exnailpounder wrote:If I was welding that, I would set it up so that the tube is facing me and I could have my torch hand in/on the tube to rest on. You would get a more fluid movement by resting on the tube and just kind of rotating your hand around in it. It would heat up and you would have to stop to cool and reposition but IMO you could do longer welds before having to stop.
^^^This.
To help improve the outcome of your welds, rest your torch hand and filler wire hand. Add some rod and then travel. When the front of the puddle "keyholes" add rod, travel until it keyholes. This will help you produce a more consistent bead and get equal dips.
You don't need much to any stick out either. When I weld aluminum in these circumstances, my tungsten is just equal to the edge of the cup, my cup tight to the work. This helps prevent the tungsten and puddle coming into contact. Many use a travel forward, dab, retreat, travel forward method. The momentary "retreat" allows the filler wire to be added without contaminating the tungsten, then the torch passes over the weld and drives it in for full penetration.
Lastly, bear in mind, whenever you add wire, you are cooling your puddle. So heavy dabs equal a lot of rapid cooling. So you do need to either reduce your filler wire amount (your picture shows rapid dabbing of heavy amount) or slow your travel a lttle bit. And if this is your primary effort, you've done pretty damn well.
