Mig gas Bottle Questions

[toxicjeeper]

The time has come where i need to produce cleaner looking welds. I know that my flux core wire welds are soild but they dont look very clean or wet.. The only reason i stuck with the flux core so long was because i received five 25 pounds rolls with my cv 300.
I have the gas hook-up on my LN-7 and just need a bottle. I posted an ad looking for a used bottle. Is there a date or any kind of markings i need to watch out for( like Propane tank. Anything older than 10 years and they wont exchange).. Thanks

Also i was hoping for a big bottle but i have a line on a medium one for 80 bucks.. roughly how much welding can I do on one of this bottles and are they expensive to fill?

 

[ericher69]

Hydrostatic test date is what you are looking for! It should be stamped into the bottle similar to a propane tank. Usually 10 yrs. (if steel) good thing is you can have it retested and re-stamped and keep on using unlike a propane tank.

I too have a medium tank and have gone thru a roll of wire plus before refilling

 

[DJ54]

I bought a large, and medium sized bottle for each of my welders, at my local welding supply house. I just exchange when they are empty, and no worry of not filling my bottle I take in. They don't fill there anyway, it is just a satellite store. I'm thinking it takes 2 bottles of gas, to use up a 35 lb. roll of wire. But then my old regulator was bad, and had a slight minor leak, so I may have been using more then normal. Still on the first bottle, since the new regulator...

And I'm thinking the last large bottle of 75/25 was close to $75.00, w/tax, and hazmat charge, etc....

 

[ericher69]

I am using 12-14 lb roll
See if you can run pure CO2 cheaper, a little more penetration/a little more spatter

 

[Deano]

I bought a large, and medium sized bottle for each of my welders, at my local welding supply house. I just exchange when they are empty, and no worry of not filling my bottle I take in. They don't fill there anyway, it is just a satellite store. I'm thinking it takes 2 bottles of gas, to use up a 35 lb. roll of wire. But then my old regulator was bad, and had a slight minor leak, so I may have been using more then normal. Still on the first bottle, since the new regulator...

And I'm thinking the last large bottle of 75/25 was close to $75.00, w/tax, and hazmat charge, etc....

Works the came way here too. 80 cu ft bottle Argon/co2 was $35 last year.

 

[Ken45101]

If buying used, you want to make sure that there is no store name on the top collar. If there is, it may be a rented tank. Most places will not exchange or fill tanks that are not theirs.

I bought mine from the LWS. It's a 4' high bottle, 128 cuft IIRC of C25. They said exchanges would be $25.

Ken

 

[JimRB]

I purchased a Holox 4' tall bottle years ago, maybe 10 years. I have practically used a small roll of .030 wire from that one bottle. Small is defined as a 10# roll. I exchanged the bottle at Sidney Lee (local supply shop) off the truck into the empties bin, rolled a fresh cyclinder into the truck and paid at the counter. No questions as they rolled the cylinder where it went. I think it was similar in price to Ken's price for a CO2/argon mix. Welder is just for occasional repairs and sometimes new creations which is why the slow rate of consumption.

 

[BXpanded]

I recommend you go to your local welding supply and buy the biggest bottle they sell. It'll usually be a 160 -175 cf. It might cost a little more than a used bottle but you'll always be able to just exchange it for a full one. Refills on the large bottles cost just slightly more than refills on small bottles.

As for usage, it'll depend on what you're welding as to how much wire you'll burn per bottle. If you set your regulator to 15 cu.ft./hr you'll weld 10.6 hrs from a 160 cf bottle regardless of the wire size, wire speed or material thickness. That's actual arc on time so that's a lot of welding.

 

[toxicjeeper]

Thanks for all the feed back.. Does anybody dual sheild flux core wire using gas? Just wondering if the welds look any better or if there is any real benefit. I have all this flux core wire around and would like to use it up but need good looking welds for some stuff..

 

[lostcause]

Thanks for all the feed back.. Does anybody dual sheild flux core wire using gas? Just wondering if the welds look any better or if there is any real benefit. I have all this flux core wire around and would like to use it up but need good looking welds for some stuff..

that flux has to go somewhere. by using shielding gas it won't just disappear - you'll still have some mess to clean off the weld, so i don't think you'll want it for that. take the spool off, seal it up in plastic and shelf it until you have to do a job where you don't need a body shop finish. anytime you have to fix up a piece of machinery outdoors just put that on. i'm not sure with your setup, but on mine i just have to switch two wires under the hood to change polarity for gas/flux.

this has been discussed numerous times, but if you haven't already, make sure you talk to the people where you plan to exchange / refill the cylinder about their policy on customer owned cylinders. some places around here won't touch an owned cylinder unless you have paperwork proving it is not someone's lease tank, whether it has a stamped collar or not. generally the places here won't question a 60cf or smaller tank with a clean collar because many/most of them are customer owned, but when you get into the 120cf/240cf sizes it is generally assumed that they are leased and you may have to do some talking to get them to work with it.

as far as welding time, if you assume 20cf per hour consumption you can figure a ballpark time since you know you have a 60/80/120/240cf tank. i did a one year lease on a 120cf because i didn't know how long it would last, and it goes a long time. since i live a distance from a cylinder depot, i have been thinking about going with two 60cf tanks. it won't be as cost efficient, but that way i can run out of one tank and switch to the other, then exchange the empty at my next convenience, as opposed to having to spend an hour or more to exchange a tank, or worse - running out on a weekend or after hours.

i don't do it for a living, so having the trigger pulled for three straight hours to empty a small cylinder wouldn't be likely to happen in a day for me. i also don't believe in welding everything eight ways to sunday, so i probably deposit less weld than some. i've seen on a daily basis how much the capacity of a weld is, so i tend not to waste.