What bottles to get?

[rangerfredbob]

I have a few welders, the garage is too full to add more stuff so I've just been using flux core in the wire feeds... With the newly built shop I'll have room to do things better... Between my Titanium MIG 170 and Unlimited 200 they're capable of way more... Especially with the spool gun I have that fits both... What I expect to be able to do is weld stainless (either MIG or TIG, open to recommendations there, I think I have a spool of stainless wire) and with the spool gun weld aluminum as well as the normal mild steel you would expect...

So, I'm figuring I'll want two bottles, my guess is one of 75/25 and one full argon. but am definitely open to suggestions for the general user, stainless and aluminum won't be too common but I did just buy an aluminum boat that could use some modification here and there...

 

[BukitCase]

Bob, there's probably as many answers to that as there are people to ask - here's one of the longer answers for stainless

Selecting a shielding gas for joining stainless steel

The use of stainless steel has grown significantly over the past decade in North America. As its use has grown, so has the number of different consumables required to join it. Because stainless steels

www.thefabricator.com

You can probably find their answers for aluminum too - to make it more "interesting", my gas supplier's in Albany and I've yet to get a straight answer to these questions vs. what they keep on hand. If there was a better choice for gas, I might consider jumping ship - but I've had some of my tanks with them since 1979 and they've always treated me right.

If I EVER get even slightly low on projects, I'll know more about welding stainless and aluminum but for now, the "fancy stuff" isn't that important.

I have a couple miller migs, an old transformer 250 amp ac/dc stick welder, an inverter stick/DC Tig, plasma and O/A torches, so the two gases you mentioned are the only ones I use other than Oxygen and Acetylene - I keep a couple 300 CF tanks of C25 for the MM252, one 125 for the little MM211(custom cart isn't big enough for the larger bottles) and a couple Argon bottles.

All of my tanks are "owner", my advise is do NOT rent unless you're not sure you're gonna do it long term - since 1979 I've saved enough to buy my MM252/30A setup all over again (around $5k over the 43 years)... Steve

 

[rangerfredbob]

Yeah, the straight answer is the hard part

Maybe I'll explain my main project for stainless, which might help and is the only reason I mention stainless... I need to make some intercooler piping for my F350 and stainless is only ~$20 more than mild and would be better for the application... I can easily be swayed between the spool gun and TIG if it simplifies anything... I'm not going for perfection on this project, it just needs to work...

On the aluminum, I've heard full Argon will work there with the spool gun, if 100% argon will work on the stainless I'll be happy there...

 

[TMGT]

Yeah, the straight answer is the hard part

Maybe I'll explain my main project for stainless, which might help and is the only reason I mention stainless... I need to make some intercooler piping for my F350 and stainless is only ~$20 more than mild and would be better for the application... I can easily be swayed between the spool gun and TIG if it simplifies anything... I'm not going for perfection on this project, it just needs to work...

On the aluminum, I've heard full Argon will work there with the spool gun, if 100% argon will work on the stainless I'll be happy there...

Intercooler piping is a no brainer, TIG it and just use straight argon, also backpurge it!

 

[rangerfredbob]

75/25 and straight argon bottles it is then! That'll cover everything I want to do...

 

[Big Barn]

75/25 and straight argon bottles it is then! That'll cover everything I want to do...

Worked fine for me since forever. But then I’m a simple guy

 

[TMGT]

Only time I've ever used stainless mig was for production work where tig wasn't necessary, or thick stuff.

Stainless mig isn't usually very pretty either!

 

[rangerfredbob]

Ok, been a while but I think I'm closer, between buying a boat and just building the shop in general the funds have been lower...

Anywho, if I do get 2 bottles like I'm thinking about, what's a good cart to deal with the two bottles at the same time along with the welder and maybe the plasma cutter with it? I've seen the Vulcan cart at Harbor Freight that looks like it will handle 2 bottles, but is it worth the ~$180?

 

[WranglerX]

MY solution was to custom make cart... You can usual make better cart for a lot less then than you can buy.... And put biggest wheels on cart you can afford.... The bigger wheels the easier it is to move across clutter on floor....

 

[5030]

I own my bottles and have them filled as needed.