How to Start Tig Pipe Welding: Learning How to Walk the Cup

Many people choose to walk the cup as a simple, effective way to do TIG pipe welding because of the consistency with which it welds pipe. Arc length and pattern are almost always the same, and the TIG pipe welding torch is always contingent on the metal. Therefore, shaking and wobbly hands are eliminated.

Before you begin TIG pipe welding, you need to know what equipment to use how it affects different techniques. Air cooled torches are the mechanism of choice since they don't start with a high frequency and they don't need foot pedals or other controls to regulate heat. Starting the arc simply involves bump starting the tungsten, or flicking your filler rod between the pipe and the tungsten to start up the arc. It's like striking a match. Next you need to know how to control the heat. All you have is keep moving to control the heat. There's no fancy equipment- most of the time TIG pipe welding is done with a power supply like a stick welder and a TIG torch.

Two methods exist for walking the cup in TIG pipe welding. You can either wobble the cup from side to side almost like you would a barrel when you move it across the floor, or you can ratchet the TIG torch handle like you're tightening a bolt. TIG pipe welding is very consistent, and both methods produce the same end result.

The wobble method is generally somewhat easier. All you have to do is lean the TIG torch cup onto the pipe and strike an arc with it. Then you simply wobble the cup like you're rolling a barrel and move forward. Most people just lay the filler rod in front of the tungsten and walk over it to add more filler wire.

You actually get a slightly better result from TIG pipe welding if you ratchet because the arc length is more consistent. The process is the same in most ways, but it requires more skill. Once you start the arc, you then have to turn the torch like you would a bolt. When you're reversing the motion, you have to give a slight twitch of the wrist in order to move forward. Thus, you'll have to build a rhythm where you twitch at the end of each turn. It takes lots of practice to learn to do it well.

TIG pipe welding is probably the easiest method of welding a pipe. There's much less variability in the results than there is with some other methods. Therefore, anyone can learn it, and once you've learned it well you can depend on TIG pipe welding to reproduce consistent results.