The invention is of an improvement to orbital welding heads and welding systems for welding pipe and tubing butt joints, consisting of a novel combination of materials, including a ceramic weld insulator and a metal weld gear. Such a combination, which has a greater dielectric strength than a plastic housing design, results in a more concentric tungsten travel path, increases the duty cycles of the weld head, minimizes erratic and wandering arcing, creates an electrical insulation yielding minimal expansion, allows for increased clamping surface for improved tube alignment, and provides a compact and very robust weld head.