Feeding TIG Rod Tips & Techniques

Feeding filler metal tips and techniques.
The video on this page is about feeding the tig rod and some tips for getting that filler rod hand up to speed.

When you are first learning to TIG weld, one of the hardest parts is feeding the filler rod.

I supposed its because we have all been writing with our dominant hand since kindergarten but we did not get that early training with our non dominant hand.

One of the things that really helped me get better at feeding tig rod was tig welding aluminum parts on a positioner.
So in this video, I chucked up a 3 inch diameter aluminum tube and stacked beads to demonstrate feeding tig rod.

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[mrctuned]

Thanks Jody! Today marks 4 years since I first plugged a TIG welder into the wall and started learning to weld with all your videos. Today I'm building a backpurged stainless turbo manifold for a show Camaro. We appreciate all the time you've put into helping people like me learn how to weld with absolutely zero experience 💯

[tweake]

Thanks for mentioning those of us with damaged hands. Many decades of manual labor takes a toll on the hands.

[confuse]

Still the most informative welding videos on the web.
I show your videos to my son as I attempt to teach him.
BTW, TIG finger has saved me from a lot of burns!

[BruceBoschek]

Very much food for thought. I am old and have rheumatoid arthritis, so my TIG days are long behind me, but I really enjoy your thinking and examples here. Yours is the only welding channel I still watch, and I always enjoy it.

[adwhit]

Jody, your videos have had a profound impact on my welding career. I started watching your videos about 7 and a half years ago when I was in welding school. I binge watched everything you had and graduated at the top of my class, now years later I’m running my own welding business full time and it is going extremely well. It was always my dream to do so! And without your videos I know I wouldn’t have the success I have now. So just want to say thanks and I still enjoy watching your videos, I always learn something new!

[wptrader]

Jody's videos are worth gold. Even those old videos are true and applicable as they are today.

[allfields]

I don't even weld anymore but I'm still subscribed

[kennethstaszak]

A lot of my welding is on small thin cross section materials using .032 filler and it goes so fast I forget/don't have time to advance the filler so I use the method of holding the filler out long. The parts are small so I rarely run out of the stickout before I have to stop and reposition.

[olddawgdreaming]

Thanks Jody for the great instructions in your video, it's easier seeing what you are actually doing and helps in trying to get coordinated to feed the filler rod. Stay safe and keep up the great videos. Fred.

[ChrisMclaughlin-gn]

Best videos out there. I’ve been watching for years and years and I’ve bought everything off your store. Thank you for sharing your knowledge

[lopermachine]

Started watching your videos a long time ago. Always enjoyed welding. Fast forward many years and I just attended a local foundations of welding class and then their intermediate GTAW class for a cert or two. Passed the carbon steel and stainless steel, failed my two attempts at aluminum. I and other students would watch your tips during lunch if we were having a tough time. You rock!!

[EmJayOh]

Thanks for the video. I really enjoy TIG welding but my arthritis makes feeding rod extremely difficult. Part II was very informative.

[jsmash]

Thanks for all the info throughout the years Jody! Not too long ago marked 10 years under the hood and just a few months ago I became an instructor!

[howardiknow]

Been welding for too long😂😂...and got the old man's hands and eyes...and I've just got back into alloys for myself jobs, ...and you vids are just full of very useful stuff, even for us old blokes..👍👍

[StefanMilosevic-mv]

Jody thank you for every video that you uploaded and please keep uploading.

[youtube-handle-are-a-joke]

I have stiff fingers and butt weld mostly thin aluminum and often times in very uncomfortable positions and sometimes very cramped places so I use all the time the solution you give for arthritis because I can weld only 2 to 5 seconds before having to reposition myself. I have to cut the filler rod in half because otherwise it tends to weld the other extremity with the part when it makes contact, yes I'm literally inside the part I'm welding sometimes.

[mddenis]

I don't like regular tig gloves made of smooth skin, because the welding rod slips a little. But after you use these gloves for a couple of days - they become softer and you get that extra bit of traction so much needed to feed the rod with precision. I wish I could try deerskin gloves someday, I feel they could make feeding way easier

[Tokin_ape]

In the beginning of my welding career, I used a "pen" that had a wheel in the side. You feed your wire through the "pen", and use the wheel to feed it.

[BobSmith-mcuq]

Always an educational video. Thanks Jody!!

[fuzznut]

Thank you! I only buy my weld consumables and materials from you to support these videos. I’m 100% taught by people like you and “the fabrication series” channel. I know no one who tig welds aluminum so even if I wanted advice I couldn’t get it. I do know plenty of boilermakers/pipefitters who have helped me on carbon and stainless some. It’s funny to ask them about aluminum and most never even attempted and think it’s very difficult. Most never have used a pedal.

I honestly think steel is tougher for me just because I’ve done so much aluminum welding. I rebuilt a boat and have done plenty of other projects on pontoons, aluminum box trucks, trailers, dirtbike parts etc. I’d like to start a small side welder shop one of these days.

Anyways thank you!