2. Hold welder firmly in hand at an angle of about 80 degrees. The point of the tip should touch the
material at the joint.
3. Initial tacks are made by drawing tacker tip quickly at intervals along the joint. Tacks should be about
½-inch to 1-inch long. Welder can then be drawn along entire joint for continuous tacking.
The basic material is now tack welded and ready for further welding.
The tack weld should not show any browned or burned spots. This would indicate that there may have
been too much heat, or the tack was not made quickly enough, or a combination of both.
If the work pieces do not stay together properly, it is possible that no fusion took place due to insufficient
heat, too quick a tack or a combination of both. Where the hand tacker tool is not available, tack welding
can be performed by using a 3/32 inch welding rod and a round tip. The method is identical to hand
welding (see next paragraph). Extensive jigging and additional manpower are usually required.
b) Hand Welding:
The purpose of hand welding is to join two or more pieces permanently together using a rod or a strip as
filler. Hand welding is recommended where difficult areas such as corners, short runs, and small radii are
to he welded. In welding thermoplastics, fusion of rod and the base materials is achieved by the proper
combination of heat and pressure.