Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello board.
I've been lurching here for a while and figured I need to register so I can possibly get som help from your collective knowledge. I am a hobby welder who mostly does car related work.

Some years back something caused my left wrist to become partially paralysed. It is not a big hinderance in the shop, but it has turned out to be a big problem when Tig welding. I can barely control the filler rod, and my wrist forces me to hold my hand and the work piece at a very bad angle. This quickly becomes painful and quickly wears me out completely and makes it a struggle.

Are there any techniques or tools which may let me only use my good hand? Any tips and tricks are greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

I think there's a few options out there...

One is to look in the 3D printing community for filler wire holders that you can perhaps more easily hold in your hand at and angle you find comfortable or experiment yourself with making holders that work for you. Kinda dis-connecting the specific hand/wrist orientation normally needed for the filler hand from the process of keeping a filler rod near the puddle.

Can likely be done pretty cheaply but it will be a bit of a development/testing process and some may not work at all initially.

You can go all 'high tech' on it too and look more into commercial wire-feeder setups for TIG like for instance:

https://www.arc-zone.com/Semi-Auto-TIG-Wire-Feeder

http://www.tiptigusa.com/wp-content/upl ... 00100C.pdf

Definitely in the 'reassuringly expensive' area and may be total overkill for your use, but that's a call only you can make.

Or see if you can rig something up yourself with a wire feeder from a broken/dead MIG, some eelctronic controls for the motor and some clever clip-on ideas on the TIG torch to see if you can make yourself a wire feeder that 'dips' a MIG wire in the TIG puddle.

We have more members on here with physical limitations when it comes to welding so they may have more specific tips.

Bye, Arno.

Have you used the lay wire technique rather than dipping?

Welcome to the forum, sorry to hear about your injury.

Any possibility of swapping hands, so your other hand feeds and the paralyzed hand holds the torch?

Should just be able to hold your hand in a different position - I seen video of a guy tig welding with a metal pincher on his left arm since his hand was missing.

You won't be able to feed through your fingers, but just hold the rod however it's comfortable.

To use only your good hand, you'll need a feeder system - I think it's called Tip Tig.

Any possibility this could work for you ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TIG-PEN-/191404986545

MinnesotaDave wrote:Should just be able to hold your hand in a different position - I seen video of a guy tig welding with a metal pincher on his left arm since his hand was missing.

You won't be able to feed through your fingers, but just hold the rod however it's comfortable.

To use only your good hand, you'll need a feeder system - I think it's called Tip Tig.

Actually Tip Tig is an entire setup, machine plus wire feeder and probably quite $$, CK does sell a cold wire feeder, again probably quite $$ for a hobby welder.

The TIG Pen might be the ticket

I sure would like to try the Tip Tig, supposed to be a lot faster

Thank you for your suggestions and advice. You inspire me to keep looking for solutions.

I have tried the laywire technique but only on thin stainless exhaust. I found it hard to do on butt joints. I got a very flat bead and found it hard to add enough filler metal to build a nice bead and keep the pool cooler. I guess I could experiment with using a thicker dia rod than I would use for dipping. Or should I lower the amps instead? I don't have a pedal yet, but my machine has excellent pulse controls.

I have not really experimented enough with supporting or stiffening up my wrist. As it is I cannot lift/extend it at all, but my fingers have limited movement. The best would be to use some sort of feed mechanism but they are too expensive. Maybe I can adapt something from an old mig machine.

I have looked at the Tig pens. I used to think they wouldn't help, but you have inspired me to revisit it as it may work in combination with some kind of wrist support.

Search youtube ( and also on the forum ) for some adjustable wrist support designs.

Here's a couple I saved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLumr3Hs5xg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiYeFfZO1MY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqbxYVWgtyA

bebbetufs wrote:I have looked at the Tig pens. I used to think they wouldn't help, but you have inspired me to revisit it as it may work in combination with some kind of wrist support.

I bought a tig pen cause I have more money for toys than brains. I thought it to be the Cliffs notes so I didn't have to do my homework of practicing so my fingers work automatically.

That said I think it could work for you. Could you duct tape a stiff rod to a long welding glove to straight arm it and use a finger on the rubber tig pen roller ? I have to prop my torch hand and, thinking on the couch now, i should prop my left too. Im unsteady with dabbing.

Best of luck to you!

my hands don't have any movement issues (well other than the usual old age/ too many years doing extreme sports / etc. issues), I still can't feed filler rod worth a damn, I always just push it into the puddle until it gets so short my glove and hand catches fire... Could you just make a hand/wrist holder of sorts to just hold a piece of filler rod if you can't grab it well and just feed it in that way?