rorik

New to tig welding, just bought an argon tank for about $290, ($50 fill included), and it has already dropped in pressure on the guage, after not much over an hour of use. It started out at 2000psi, not it's down to 1800. The tank is about 5 feet tall. My flow is around 20, whatever the number stands for I don't remember, but supposedly that's about right. Does that mean the tank will be empty after only 10-15 hours? That would be completely insane.

Can I use CO2, or some mixture, for tig welding stainless instead of argon? What about aluminum? I have a much smaller CO2 tank for my mig welder and it lasts forever. I can go paintballing with the damn thing and Still get more than 10 hours out of it. I'm guessing the difference is that CO2 is stored as a liquid whereas argon is stored as a highly compressed gas?
I've received several different opinions on what gas can be used with tig process, but they were all from people who I could tell didn't really know/lacked actual experience. One guy told me that argon is a colder gas than CO2, but I experience the exact opposite with my mig welder. I prefer co2 for the mig welder, because although it takes away from the ability to weld thick metals, it makes it easier to not burn through on things like exhaust tubing. The lack of necessary power won't be an issue with the tig unit though, it is considerably more powerful than my mig welder.
Thanks for any info,
Rorik

k24em2

Argon and Helium.

No CO2 for anything.

suicide_shift

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by k24em2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Argon and Helium.

No CO2 for anything.</TD></TR></TABLE>

rorik

The guys at the welding shop were asking if I wanted a mixture of co2 and argon..
What is the ratio of argon to helium in the tank? Is that better than straight argon?
I've been practicing on mild steel exhaust tubing, and I'm getting rather annoyed that my welds keep ending up porous. I tried turning the gas flow up, (considerably) didn't help. I checked all the connections, even put the tig gas hose under water to check for leaks, nothing. I don't get it. I could easily mig the same tubing perfectly..ugghh..

k24em2

You don't any CO2. Period.

You will only use helium when you are DCEN welding aluminum.

For everything else, use pure argon. And if you are getting porosity you need to clean everything better.

MidwestAutoWorks

Is that the same for mig?

Ive been using Stargon

dave@passenger

You need to sand the scale off the O.D. AND I.D. of steel exhaust tubing if you want good welds without porosity.

Oh and 10-15hrs is a lot for those tanks, the reason you think your mig bottle lasts longer is due to the less time you spend completing welds. Mig welding is about 5 times faster than tig, so when you are tig welding you are spending a lot more time with the gas on than mig. Mig actually uses more gas cause you usually run mig at about 25-30 cfh, where tig (especially with a gas lense) you can run 14-20cfh.

rorik

yeah..and that argon isn't stored as a liquid..

k24em2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MidwestAutoWorks &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is that the same for mig?

Ive been using Stargon</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, there are a ton of different GMAW gasses for different applications.

ManBearPig4silly

just use argon for tig welding.

You will have better luck with c25 on your mig welder for what you are doing.

rorik

[QUOTE=dave@passenger]You need to sand the scale off the O.D. AND I.D. of steel exhaust tubing if you want good welds without porosity.QUOTE]

I was wondering about that, I was wondering about everything, even the hf being messed up somehow contributing to it..then I read, "The filler rods used for tig welding may look exactly like those used for gas welding, but they aren't. The tig rods for steel welding have deoxidizers added, and if you use a gas welding rod, you can make a bead but the weld will exhibit porosity".

I want to strangle those pickle buffers at the welding shop. I asked them specifically what to use. I don't understand how these shops don't know anything around here. I used to work at a food processing plant not too far from there, and it was almost entirely built by tig welding stainless. $100M plant and no one in the area knows how to tig weld or anything about the supplies needed?