Cheap Tig pen

[Will_Davis]

So, I have been sitting in front of the telly for hours feeding tig wire and guess what?

At my age ( 62) the fingers work ok but I get a cramp in my thumb!

Feeding the wire is all about friction! The fingers (in thin leather gloves) need to overcome the thumb pressure and vice versa. That is how you feed the wire.

So afetr a bit of searching this (brilliant site) and a bit of googling I found a few "suggestions" (wouldn't call them solutions) to help with noobs feeding wire.

Any way lets cut to the photos. The solution is all about managing friction and relieving my thumbs. So I thought why pay £30 for a "Tig Pen" when I have some old ball points lying around.

So first off all here's a photo of a BP Pen:

As you can see a few bits are discarded.

Next we need a source of friction (provide in this case by a bit of curved Mig gas pipe ( 3/32" or so )

Its the friction tube that helps. Then you just hold the pen between thumb and first finger and just pull the wire with index and ring finger as normal

Made up two for 1.0mm and 1.6mm:

I know the totally manual way is the best but after a few days of tv watching with these in my hands I am not getting a cramp in the base of my thumb.

Hope this helps and after all its FREE

Will

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

All good until you do any weld with a few amps and you get a nice bendy pen with lots of carcinogenic gas! Nice job tho!

 

[wheresmejumper]

there is a method very easy on your thumb,hard to explain.ill try to find a video of it

 

[Will_Davis]

All good until you do any weld with a few amps and you get a nice bendy pen with lots of carcinogenic gas! Nice job tho!

No way, the pen body is at the thumb joint end, the fingers (leather clad) are near the heat. You can have as much "stick out" of the rod as you want ( 2 cms or 4 cms ) The old biro will NOT get hot!

When I can train SWMBOB to use a video cam I will try to video it in action!

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

Couldn't do a video of it in use could you?

 

[Seano]

No way, the pen body is at the thumb joint end, the fingers (leather clad) are near the heat. You can have as much "stick out" of the rod as you want ( 2 cms or 4 cms ) The old biro will NOT get hot!

When I can train SWMBOB to use a video cam I will try to video it in action!

I suffer the same thing with arthritic thumbs Will, so why not use Jodie's method on welding tips and tricks, let the rod rest in the crook of your thumb and hand and draw it down through the crook using your fore and index finger, just by bending then extending the fingers.