How long should it last?

[handirifle]

Being new to Mig I have gone through two 80cuft bottles in about 10lbs of wire. I was told to run the pressure at 20-25psi.

Does this sound right? If so that stuff goes fast, in my opinion. Might be too costly for me to run with gas for most of my jobs. Seems like it was about $65 to fill last.

 

[grsthegreat]

Being new to Mig I have gone through two 80cuft bottles in about 10lbs of wire. I was told to run the pressure at 20-25psi.

Does this sound right? If so that stuff goes fast, in my opinion. Might be too costly for me to run with gas for most of my jobs. Seems like it was about $65 to fill last.

boy, i run mine between 20-25cfh.....and i dont run thru nearly as much gas as your talking about. I have a small 120 volt mig unit, and it has small 75/25 argoc /co2 tanks. the tank lasts a long time. but i have never measured it against the weight of wire i run.

It would take me a long time to burn 10# of 0.30 wire in my machine.

i found this on this other welding site...dont know how accurate it is.

Cyl cu ft size divided by whatever you normally set cfh to on flowmeter. In a perfect world an 80cf cyl with flow set at 20cfh would give about 4 hours weld time. It's not a perfect world, so allow for losses.

If you want to figure out how long tank will last in relation to lbs of wire, you'll have to figure out your wire speed in inches per minute and how many inches of wire = 1 lb. I never attempted to do the math, but it's possible to figure out.
​

Argon/CO2 tank

 

[handirifle]

boy, i run mine between 20-25psi.....and i dont run thru nearly as much gas as your talking about. I have a small 120 volt mig unit, and it has small 75/25 argoc /co2 tanks. the tank lasts a long time. but i have never measured it against the weight of wire i run.

It would take me a long time to burn 10# of 0.30 wire in my machine.

i found this on this other welding site...dont know how accurate it is.

Cyl cu ft size divided by whatever you normally set cfh to on flowmeter. In a perfect world an 80cf cyl with flow set at 20cfh would give about 4 hours weld time. It's not a perfect world, so allow for losses.

If you want to figure out how long tank will last in relation to lbs of wire, you'll have to figure out your wire speed in inches per minute and how many inches of wire = 1 lb. I never attempted to do the math, but it's possible to figure out.​

Argon/CO2 tank

Well, there has prob been 4 hrs of welding, overall. I guess. That sure doesn't seem like a long time to me. I am currently finishing up my trailer, guess it will be flux core for the most part.

 

[yomax4]

You surely mean 20 - 25 CFH not PSI. You can turn your reg down to about 15 cfh indoors or turn it down until you get porrosity then turn it up a little. If you have an 80 cf tank, It will last for 4 hrs of trigger pull with your reg set at 20cfh. You can't judge by how much wire you burn.

 

[yomax4]

I f you have a leak or forget to turn off your tank.. You will be surprised how fast it goes away. Shut that tank off...

 

[Transit]

Get yourself a Miller Mig welding slide rule guide, it will show you what size wire, wire speed and gas flow to use for the stock thickness.

 

[grsthegreat]

You surely mean 20 - 25 CFH not PSI. You can turn your reg down to about 15 cfh indoors or turn it down until you get porrosity then turn it up a little. If you have an 80 cf tank, It will last for 4 hrs of trigger pull with your reg set at 20cfh. You can't judge by how much wire you burn.

yup...fixed. thank you

 

[RonMar]

The high pressure bottle valves are also double seated. When you open the bottle valve to turn on the gas, open it all the way till the valve won't turn any more. This engages the upper valve seat, and keeps the high pressure gas from leaking around the handle shaft seal...

After you open the bottle valve, It is also a good idea to spray the valve, reg and flow meter occasionally with a soapy water mix to check for leaks...

As mentioned, 20-25CFh is a guideline. If you are inside with no wind, you only need enough flow to deliver enough gas to displace the atmosphere/O2 and keep it away untill the weld pubble skins over.

Get a piece of scrap and try a pass with no gas on. It will be ugly and sound different. Then start to add gas in small stages and see what happens. If you are in a no wind situation, you can typically run the gas down pretty low and still maintain weld quality...

My .02

 

[Transit]

The high pressure bottle valves are also double seated. When you open the bottle valve to turn on the gas, open it all the way till the valve won't turn any more. This engages the upper valve seat, and keeps the high pressure gas from leaking around the handle shaft seal...

After you open the bottle valve, It is also a good idea to spray the valve, reg and flow meter occasionally with a soapy water mix to check for leaks...

As mentioned, 20-25CFh is a guideline. If you are inside with no wind, you only need enough flow to deliver enough gas to displace the atmosphere/O2 and keep it away untill the weld pubble skins over.

Get a piece of scrap and try a pass with no gas on. It will be ugly and sound different. Then start to add gas in small stages and see what happens. If you are in a no wind situation, you can typically run the gas down pretty low and still maintain weld quality...

My .02

From my Miller guide the range is 10 to 17 CUF/HR depending on the stock.

 

[sjb]

Well, there has prob been 4 hrs of welding, overall. I guess. That sure doesn't seem like a long time to me. I am currently finishing up my trailer, guess it will be flux core for the most part.

You could also consider using straight CO2 with your MIG. A 20 lb CO2 bottle gives you 160 cu ft of gas, and the last time I had one filled it was around $20.

I personally think that the CO2 gives better penetration. The welds are a little rougher than with C25, but they aren't as bad as some would have you think.

Stan