hand torch or foot pedal

[[JP]]

Hi all,
long time no posting.. been lurking behind the scenes since I got my TIG welder couple years ago and asked for advice here.

I have been doing the TIG for a while now, but as I dont get to use it much, everytime I get back to it is like a learning curve again.

Over this time, what I have found is that I struggle with the hand torch, by this I mean the button on the torch.
I have a Lincoln Invertec 160 and it's brilliant, half the setting I dont even use or have little knowledge how I can apply them, but when starting the tig with the button, or stopping, my hand shakes and it's not pretty...
I have had a go with a pedal, at a friends, and I think its much more controlled.

What do you guys prefer? is this a case of personal experience? with practice I'll just get used to the hand one? or is foot pedal always much better?

I have been looking for a pedal for the last 2 years and nothing ever comes up on eBay there's all kind of pedals, but none for the lincoln, which is 6 pin

cheers
JP

 

[hotrodder]

It's personal preference for the most part with some prefering a pedal for everything even when grovelling about the floor using a butt cheek to drive thing or squeezing it between their knees at one extreme and others never using a pedal for anything at the other. Most people prefer a pedal for ally finding it more useful than when welding steels etc. Personally i prefer a pedal for anything that doesn't involve moving about lots/laying on the floor/contorting into uncomfortable positions etc

The 6 pin plug is a minor deal, variable remotes (pedals, torch mounted sliders etc) exist in various different resistance ranges for the potentiometer inside them because it'd be far to sensible for their to be a standard, Lincoln are usually 10K ohm IIRC with 1k and 5k being the other common pot values used by other manufacturers. OEM Lincoln pedals (used to be at least) made by SSC controls who produce one of the best (design/ergonomics and quality) pedals about. By far the best with regards to value for money although the current exchange rate will have eaten into that a chunk. Can buy direct from them in the States or from various places in the UK

There's various threads about home made pedals scattered about the forum as well as pics of the insides of various brands... a decent quality pot is dirt cheap as are a couple of smoothing/decoupling capacitors. The 6 pin amphenol plug that Lincoln use not so cheap. Personally i'd just buy an SSC pedal as unless you put zero value on free time it's impossible to build something of similar quality for less money and a mickey mouse pedal ruins a welder much like a cheapnese wire feed ruins a MIG and the travel, smoothness, start/finish angles of a cars throttle pedal makes a massive difference to comfort etc

 

[eSCHEn]

As what hr said ^^^^.

Just wanted to add that if you're really finding it difficult to steady your hand whilst depressing the button then you can put a simple foot operated switch together for little money. It's important to note that this is not a real pedal - it only does on/off. What it does do is decouple the switch from your hand. I know a member on here has real difficulty operating a torch switch due to injuries; what he does is to use a sewing machine pedal hooked up to the two pins you find on the torch plug for the switch. This allows him to do some pretty damn good TIG work which he physically couldn't ordinarily do.

However, there's no substitute for just getting lots of torch time in. Practise, practise and a cup of tea will get you used to it

HTH

 

[Brad93]

Get an scc pedal they are well known, oem equipment for many brands.

 

[Maxakarudy]

Have you tried the latch facility, press once then release, press again to end.
Even with a foot pedal you still have to control the torch

 

[hotrodder]

Simple momentary foot switch is a good call if an injury or whatever makes a torch button a pain. Always forget about that one as for me variable control is the reason i prefer a pedal most of the time... ignore slope settings, set the juice a bit higher than needed and you're good to go

To expand a bit on torch latching 2T is press and hold to weld, release to stop. 4T can be used as described or slightly differently to give more control i.e. press and hold starts the arc, release it and it slopes up from start to welding amperage, press again to slope down and release to shut off the arc. Dunno about the 160 but i suspect it's similar to my v205 in that 2/4T settings can be changed to enable/disable restarting i.e. can let you slope down and then slope back up again without breaking the arc but doubt that aspect of it appeals much

 

[Richard.]

Every thing hotrodder has said above is my own preference too. I rarely get to sit at a bench when welding and I can't use a pedal in a controlled fashion with anything other than my right foot so a torch switch is essential to me personally. That said if I do get a nice Alu job giving me the luxury of sitting at a bench then I do like the pedal a lot. I never use a pedal on DC mind. I have never seen any advantages to having current control on the fly with ferritic metals. On Alu it's a great thing for sloping right out towards an edge. As EsCHen said if it's just a case of switching from your finger, an on off foot switch sounds the ticket.

 

[langy]

I rarely use a torch switch, I favour the pedal every time

 

[Richard.]

I rarely use a torch switch, I favour the pedal every time

And with no cable to contend with

 

[langy]

And with no cable to contend with

Yes wireless, brilliant bit of kit, so glad I got it now

 

[Richard.]

Yes wireless, brilliant bit of kit, so glad I got it now

Genius if you ask me. Those Germans missed a big trick and
Miller made a very clever move there.
I'd have one for sure if I was using a dynasty.

 

[langy]

Genius if you ask me. Those Germans missed a big trick and
Miller made a very clever move there.
I'd have one for sure if I was using a dynasty.

I don't know if anybody else has wireless pedals available Rich ???

 

[Richard.]

I don't know if anybody else has wireless pedals available Rich ???

No not that I know of. Miller have that bad boy with a nice tight grip on it.

 

[dobbslc]

I'm new to tig welding too and I have a pedal and that definitely helps me for the exact reasons the OP states ie it leaves me to concentrate on the torch without any movement caused by pushing a button. It's a DC tig and its an old Lincoln Norweld that came with a SSC pedal.
I probably would flinch at the cost of buying a pedal separately but I'd say well worth it.

 

[langy]

I'm new to tig welding too and I have a pedal and that definitely helps me for the exact reasons the OP states ie it leaves me to concentrate on the torch without any movement caused by pushing a button. It's a DC tig and its an old Lincoln Norweld that came with a SSC pedal.
I probably would flinch at the cost of buying a pedal separately but I'd say well worth it.

Not as dear getting from the USA as it would be in rip off Britain

 

[Richard.]

I'm new to tig welding too and I have a pedal and that definitely helps me for the exact reasons the OP states ie it leaves me to concentrate on the torch without any movement caused by pushing a button. It's a DC tig and its an old Lincoln Norweld that came with a SSC pedal.
I probably would flinch at the cost of buying a pedal separately but I'd say well worth it.

SSC pedals are very reasonable priced.

 

[[JP]]

Hi all, many many thanks for all these replies!

Well, as suggested above, I'm using the 4T option, press button once and it's on, get gas, arc.. weld.. and then press again to finish. but still struggle a bit sometimes where when pressing the button things shake a bit...
The problem here is that I do much better welds if I hold the torch close to the neck, almost like holding a pen and when holding it this way, the only way I can press the switch button is by using my little finger...making things a bit shaky..


I did think about doing a simple foot switch just for on and off, but haven't tried that yet, didn't want to mess up the torch if that wasnt possible.

Ideally I'd like the foot pedal as it felt soooo much better when using my mate.
Maybe I'll look into adapting one with more pins? there's one currently on ebay for 100 quid, but it's a 7 pin.

I'll have a look at those SSC pedals you guys mention, hopefully not too expensive

 

[dazza]

I started off with 4t and struggled to switch it off i'm now using 2t and its much easier.

 

[Maxakarudy]

What torch are you using?
A WP torch has a seperate button which is moveable, maybe get one of them first

 

[optima21]

when I started using my tig welder (with a euro style handle) it took me a while to find a position that I was comfortable using the switch. I even got a foot switch to use instead, but eventually found a suitable position for the switch in the handle and it became second nature to use.