How to Tig Weld with the Lay Wire Technique

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How to TIG weld using the lay-wire technique.

The lay wire technique means leaving the rod in the puddle all the time. This is not always the best way to weld everything but it does work great on certain types of steel and stainless steel weld joints. Pipefitters and boilermakers have been using this technique for years with good results. Even Race car builders do it.

see more on how to tig weld using the lay wire method

What is the lay wire technique?

In a nutshell, its where you lay the wire against the metal and then just tig weld over it fusing it into the base metal.
Its not always the best way to tig weld but it works really well for certain things and on certain metals.
Stainless steel pipe and carbon steel pipe are both good candidates for using the lay wire technique.
This video shows good arc shots of both the dip technique for keyhole root pass welding, and the lay wire technique for fill passes on pipe and plate.
The pipe weld looks kind of sketchy but that’s strictly due to all the different angles and short welds I had to do in order to film the arc shots. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.
A few cautions… It is possible to get lack of fusion if your heat is wrong or if you roll the silicon island under the bead.
This technique does not work very well on aluminum, inconel, titanium, or thin sheet metal.
But for stainless and carbon pipe, it works well.

What are your thoughts about this tig welding technique?

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