Argon gas supply for aluminum MIG

[BigBlue1]

I'm getting set up to be able to weld aluminum. I have a Hobart 210 MVP and recently scored a deal on an SpoolRunner 100 gun. I know that I need to use Argon 100% for aluminum instead of the 75/25 Argon/CO2 I use with steel MIG.

Question is: Is there another way to get a small supply of argon other than buying a cylinder from my local welding supply place? They want $225 to buy a 40cf (almost the smallest tank). Even the tiny 20cf is $140.

I probably will be doing very little aluminum welding and I'm hoping to get into it cheaper than that. If this is the only reasonable way I guess I'll suck it up and lay out the cash, but looking for alternatives here first.

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 371759]

Argon Cylinders | Gas Cylinder Source

New argon cylinders - steel and aluminum, wide range of sizes all the way up to 300 cu ft. High performance inert tanks in stock and ready to ship.

gascylindersource.com

 

[YanmarFever]

I have the same welder as you do Hobart 210 MVP.
I also bought the aluminum gun and it works ok (not the best) but it welds. I bit the bullet and bought the argon tank for $220.
Also bought the mig mix tank for steel.

You can find them cheaper on craigslist, I bought both oxygen and acetylene on there for almost half price, full!

 

[BigBlue1]

Argon Cylinders | Gas Cylinder Source

New argon cylinders - steel and aluminum, wide range of sizes all the way up to 300 cu ft. High performance inert tanks in stock and ready to ship.

gascylindersource.com

Thanks. Those prices are a bit better. I'll have to confirm that Toll Gas will refill one they didn't sell.

 

[etpm]

Buying gas cylinders can be a pain. This is because from state to state to laws vary. When I lived in California over 40 years ago I was only able to rent or lease cylinders. When I moved to Washington I could rent, buy, or lease gas cylinders. Fortunately for most cylinders there are owner bottle sizes and rent/lease bottle sizes. So you could tell without checking with a gas supplier if you could legally buy a used bottle at a garage sale just by looking at the cylinder capacity. But with the larger capacity cylinders they can be owner bottles or supplier owned bottles. So you need to check what the laws are in your state. All that said though I try to buy the largest bottles because the major cost of argon or C25 is the labor to fill the bottle. Most of my bottles are 200 or 250 cubic feet, I forget which. I have a few smaller bottles I use for portable work but otherwise I use the big bottles because the gas per cubic foot is so much cheaper.
Eric

 

[jwmorris]

How about you look for a used TIG welder and see if you can get a tank or two with it.

Not only will you have argon but you will have a much better machine for your aluminum projects as well.

 

[BigBlue1]

Probably a good idea, but realistically this will be very low use for me. Was barely worth the $150 I spent on the spool gun, before I realized standard MIG argon/CO2 wasn't the right gas. Sigh.

 

[5030]

I don't consider a Hobart 210 MIG power source or a push only spool gun to be ideal for aluminum wire welding. You really need a push-pull spool gun and a better power source or you won't be happy with the results. I have a Hobart 210 as well but it only gets used for solid steel wires. It's a good welder for that.

I use an ESAB pulsed MIG power source and a high quality push-pull gun. I mostly use the Hobart for spray arc steel welding running wide open because you need a minimum of 200 amps for it. I also have a Lincoln TIG welder but to competently weld with TIG, there is a pretty steep learning curve and it's slow.

 

[BigBlue1]

Hobart makes the SpoolRunner 100 specific for the 210 MVP (and other models). If it's good enough for them it's good enough for me for the 1 or 2 times a year I need to make a fix to some non-critical aluminum component. If the SpoolRunner 100 was useless I doubt it would fetch almost $300 normally.

 

[jwmorris]

Probably a good idea, but realistically this will be very low use for me. Was barely worth the $150 I spent on the spool gun, before I realized standard MIG argon/CO2 wasn't the right gas. Sigh.

I really only use a MIG for Aluminum for production. Small jobs are almost always easier with the much more versatile TIG.

With a TIG, you can sit there adding heat without material until the part is where it needs to be. Being new to welding aluminum and starting with a MIG, seems like the best way to avoid aluminum altogether, after the first few attempts.

It gets even worse if you need to repair thin aluminum. Not a lot of MIG users could do this.