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22nd April 2012, 10:11 AM #1
Is there an alternative to renting an argon gas cylinder?
I do mostly stick welding to repair agricultural equipment on our farm, but have a MIG welder also using flux cored wire
I'm wanting to occasionally use plain wire with argon gas sheild, but won't really do enough to justify renting a cylinder constantly
Is it possible to purchase a cylinder and regs, and just pay to get it filled when it's empty?
That way, once the initial purchase is made, it won't cost me unless I'm using it
I live in Melbourne
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22nd April 2012, 10:19 AM #2Retired
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- Aug 2008
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- Liverpool, NSW
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Try Speedgas, they sell argon cylinders. They are Sydney based but they may have agents in Melbourne.
Speed Gas - Home
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22nd April 2012, 11:12 AM #3SENIOR MEMBER
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If you're wanting straight argon for some special application (aluminium?) then you don't have a lot of choice. However if you just want a shielding gas for normal MIG welding of mild steel, you can buy a 6KG CO2 bottle of Ebay - I paid $250 last year and the gas it came with lasted me about 6-7 months of intermittent use on a farm. Also had to cough up about $80 for a CO2 regulator/flow meter. I got it refilled at the local home brew shop for $70.
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22nd April 2012, 11:31 AM #4
Is CO2 OK for MIG? I thought argon was recommended. I only weld steel at this stage. (I guess this question is a whole topic by itself on the forum, and has probably already been answered a hundred times!)
Great idea with the home brew shop. Do they sell cylinders as well?
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22nd April 2012, 12:42 PM #5Retired
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- Aug 2008
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- Liverpool, NSW
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For steel you need argon/CO2 mix. Speedgas sell this as "SpeedShield 5/2".
Or you can hire bottles from BOC, Air Liquide, Supagas, etc.
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22nd April 2012, 01:56 PM #6SENIOR MEMBER
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- Jun 2010
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- Canberra
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"MIG Gas" is traditionally an argon/CO2 mix, but CO2 only works fine - it's a fiercer arc and not as good for very thin sections like car panels, but for stuff which is 1mm or thicker it works very well.
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22nd April 2012, 08:37 PM #7Intermediate Member
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- Jan 2011
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- geelong
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- 24
you could try miter 10 or All Tools they sell small bottles of various gasses but they are one use only i don't think you can refill them.but for occasional use it might be the way to go
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22nd April 2012, 08:53 PM #8SENIOR MEMBER
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- Canberra
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1st May 2012, 11:52 PM #9Intermediate Member
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- Feb 2009
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- canberra
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I just thought People might be interested,
I discovered that Gasweld sell the disposable SIP bottles for $25.90 each. that's about $15 less than I have seen them for anywhere else!
https://www.gasweld.com.au/products/580053
That's the URL to their web store for straight argon (i want it to try out tig welding), but I bought two of them in store, and they were the same price!
its still more expensive than the big bottles I think, but its a damn site cheaper than anywhere else.
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2nd May 2012, 12:26 AM #10
From the rather fuzzy label picture it looks like the cylinder volume is 950 cc and gas volume at atmospheric pressure 60 L
Any idea how long that would last in a MIG welder?
I still like the idea of the CO2 home brew cylinders
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2nd May 2012, 12:48 AM #11Intermediate Member
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- Feb 2009
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- canberra
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- 31
The co2 is probably a good way to go, you'll probably get a lot more run time from that.
I think the little bottles can last about an hour tigging (haven't tested it myself yet) . Not sure if mig uses similar flow rate or anything, you might get better run times, as the gas only flows when you are welding.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
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2nd May 2012, 08:17 AM #12GOLD MEMBER
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2nd May 2012, 03:09 PM #13Intermediate Member
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- Feb 2009
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- canberra
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yea, I can officially say that those bottles don't last long at all.
I had a play with the tig this morning, and the first bottle lasted about 20 minutes. Thats more than a dollar a minute!
I thought I'd save the 2nd bottle for another day. I might try to stretch it out a little longer next time.
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2nd May 2012, 11:18 PM #14Retired
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- Aug 2008
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- Liverpool, NSW
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- 50
Karl Robbers is 100% correct. Approx 6-8 minutes worth of MIGGING in one of those disposables. I've tried them and it makes no economical sense at all to use those.
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2nd May 2012, 11:25 PM #15Intermediate Member
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- Feb 2009
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- canberra
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- 31
I find its crazy they even try selling the tanks. I guess enough people buy them for stores to keep selling them.
Its a nice idea, they just need to be a lot bigger for the same price to be worth it if you ask me.