Tacking

[redmule1154]

Watching welding videos I quite often see a welder tacking up his work using thin ga material. It seems to be a quick blast in one spot and he is off to another area. My question is how is this acheived on a corner joint using 16 ga s/s and only getting a tack the size of a pin head? Is it a quick blast of very high amps or what. Another thing I was wondering would I need to use a smaller tungston than a 1/16th to get such a small tack? We have a product at work that has been out sourced and they use the tiny tacks every inch or two and then smooth out the tack and after graining the corner joint you can barely tell that it was weldedAny help would be appreciated.
Thanks Redmule1154

[CharleyL]

You need enough current in the right place to get a small spot on each piece to flow together. As soon as it does, get off the pedal and move to the next position. If the pieces are a different thickness, you will need to favor the thicker piece so it heats up at the same rate as the thinner piece. A little practice and you will learn how much current and for how long to achieve the right size tack. Hot and fast is the best way to approach it. Practice doing it on some scrap of the same size. It will become fairly easy after some practice. The trick is to get off the pedal just as soon as the puddle bridges from one piece to the other. The smaller you can make the tacks, the easier it will be to weld over them without leaving a bump when completing the weld, but they also need to be large enough to hold the pieces together in preparation for welding.

Charley

[KIWI]

Here is a video that shows exactly how to do it.
http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/...brication.html
Nick