by either using TIG rod (ER70S-2) or using too large of a rod.

The tip of the rod should be held no more than half an inch above and ahead of the puddle. The motion should be an axial stabbing motion. You are more likely to miss the center of the puddle if you simply twist your wrist to move the rod. You have two ways to control / reduce the puddle size. One is by introducing more filler rod and the other is by moving ahead into fresh material. The opposite actions will have the opposite effect. After admitting to doing the bird dung thing I am amazed that the W.P have not broken down your shop door and seized your equipment. :')) Randy

They've been too busy over at my place...

Peter

Mike, The bad habit you are developing will come back to curse you when you are dealing with thinner metals and/or out of position welding. The amount of time it takes you to accomplish penetration "your way" will put too much heat into the base metal. Also, it will probably cause you to burn up welding tips faster (if you're getting a popping from your tip...that is it burning up). I'm not the WP Mike...just someone who wanted to help you understand the "why for" of the procedure. Hope this helped.

-Wayne-