tig welder gas setting

[sk1dlet]

hey guys i recently brought a cheapish tig welder to do a bit of fabricating
trouble is i seem to go though a bit of gas, im only using disposeable bottles at the moment through a mini regulator that only has a pressure gauge on it
roughly what psi should i be running it at? or am i better off bitting the bullet and buying a proper bottle and regulator?

[Bling]

The small cylinders are certainly a lot more expensive to run than a bigger cylinder. But check you don't have leaks on anything. I have never used a small cylinder so can't comment on how many minutes welding you'd get. But you should be able to work out a rough idea with the below calc.

Try this to work out gas pressure needed
http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/ca ... ulator.php

[evil_si]

You really need a proper reg, with lites per minute
Mild steel and stainless 2-4lpm
Alloy 4-8lpm

I know of a full G size (big) argon bottle for sale $300

[Stott69]

Don't you just rent bottles off BOC?

[evil_si]

Don't you just rent bottles off BOC?

Not if you can help it

[Bling]

I know of a full G size (big) argon bottle for sale $300

Damn that's cheap! Especially for an argon cylinder.

[sk1dlet]

oh ok cheers si how much do one of those bottles cost to fill?

[Adoom]

oh ok cheers si how much do one of those bottles cost to fill?

A D size argoshield is $90 to fill at BOC.

[cat007]

I have an account with Supagas and get my bottles through Ezitools on the shore - each bottle is about $16 a month - regardless of size....although I've only ever had D and F sizes.....perhaps G sizes are more....

I found the D size ran out very quickly.

[Stu-]

Cheap bottle man!
BOC are expensive for rentals but their roll up and swap the bottle idea is very handy (we have 8+ g size argon bottles). I use Supagas for the home setup but have had some major frustration with delays in bottle filling (they have to go to Hamilton).

[Adoom]

I have an account with Supagas and get my bottles through Ezitools on the shore - each bottle is about $16 a month - regardless of size....although I've only ever had D and F sizes.....perhaps G sizes are more....

I found the D size ran out very quickly.

I pay about $15 a month for each D bottle. The guy at boc said it was roughly an extra $1 for each size you go up.
But a G bottle is HUUUGE. PITA when you want to move the welder.

[sk1dlet]

Well renting doesn't seem like a to be a bad of a option,there's a local engineering place that is a supagas outlet here in te aroha I may have to see what there prices are? And weather it's roll in and swap or if they fill them