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How to Tig Weld Steel

There are close to 100 free videos on this site that can help you learn how to tig weld steel but a better and less frustrating way to learn is a TIG course I built over at welderskills.com  you can have access to the TIG course for a week by simply signing up for a Free Trial.

This TIG course is specifically designed to give quick progress while using only a small bit of metal.  give it a try...heck you might get what you need during your free trial.

Here are a few things you will need in order to learn how to tig weld steel.

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Basic Instructions for learning how to tig weld steel...welding a bead on plate

  • Set your TIG machine polarity to DCEN. But first make sure your tig torch is plugged in the correct port with the minus sign - . 
  • for 1/4" (6mm) thick steel and thinner use a 3/32" (2.4mm) tungsten that has been sharpened to a 30 degree taper. You can sharpen tungsten a number of ways but either a hand grinder or bench grinder is fine for now.
  • a #8 tig cup with 20cfh of argon gas works for most steel applications.
  • extend the sharp tungsten tip to about 3/8" from the end of the #8 tig cup.
  • turn machine on and tap foot pedal, torch amp control, or torch switch to get argon flowing and adjust flow rate to around 20cfh with the #8 cup.  ( 2-3 cfh per cup size if using a different size cup)
  • put your tig gloves on, get comfortable and prop your torch hand far enough from the weld to avoid getting burned
  • with tip of tungsten only 1/8" off metal, press pedal or torch trigger to establish an arc.
  • increase amps to get a weld puddle
  • add filler wire and move along the joint to create the weld.



I hope you got some good instructions here on learning how to tig weld steel.

If you want to go deeper, take the free trial at welderskills.com and go thru the TIG course for beginners on both steel and Aluminum.

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