Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm practicing for a monster coupon tig root and stick cover need help with the root bottom half I get suck back and both sides and top not enough fill I'm getting ok with using my right and left hand but I need advice bad because I don't want to give up any advice thank you all in advance

Oh and I don't know how to back feed to save my life lol I know with the right guidance I could get it but no one at my job is qualified pretty much was brought to my attention so I guess they might be getting pipe work soon my main work was Fabricator and Flux-cored welding I'm hoping to get pipe experience

Suck back is a symptom of too hot material when you lay in the next pass. The tricky part of of out of position welding is maintaining travel speed and arc length. It takes practice.

Do a bit of study on the requirements for whatever cert you’re pursuing, and pay special attention to the temps between passes. You can get temp sticks that will melt when the material is equal to or greater than a desired temp (300* as an example). Often folks start the next pass when the pipe is too hot, then they get suck back disrupting the root.

Back-feeding is simply stuffing the Tig rod in from the other side. When you do that, make sure the rod reaches the lands, maybe slightly protrudes on your side. But you have to “visualize” where to move the rod. I suggest practicing that with no arc lit. Go slowly and deliberately, as if you are welding, to get the hang of it. You should not have to back-feed much of the pipe because you should be able to reach or switch hands; but not always so back-feeding is a required skill (like welding with a mirror).

I was taught early on, get good with both hands, a mirror, and back-feeding or get really good with a grinder. I hate grinding out welds.

For stick fill, if you are not getting highly enough, drop your amps just a bit, up your rod size if allowed, and slow down. Let the rod deposit a bit more fill and let the root pass and fill passes cool down more. The goal is to get adhesion without disrupting the pass. So if you’re running too quickly between passes, you’ll get suck back and droop short of your fill.