How to TIG Weld Cold Rolled Steel

Watch all the Free videos on this page and learn all you can.

Full length video on Corner, Lap, and Tee Joints

If your goal is to learn how to tig weld better, then it might help to focus on 2 of the most commonly used joints in welding and fabrication... corner joints and lap joints.

Both corner joints and lap joints are fillet welds and so they are usually considered partial penetration welds...the goal is to penetrate into the root of the joint but not all the way thru the full thickness.

Some folks call this "hitting the root".

Here are some tips to help you hit the root on fillet welds...

• Use a fresh properly sharpened tungsten ( I used 3/32" 2% lanthanated sharpened to a 30 degree point but pretty much any type of tungsten works fine on DC except for pure and zirconiated)
• maintain an arc length that is equal or less than your tungsten diameter
• use the right size filler rod...a smaller filler rod can help when it comes to hitting the root on a fillet weld. I used a 1/16" diameter filler rod for these welds.
• Use a gas lens cup like a Furick Jazzy 10 or Ceramic 12. Better gas coverage actually helps the puddle flow into the root better.
• Better yet, just get yourself a Weldmonger Challenger kit like the one below and you will have all the best cups for whatever job comes along.

...Introducing the New WeldMonger Challenger TIG kit that includes the most frequently used Cups. 

Remember these 3 big mistakes that most students make when learning to TIG weld.

1. using too long an arc length
2. using too much torch angle
3. not keeping the hot tip of the filler rod shielded with argon

Here is a short video to remind you of these 3 fundamental things to avoid

If you are still using the standard TIG cups and hardware that came with your machine or TIG torch, I can just about guarantee you will get better results if you upgrade to a weldmonger® stubby gas lens kit.