Argon gas cylinder

[drcoastline]

I know the answer to this question varies, however in general how long does a 20 cu. ft. Argon gas cylinder last? Will it last long enough to install a set of SC flares, 3 rust patches about 2"x2"?

Lastly, does it have a shelf life?

[wildcat077]

Not sure how big a 20 cu ft bottle is but i have a 30 inch 75/25 mix bottle and i'm good for more than one year and that includes more welding than flares and a couple patches.
As far as shelf life goes,there is a 10 year shelf life on the bottle but not on the gas as far as i know ...

Cheers !
Phil

[boyt911sc]

Originally Posted by drcoastline

I know the answer to this question varies, however in general how long does a 20 cu. ft. Argon gas cylinder last? Will it last long enough to install a set of SC flares, 3 rust patches about 2"x2"?

Lastly, does it have a shelf life?

dr,

I have a similar size argon tank for my MIG welder. I believe it would be sufficient for your need. For your second question, argon is an inert gas. It is stable and non-reactive to most common elements. It is very stable and unreactive. You could store it almost forever as long as the tank is completely sealed. HTH.

Tony

[drcoastline]

Wildcat- the Harbor freight cylinder is 5-1/4"x15". So a little smaller then what you have.

Tony- Nice meeting you this weekend. Ill be in touch when I hear about the CIS.

Thanks for the info Ill go with the 20. Sounds like it will do what I need and be easily stored.

[MBruns]

An 80 CF bottle is about the size of a SCUBA tank is about 4 hrs. mig time, for steel mig the 75/25 mix is better
Mike Bruns

[drcoastline]

Thanks for answering the question I was about to ask Mike. I read somewhere that75/25 was the best mix. Thanks for confirming.

Any idea about what I should expect to pay for the mix?

[MBruns]

On my owner bottles my argon for the 125 and the 80 is 30. to 40., the 75/25 about the same, shop around there is a difference, and not all places have the small bottles to exchange, I have 2 of the 80's just in case, seems that when you are in the middle of the project its out.
Mike

[Jack Olsen]

First, you probably have the wrong gas -- unless your body panels are aluminum or you're welding TIG. Assuming you're patching the car with a MIG welder, you want 75/25 or possibly 100% CO2, but not 100% Argon.

With MIG, you're generally running gas at 12-20 cf per hour.

[wildcat077]

Dr,

You should consider buying your own bottle if you own a mig welder.They're good for 10 years and you could usually negociate the first refill for free.
I bought a 30 inch bottle which is barely higher than my welder and in the long run it comes out cheaper than renting one ...

Phil

[drcoastline]

Thanks for the help.

I got a 60 Cu. ft. for $130.00 and I own the cylinder. Figured that was the way to go considering. a 20 Cu. ft. cylinder was $85.00. So three times as much $45.00 more. Refills are $30.00.

Thanks again for the info and help.

[Brett San diego]

Shorter than I had hoped. I just started welding about a month ago with a 20 cu ft. tank. I ran the gas w/o welding a bit to flush the system and did some practice beads. Then I tackled my first project, some brackets out of angle iron:



Not showing pics to show off my welding prowess. That's for sure. Just to show you the total length of the beads that I got out of my 20 cu ft tank, if you can mentally add it up.

Next project is a metal bench/welding table. Here's the frame. Essentially 4 1.5 in welds everywhere the tubing meets.



Anyway last weekend, I was ready to finish it with welding on the top plate, and my tank died part way through the job. So that's all a 20 cu ft. tank got me. The gas supply shop was closed, too. So I was done for the weekend. Very annoying. The solution is to have two tanks, at least a small second one for reserve. I debated whether to get a bigger main tank but stuck with 2 20 cu ft. tanks. Doubtful I'll ever go through 2 of those in one weekend.

If you have a regulator with gauges, I guess you'll know when your tank is low, but it may still be a good idea to have a small reserve tank. My welder is just a small Lincoln MIG unit that came with a pre-set gauge-less regulator.

Good luck. I'm having a blast as a beginning welder.

Brett

edit: LOL I was typing as you posted you got the 60 cu ft. tank. It is more cost effective for refills. I think it was only $5 more for a fill of the 60 cu ft tank over the 20 cu ft tank at my local gas supplier. For now, I just don't know how much welding I'm going to be doing, so I went with the smaller one. Enjoy.

[1990C4S]

The most important thing is to shut the bottle valve after each use.

[calling911]

Originally Posted by Jack Olsen

First, you probably have the wrong gas -- unless your body panels are aluminum or you're welding TIG. Assuming you're patching the car with a MIG welder, you want 75/25 or possibly 100% CO2, but not 100% Argon.

With MIG, you're generally running gas at 12-20 cf per hour.

Yep.