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TIG Welding Advantages & Disadvantages: Is It Worth Learning?

advantages of tig welding
Written by Willie Osgood
Last Update: May 3, 2023

The TIG welding process mainly involves joins a range of metallic equipment. This process can weld nickel, titanium, aluminum, copper, and their alloys. As this welding procedure is beneficial for high quality welding, this TIG welding has drawbacks as well.

In this article we will discuss the following things that you might want to know before you get your best TIG welder from the market:

  • Advantages of TIG welding: detailed precision, various applications and positions, extremely complex metal welding, non-consumable electrodes
  • Disadvantages of TIG welding: time-consuming process, complicated appliances, safety issues, cost of inert gas

Advantages of TIG Welding

Advantages of TIG Welding

Similar to MIG welding, the usage of TIG welding requires high-quality appliances. An accurate result comes out when the parts and equipment you use provide you various advantages.

1. Detailed Precision

This visually appealing tool gives detailed precision, provides controlling the temperature and ensures less spattering. The arc is transparent due to shielding of inert gas, enabling the welder to clearly observe the work and electrode in the weld puddle.

2. Various Applications and Positions

TIG welding includes a high range of materials for various applications, for instance, industrial equipment, furnishings, vehicles, and more. Also, it enables you to fix your project with various positions, including vertical, horizontal and thickness dimensions. What’s more, the multiple sizes and shapes allow you to use it in open, restricted and narrow spaces.

3. Extremely Complex Metal Welding

Refractory materials like tantalum require a high melting point. TIG welding includes two chambers one of which is specifically for welding such refractory metals as tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, and titanium.

4. Non-consumable Electrodes

TIG welding is able to provide perfect joints every time. You don’t need to stop the tool to replace the electrode continuously. There are some consumable welding tools that require you to stop the tool at first. But a TIG welder is incomparable at this point.

Disadvantages of TIG Welding

Disadvantages of TIG Welding

There are several disadvantages or threats related to this machine e.g. radiation and welding fumes. On the other hand, the welding process requires a lot of time, includes complicated appliances, and costs a lot for operation.

1. A Time-Consuming Process

As said earlier, this process requires a lot of time to finish. When talking about time and speed, the TIG welding machine is slower than any other welding machine you might find out there. In addition, the filler deposition rate is much lower in this machine.

2. Complicated Appliances

The complicated appliances of this machine always require a professional’s hands. As the machine is appropriate mostly for thin materials, it requires especially skilled welders to be operated.

3. The Cost of Inert Gas

This machine’s inert gas is very costly when compared to any flux material used in different types of welding. Also, it requires proper cleaning prior to operation as the inert gas doesn’t feature any cleaning action.

Finally, if you expect to have a more precise and detailed work, a TIG welder will work just fine for you. Also, this machine requires highly skilled professionals to operate. So, you need to have skilled assistance at first while recalling the different TIG welding advantages and disadvantages.

About the author

Willie Osgood

An Avid Metalworker

Willie doesn’t really consider himself an artist, rather a craftsman involved in practical trades. Yet, most of his projects require him to make interesting and fine objects. Being the eldest son of a carpenter, his background is 100 percent rooted in crafting. He found the art of blacksmithing quite appealing since his teenage years… that fire, the sound of swinging hammers, and those long and shiny blades that came out as a finished product. Soon he literally became obsessed with metal – the way it moved, worked, and changed when heated or cooled.

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