TIG Finger from Jody's Site

[Gary]

First I do not have any affiliation with him or his site , but I do find his videos great for learning and info...
I bought 2 of his tig fingers and they work great . I found that on long runs I can use one on my torch finger and also just lay one down under my left hand when feeding rod and it really keeps the heat away but most of all they let your hand slide real easy when feeding rod.
Anybody else using these?
Gary

[rengaw21001]

Hi Gary,

What is a "TIG finger", and where is "Jody's site?
Thanks!
Steve

[Rugar]

Hi Gary,

What is a "TIG finger", and where is "Jody's site?
Thanks!
Steve

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/...tigfinger.html

[dlong]

TIG finger - way cool tool - literally. Small thing, big help, especially on aluminum which just doesn't cool very fast once you start.

[jakeru]

I got a chance to use my TIG finger today for the first time, and it worked great!

I was asked to weld a crack in a fairly large, cast aluminum wheel that a customer was reconditioning, perhaps 17-19" diameter by 7-8" wide. It was probably about 1/4"-5/16" thick around the edge of the rim, where is where the crack was (caused by a curb hit.) Pretty substantial heat sink compared to what I have welded in the past.

I carbide burred out most if not all of the crack (reaching down partway into the metal), set the wheel up on my table, and heated it up near the area I was welding pretty good, just using a "bernz-o-matic" air propane torch. I set my Everlast Super200P to "wide open", footpedal controlled, max 200 amps current (no pulse), and max DCEN %, AC mode. I used a small cup (#5'ish, gas lens) to get down close into a fillet without excessive stickout, and put on my biggest, 1/8" tungsten (sharpened with a flat on the end.) I slipped a tig finger on the pinky of my torch glove, curled it under to support my torch on the pre-heated edge of the rim, and found that I was able to set the weld up perfectly and slide across to progress the weld bead, with no heat discomfort whatsoever. Without the tig finger, I'd have to prop my forearm or elbow on the weld table, and am sure I'd have been a lot more "shaky". Right out the gates, it welded beautifully and I got it done in one pass. I love it when things turn out nice like that. The customer was very happy with the result!

PS - My everlast welding machine has been kicking ### as well. I used it in torch switch triggered , 2T mode yesterday to butt-weld in an .050" thick auto body patch panel out of position. I used "super pulse" mode, which is: background current = min, pulse duty = min, pulse freq = min, pulse peak current = varies/adjusted as desired. Was able to do a lot of fuse/autogenous welding (or with very small filler in spots) of that .050" sheetmetal together with *really* low heat input (often weld beads weren't even glowing by the time my auto-darkening mask lightened, yet penetrated all the way through, with a very narrow weld bead.) Did get a small bit of distortion overall, but it was less than another patch I welded in before I figured out the "super pulse". Having a helper hold a copper chill plate on the back side of the weld also helped a lot (especially with preventing, and/or filling holes).

[woodchuck]

Does anyone have a spare tig finger they would sell? Jody doesn't ship to Canada.

Thanks
Chuck

[pvitor]

Love these fingers a great idea!!!!!!!!!

[performance]

TIG Finger...

It sounds like a medical condition, or something that needs to be blurred out on network TV. lol

As long as it works, who cares?

[Nikola Tesla]

I gotta check out these welding videos your all talking about. Ive seen a couple on youtube. I'm open to any advice. Advice on welding that is.

[mrprism]

Yes weldingtipsandtricks.com is a great site. Honest information done very well. I did buy 2 tig fingers and 2 tee shirts and love them both. The tig finger feels a little weird the first time using it, but once you find a comfortable position to hold the torch while using it, you forget its there after a while. Try different grips on the torch with the tig finger on different fingers and you'll see what I mean. It becomes second nature after a while. If you then make a long run without it on you soon realize whats missing due to the heat. They work great and the tee shirts are cool too!

[Wrenchtamer]

ford uses a similar heat shielding material over the egr tubes. i scavenged a couple and made some of my own. works great.

[Jason]

ford uses a similar heat shielding material over the egr tubes. i scavenged a couple and made some of my own. works great.

I also considered making some of my own out of heat shielding but decided to give a little support to Jody as I find his video's very useful and great for learning. I ordered a 3 pack of TIG fingers knowing I probably will not need all 3 but can hand one of to a friend. I would recommend the TIG finger to someone and think it is a great idea.

[presure2]

ford uses a similar heat shielding material over the egr tubes. i scavenged a couple and made some of my own. works great.

yea, you can also order spark plug boot covers from summit, basicly the same deal, however, with all that i've learned from jody's site, i felt the least i could do was order a couple from him.
havent used them yet, but im sure when i do, they will be the bomb.com!

[Zoomie]

Kind of felt the same as you presure2. I feel like Jody does a great service to the welding community and buying a TIG finger is the least I can do to support him! I'll probably buy a copy of his videos also, when they become available...

[presure2]

definetly will be buying the vid. i feel like i have learned more from his vids than any other single place, without a doubt.

[pvitor]

I agree with everyone on Jody,s work being Invaluable and have ordered his DVD along with spare TIG Fingers to express my support and gratitude.

[ducksface]

Funny you should mention that; I bought mine from Jodie because of his excellent site [and I felt obligated. he's the reason I bought the pp256], and used one of the three I bought from him to insulate the number one plug wire that grounds out on the header of the car in my avatar!

I'm thinking of slipping another one onto the head of my torch.

[Ram48]

Well I got the DVD tonight and will look at it in the morning. I'll let you know how it is.

[pvitor]

Hey guys are the DVDs from Jody a collection of the videos he post's on his website?

[Ram48]

Hey guys are the DVDs from Jody a collection of the videos he post's on his website?

I am pretty sure they are all of the 2010 video clips on the site. I like the idea of having a DVD of them. I think the quaility will be better and I just feel I need to suppotr Jody a bit his videos are about the best out there and its all free. so Im just showin some appreciation to him.
Ray