New (to me) Wire Welder

[Believer]

I've been watching for a decent deal on a wire welder and finally brought home a Lincoln 255 Power Mig. It looks like new and I'm anxious to weld. I was just wondering what different ways there are to lease or own a bottle. What should I be careful about as I go shopping for a bottle and gas.

If I knew how to post pictures, I post of couple.

 

[lostcause]

that's a pretty good sized unit. personally, i'd go with the largest bottle you feel comfortable moving around on the welder, size/weight wise. as you go up in bottle size, your cost per unit of gas goes down dramatically, so the biggest bottle will give you the most hours of welding time for your dollar.

as far as leasing/owning... i've never tried to do the math. sometimes i go through bottles non-stop, other times they last me a year it seems. leasing is going to be the easiest way, because everything is factored in. just bring in the empty & get a new one. owned is the same really, but you will probably have to pay a recertification fee every so many years. also, with a lease, most places will offer multiple year options, and with them, the cost per year tend to go down a lot as the length of contract goes up. i just do 5 year leases now & get it over with that way.

 

[Chilly807]

I lease one bottle and own another, owning might not really be the right term. Think of it as leasing with no annual fee. What I do is when the bottle is empty, I take it back, they give me another full one in exchange. No recertification fees, just a different bottle.

The leased bottle is the same exchange process, but I pay $30 per year for not having to buy a bottle.

It may be different where you are, I'm in Canada and deal with Praxair.

Chilly

 

[Jim in ICT]

Compare the annual lease rate with the purchase price. Divide the lease rate into the purchase price to see how many years of leasing would have paid for the cylinder. If you think you'll use and have the cylinder longer than that, then purchasing may be the best route. If you use the welder often enough and exchange the cylinder regularly, it should be within the test dates every time you exchange it for a full one.

 

[Chilly807]

If you use the welder often enough and exchange the cylinder regularly, it should be within the test dates every time you exchange it for a full one.

The guys I deal with don't seem to care about the old cylinder, they just pass me the full one. The size that they sell is one that's not available for lease, so they know immediately that you own the cylinder. I don't use a lot of gas, so it made more sense to buy than lease. A fill lasts me a couple of years normally.

The leased one is pure argon, I'll probably swap that for an owned cylinder down the road when I get a handle on how much of that I'm going to go through.

Chilly

 

[Denwa]

... brought home a Lincoln 255 Power Mig. .... I was just wondering what different ways there are to lease or own a bottle. What should I be careful about as I go shopping for a bottle and gas.

As someone who used to deal with this sort of thing (SCUBA Store) I'll start out by saying it depends.

If you own a cylinder, testing and maintenance is all on you. A hydro test is required every 5 years by DOT. How much that will cost varies a bunch but
will likely run you at least $30-50. If the thing gets rusty inside it may need cleaning, on you. Check with whomever does that sort of thing in your area.

If the cylinder fails a hydro test (very rare) you have yourself a nice piece of scrap iron. If the valve has a problem (also rare - unless you drop the thing and bend it up) that's on you and requires a herky chain or strap vice to make the switch.

Company owned cylinders have a collar with the company name welded to to neck of the cyl. Privately owned ones have a clean neck with just the DOT info stamped on it. The test date needs to be within five years to be good. More than five and the cyl needs testing before anyone will fill it again. I have seen many "company owned" cylinders at garage sales over the years. These are basically stolen in that the seller is not the owner.

Owning the thing will *likely* cost you less in the long run, if fate smiles on you. However...... it's a gamble of sorts. You generally lucky? ;' >