Tig Filler Rods Explained

The different types of welding rods and electrodes can get pretty confusing.
Tig filler rods explained. Improve your tig welding with tig tips and tricks and weld calculators. But look no further. Choose the right filler metal and follow key best practices to overcome the welding challenges presented by some materials. So here are a few guidelines for choosing the best size filler rod.
Filler rods for tig are fed by a second hand as the first holds the tungsten torch. 316l including er316lsi filler metal should be used with 316l and 316 base metals. One thing i have noticed is that a lot of the folks making really nice looking tig welds are using relatively small filler wire. There are a lot of different welding electrodes and wires out there.
Use 309l including er309lsi when joining mild steel or low alloy steel to stainless steels for joining dissimilar stainless steels such as 409 to itself or to 304l stainless as well as. A15 is the most commonly used they are copper coated triple deoxidized mild steel rod that gives sound porosity free welds on mild and low alloy steels. Stainless steel rods are for use in dc tig mode. No other idenification on the rod.
There are a lot of other stainless steel filler rods like 316l 321 and others and if you know what you are welding its best to use a match. As a hobbyist or newbie welding student one thing s for sure. Proper ac balance settings are critical to weld performance quality and tungsten life when tig. A welder s choice of diameter ranges from 1 16 to 1 4.
Looks like 1 16th dia anyone have a clue as to what i have here. I was given a handful of tig welding rod that came from an aircraft repair facility. The thickness of the material you will be welding also determines the required diameter of the filler rod. Different types of welding rods and uses explained.
Cf 8m and cf 3m are the cast equivalents of 316 and 316l respectively. In the field welding electrodes are usually referred to as welding rods so i will use that term here. The rods are marked with a double blue a brown and a black color designation on one end. Your choice of filler rod is extremely important as the rod must correctly match the alloy of the material you will be welding.
At least compared to what i see other folks using on youtube. Er308l stainless tig rod when you know that you are welding 300 series stainless steel 304 is the most common 300 series stainless used you cant go wrong with er308l rods. For sheet metal thicknesses 1 8 3 2mm and under rod size should not be thicker. Tig filler rods.
These rods typically come in 3 foot lengths and are packed in 10 or 50 pound boxes or tubes. In the following post you ll find the different types of welding rods explained as well as reviews of the best welding rods for sale. In tig welding you feed the filler rod into the molten puddle by hand.