Welding Tips and Tricks

Ever max out your 200 amp tig welder on aluminum and still come up short?
http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/tig ... m-mix.html
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Has anyone tried mixing in the balloon helium you can buy at Costco in the freon type canisters? I imagine it's not as clean/pure but I've been thinking about trying it.

Thanks

Balloon gas has a certain percentage of oxygen in it. It's there so you don't die when you breath it in to do a Donald Duck impression. I think that would cause more trouble than it's worth.

Yeah I believe it's 10% oxygen

The MSDS for balloon time helium that I saw listed 100% helium - doesnt mean there aren't blends out there, but it's what I saw.

I showed a friend how to tig aluminum with a helium tank he picked up for party balloons - it was a high pressure tank from a welding store, but he did tell them it was just for balloons.

Wish I had some helium, I'd try some blended just for fun

Edit: I just saw that balloon time helium is now going to be mixed up to 20% air due to the shortage.

Another great video! John.

MinnesotaDave wrote:mixed up to 20% air due to the shortage.

This is going to be one of those YMMV things- I've read conflicting notions, one that balloon grade is mixed, another that balloon grade (meaning not certified) from the LWS is pure helium that has not been tested for purity. Good to know that party time is a mix. It'll come down to asking the LWS "is this pure helium, or a blend."

Artie F. Emm wrote:

MinnesotaDave wrote:mixed up to 20% air due to the shortage.

This is going to be one of those YMMV things- I've read conflicting notions, one that balloon grade is mixed, another that balloon grade (meaning not certified) from the LWS is pure helium that has not been tested for purity. Good to know that party time is a mix. It'll come down to asking the LWS "is this pure helium, or a blend."

Sunds about right - this is what party time said about it:

Jody, how about a follow up using one of them new-fangled inverters like a 200DX?

You know, Pointed electrodes, higher frequencies, maybe some AC pulse.
Might be interesting to see what effect the helium has on all them built in goodies?

Jody,

Just watched Part 2 of the He mix video. Brilliantly done. Seeing the etched joint along with the arc at the same time certainly helps to clarify things.

Years ago, I taught myself how to stick and MIG weld. Now, I've ordered a TIG machine and I'll be learning how to TIG weld. But this time, I'll have the advantage of the Jody Collier University of Welding videos. Thanks for all you do.

ldb

Do you think there will ever be an end to the Helium shortage? We are talking about an aliment the universally in high abundance throughout the cosmos.

winky wrote:Do you think there will ever be an end to the Helium shortage? We are talking about an aliment the universally in high abundance throughout the cosmos.

Not while it's making the Suppliers $$$$.
http://www.nature.com/news/united-state ... ve-1.13819

No shortage of Helium in my shop.

If the bottles we need to send for recertification aren't empty, we dump them to atmosphere.

In the (very) rare case we're short on Helium, we send someone to the source, and get it for free.

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:No shortage of Helium in my shop.

If the bottles we need to send for recertification aren't empty, we dump them to atmosphere.

In the (very) rare case we're short on Helium, we send someone to the source, and get it for free.

Steve S

Gonna drive my 24' trailer down to you and let you fill it full of helium bottles. That should last me and a few others a lifetime.

I currently have zero experience using helium or helium argon blends.

I've done it once. I had to weld 1/4" X 2" 6061 angle to 3/8" 6061 plate at an overhead 45*, the transition between F3 and F4, and even with 310A could not get a solid clean tack with the poor fit-up. So I put together a mixer to estimate 50-50, and the difference was significant. I finished every weld on that project with 50-50, as I already had it set up, and enjoyed it immensely. Lap-welds on 1/8" looked like a machine did them.

I do wish my work allowed me to weld more aluminum, both because I enjoy it and because I'd like to experiment more.

Steve S

Because of this video, and a few of his others, I am finally getting a bottle of He to play around with on GTAW. I have always wanted to see the difference in using He but my only experience with it is mixes for GMAW. Should be rather fun I think. I am workin on setting up the corner of my garage with a table dedicated to testing. I get asked quite often about different specs and tests so I thought is was about time to pull the trigger and get my little section set up.

One of the things I want to do with my helium is DC Tig Alum as I have very limited experience with the DC alum an what I do have is limited to thin gauge anyway. I have some 1/4" plate I want I play with and hopefully get some thicker members as well. I look forward to the rest of this little series!
-Jonathan

Sure i would never have a use for helium but its tempting but, afraid to ask lws what tank of it would run me. prolly one of those things if I did I would take a 10yr lease on 300 series tank and maybe get it filled once so cant say I see it happening. heck got 10 yrs leases on argon think I should have got 20yr leases instead.

There's no industry standards set for balloon Helium, but in the same token when renting a cylinder of Helium from your local cylinder fill they don't ask what it's used for, so they would give you pure.

Len