Welding Tips and Tricks

Bought a welder that has a tig function. I want to learn to tig weld and was wondering about the size of tank for practice. Will a 9L(15lbs) 1986.5 PSI (pure argon)cylinder be enough gas for practicing?
TIA

Sent from my campfire using smoke signals

I use 125 C.F tanks, if you want to try it out, you can rent it from your LWS, they charge like $0.15 a day or something like that, so you would pay about $50 (where I am) for the gas and then they charge you the rental fee every day and when you empty it, you swap it with a new bottle.

I don't know what size that translates to in the US but it sounds small. You need lots of argon when you first start out otherwise you are running to the LWS all the time. Can you rent one from your LWS? I don't know how it works in Ireland.

http://www.wholesaleweldingsupplies.ie/ ... th=406_517
That's the 3 diffrent sizes I can get "Rent Free" There is a deposit on your first bottle that you get back if you do not want the cylinder anymore.

exnailpounder wrote:Can you rent one from your LWS? I don't know how it works in Ireland.

There are a company called BOC that supply any gas you want but they are expencive. You pay a yearly fee to be a member and than you pay a monthly rental for every gas cylinder + refill.

Ratsathome wrote:

exnailpounder wrote:Can you rent one from your LWS? I don't know how it works in Ireland.

There are a company called BOC that supply any gas you want but they are expencive. You pay a yearly fee to be a member and than you pay a monthly rental for every gas cylinder + refill.

Over here we can rent ,lease or own bottles. I own a couple smaller bottles,and I lease a 330cf. The lease is 7 years for $240 USD and if I bring it back before the lease is up, they pro-rate and return whatever is left of my money. Probably no savings but just another bill I don' have to pay every month if I rented. In all seriousness, get the biggest bottle you can because you are likely to get hooked on Tig and there is a learning curve to get proficient so you're gonna go through some gas and small bottles seem like they are always empty. Get the biggest you can afford. Others will be along to tell you the same thing. Best of luck on your Tig endevours and let us know how it goes.

Rats -


Unless you are only practising once every month, go big. I started out with a 'D' size bottle (1.7 cubic metre, around 60 cubic feet) and got through it in less than a month.

If you are going to practise quite regularly, I'd recommend at least 6 cubic metres/210 cubic feet. Tig gets through Argon very quickly, especially when you are running beads and learning.

Kym

Wow, I guess I need a bigger bottle, I fabricate all kinds of stuff as well as repair stuff but I just keep 2 bottles of 125 C.F and when one is down, I get it swapped.

Maybe I should get bigger ones....

I'm running a 125cf and a 250cf that I got a lucky deal on, or I'd likely only have a pair of 125cf tanks.

As the others have said, learning TIG is a fast way to use Argon.

Olivero wrote:Wow, I guess I need a bigger bottle, I fabricate all kinds of stuff as well as repair stuff but I just keep 2 bottles of 125 C.F and when one is down, I get it swapped.

Maybe I should get bigger ones....

Oliver, At any shop I've worked it was always the 300CF "T" size...why not?

LtBadd wrote:

Olivero wrote:Wow, I guess I need a bigger bottle, I fabricate all kinds of stuff as well as repair stuff but I just keep 2 bottles of 125 C.F and when one is down, I get it swapped.

Maybe I should get bigger ones....

Oliver, At any shop I've worked it was always the 300CF "T" size...why not?

Argon Tank.jpg

T size is 300cf and you can get an endorsement for a 10% overfill....lots of gas!

I'm running a 10.2 cubic metre bottle which over here is a 'G' size, equates to 360cf.

It's not what you might call 'handy and portable' but apart from that, I finally feel as though I really have enough Argon to keep me going for awhile!



Kym