What size shielding gas tank to get for welding

fried_daddy said:

I was able to grab a shielding gas bottle today. Got it from a gas company in Winston-Salem. http://arc3gases.com/

They had a great price. Especially compared to tractor supply. I purchased the biggest tank they would allow you to purchase, which was a size 80 cylinder. They said that there are restrictions on letting people purchase tanks larger than 90cf and that they could only lease them. For anyone interested in price, it was $165 for the cylinder, filled with gas(75% Argon, 25% CO2). The guy I dealt with said that I should have 4.5 hours of active weld time on the tank that I got.

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Nice.
See, I would do something like that.
I need to look around here some more.
I wonder if my work supplier would give me a deal like that?


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KilgoreTrout said:

Nice.
See, I would do something like that.
I need to look around here some more.
I wonder if my work supplier would give me a deal like that?


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They may do it for you. You never know until you ask them!!

KilgoreTrout said:

Nice.
See, I would do something like that.
I need to look around here some more.
I wonder if my work supplier would give me a deal like that?


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Over here they do. The bottle on My 120 volt mig is about four foot tall, maybe some over, dont remember how much I paid for the filled bottle, cost here is about 70 bucks to exchange. Lasts me a couple or three years.

MrMarty51 said:

Over here they do. The bottle on My 120 volt mig is about four foot tall, maybe some over, dont remember how much I paid for the filled bottle, cost here is about 70 bucks to exchange. Lasts me a couple or three years.

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Yep, I'm going to check in to that. Sounds ideal for my little Hobart 140 mig.

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You can buy a 80 CF filled with 25/75 from cyberweld https://store.cyberweld.com/ for $250.05 (free shipping) delivered to your door

B111Y said:

You can buy a 80 CF filled with 25/75 from cyberweld https://store.cyberweld.com/ for $250.05 (free shipping) delivered to your door

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That's good to know if I don't feel like going to pick one up or for someone that doesn't have a local gas company they can buy one from. For price comparison, mines was $165 filled with 75/25 to buy locally.

Well I just got prices from a few places near me on a new 80cf tank.
$270, $260, $280.
Then I talked to one of my work suppliers who originally quoted $260 but said they'd discount me and do $180 filled w/taxes and everything included.

How are you guys getting such good prices?!

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I run straight co2 with my mig, runs a little hotter and not quite as clean of a weld. But it is super cheap and lasts forever. You must run shielding for almost all the other stuff, but regular steel is fine with straight co2. If your doing long and heavy welding a regular regulator can freeze up, but I've also swapped to a co2 reg that resists freezing. It runs me about $35 for 20 lbs of liquid co2 locally. A 20 lb co2 tank holds right at 175 cubic feet of co2.

Ended up getting a new tank today. $180 out the door and they threw in a pack of 35 tips I needed. That's ok.

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cyclic said:

I run straight co2 with my mig, runs a little hotter and not quite as clean of a weld. But it is super cheap and lasts forever. You must run shielding for almost all the other stuff, but regular steel is fine with straight co2. If your doing long and heavy welding a regular regulator can freeze up, but I've also swapped to a co2 reg that resists freezing. It runs me about $35 for 20 lbs of liquid co2 locally. A 20 lb co2 tank holds right at 175 cubic feet of co2.

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If you have the special regulator, you can run CO2 without it freezing all you want right? If I end up welding different materials, I may look into getting another regulator and tank to expand my skillset. For now, it's just me and the old 75/25 mix.

KilgoreTrout said:

Ended up getting a new tank today. $180 out the door and they threw in a pack of 35 tips I needed. That's ok.

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Not bad!!!! I went back to the supply house yesterday and picked up some .023, .030 and .035 tips along with all the different sizes of solid wire. Their prices and selection is better than Lowes or Home Depot. A pack of 25 contact tips ran me $17.99 and a 2 # spool of wire ran me $9.95.

I went out to the shop and laid down a few beads yesterday. It was my first time ever welding with Shielding gas. It takes a little getting used to, when you hear the hissing sound while you weld. Much cleaner welds than with a stick welder, and definitely much cleaner than flux core welding. I felt like I had more control over the weld with the gas. I still have tons of practice to do before I start welding on my truck. I have a couple of junk fenders I'm going to cut up and practice on for now.

fried_daddy said:

Not bad!!!! I went back to the supply house yesterday and picked up some .023, .030 and .035 tips along with all the different sizes of solid wire. Their prices and selection is better than Lowes or Home Depot. A pack of 25 contact tips ran me $17.99 and a 2 # spool of wire ran me $9.95.

I went out to the shop and laid down a few beads yesterday. It was my first time ever welding with Shielding gas. It takes a little getting used to, when you hear the hissing sound while you weld. Much cleaner welds than with a stick welder, and definitely much cleaner than flux core welding. I felt like I had more control over the weld with the gas. I still have tons of practice to do before I start welding on my truck. I have a couple of junk fenders I'm going to cut up and practice on for now.

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Awesome, man.
It's night and day different with gas when it comes to aesthetics, spatter, smoke, etc.
I'm really happy to have gas back again.


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KilgoreTrout said:

Awesome, man.
It's night and day different with gas when it comes to aesthetics, spatter, smoke, etc.
I'm really happy to have gas back again.


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I now need to develop the patience to weld one spot at a time until its done! I think that'll actually be the hardest part. I have scrap fenders but I would also love to have some flat strips to work on so I can see how much is enough to cause warpage in the metal. May swing by Lowes and get a small thin sheet to cut up for those tests. I want to make sure my technique is correct before I start burning on the red bottom. At the rate I'm going, I'll have plenty of time to get it right before I get to bodywork. Lol.

When I worked in the maintenance field I asked our gas delivery guy if they always had them chained upright because they could haul more or what? (I thought they'd be more stable laid down.) He said regulations mandated they be transported upright in the event of a collision, it prevented the valves being broken of which, effectively, creates a missile. Also, said the bottles can break a valve if they roll back and forth and get a little sideways. Said he a bottle once fell over, broke the valve off and went about a hundred feet and went right through a cinder block wall! Needless to say I had a new respect for those tanks after that!

trukman1 said:

When I worked in the maintenance field I asked our gas delivery guy if they always had them chained upright because they could haul more or what? (I thought they'd be more stable laid down.) He said regulations mandated they be transported upright in the event of a collision, it prevented the valves being broken of which, effectively, creates a missile. Also, said the bottles can break a valve if they roll back and forth and get a little sideways. Said he a bottle once fell over, broke the valve off and went about a hundred feet and went right through a cinder block wall! Needless to say I had a new respect for those tanks after that!

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That is alot of pressure in the tanks. Found this vid.