looking to get a 40cf bottle. or around the same size.



i prefer it to be filled. let me know...

 

dont you have a praxair near you. thats where i get my tanks , the first one is expencive but after that its cheap to fill. or you can check out any implements dealer they should have tanks to buy as well but the price will be a few dollars more. and if not check your local machine shop and ask them where they get there tanks from.





randy

 

one last time, a bit of advice more like. get the big tanks for argon cause the **** goes fast when you tig or even ss wire weld. a smaller bottle lasted me an hour when i was last tiging

 

we used to rent one anually, was cheap too.



I gave it back because we never used it.



i bet you can do the same

 

wheres praxiar? im not a business...so would they deliver to me? i know a few places that come to refill tanks for shops. but im a regular guy in my garage...

 

I bought a tank from a company called Arcet. Not sure what states they do business in. You can rent the tank too, and it's probably cheaper, but they want to do a credit check and all that. I've got good credit, but I don't like giving my soc. number and all that **** to every tom, dick and harry I do business with. Just check the yellow pages for welding supplies and find out who sells gas in your area. You can either rent or buy the bottle. Refills are pretty cheap.



Deliver to you? How much welding are you doing? A big bottle should last a pretty good while. I just went and picked it up.

 

A 90 cf bottle will only last ~4 hours of welding. Thats what Ive had for a long time, and its too small. Next bottle I get Im upgrading to a 160. Remember that the smaller the bottle, the more likely you are to run out in the middle of a project at a bad time. Like a friday evening of a 3 day weekend, for instance(its happened to me).



If you dont use a lot of gas, buy a bottle, dont lease. Just look in the yellow pages for "welding supply" and pick one. Go there, and ask to buy a bottle. Dont let them talk you into leasing, you will spend more in a year leasing a bottle than to buy one outright. You just exchange it everytime its empty. My 160 cf bottle was around $300 for the bottle, and about another $40 for the gas. The 90 was $250 and $35.







The tall one is the 160 cf (brown for argon) and the other one is the 90 cf (purple for 75%Argon/25% CO2) which Im trading in on a 160 when this one is empty.



BTW, you only want to use 100% argon for aluminum. For mild and chromoly steel, you want to use 75% argon/25% CO2. The CO2 keeps the carbon content in the weld high to give it proper strength. If you are doing Stainless, you want a trimix of 90% helium/7.5% argon/2.5% CO2 for best results. I use the 75/25 mix, but its hard to get a good looking bead, and I dont do much stainless.

 

i dont do to much welding. just mainly for my own projects and freinds here and there.



and i definitly want to buy a bottle. leaseing or renting just isnt for me.



what about this one?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A:IT&ih=013

 

Personally, I would not order a gas bottle. You will have to get it filled locally when you need, so you might as well locate and establish a relationship with a local welding supply. They can be very helpful for giving you advice if you dont know exactly what you need as well.

 

I agree. Buy a cylinder from the company that will refill it. The bottle has a certification for a certain number of years, and once it expires, you will need to have it replaced or recertified ($$). If you buy the bottle from a local company, when you need a refill, they will exchange it for a full one with a current certification. That way, your certification will never expire.



Also I believe C25 (75% Argon, 25% CO2) is best for general-purpose mig welding on mild steel.