Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all, got a 180 amp mig welder, but the 'pub' type Co2 gas bottle i've got doesnt produce very good welds compared to a proper argon/Co2 mix, which you need an account with the supplier to get hold of, not worth the expense for the small amount of welding i do, wondered if its worth trying the small disposable cannisters of Co2/argon mix they sell at machine mart, will they work with a full size MIG set up, or are they more aimed at the small hobby type welder sets?? obviously i'd need the regulator to fit it too, anyone used this stuff to do thin mild steel bodywork? whenever i used the argon mix stuff in the past it seemed to produce much better welds than when using just C02.

cant see why they wouldnt work..........so long as you have the pressure then it should be fine...i foun that argon mix stuff far better

i have a 150A mig jobby! not pro by any means, but most of the stuff i have welded has come out well, it can use either the large bottles or the small ones, i use the small ones at the mo, but i belive you can get large bottles at unipart places and quite cheap from my last enquiry!

Yes ,,,,Argoshield gases are easy to use with minimal spatter to produce good surface appearance and finish. This range can obtain fast travel speeds resulting in minimal distortion, good penetration (Oh er Mrs) and fusion with flat weld profiles.

In a nut shell Co2 does the job but gives a poor finish, so use the above where ever possible.

Regards

Fritz,,,,,

thanks alot for the replies, will try it this weekend, the bigger unipart bottles sound worth checking out.

I have been using CO2 since I gave up my BOC Argonshield bottle a couple of years back. I dont really notice any difference. It crackles a little more and maybe just maybe the surface finish isnt quite so smooth. But Argonshield is mostly CO2 anyway. You need the Co2 to get it to burn in, without it it wont penitrate so well.

Argoshield or Argon/CO2 mix will give you better results IMO but, for DIY you probably wouldn't notice the difference.
You can get an Argon/CO2 mix in the small disposable bottles.

There are three types of Argoshield:-

Light - Generally for sheet metal, ducting, and light fabrication work under 4mm, probably the one you would use.
Universal.
Heavy.

Have a look at the link below, it compares CO2 to Argon/CO2 mix.
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/welding-gas.htm

When I started welding I was told that the argoshield mix is heavyier than the c02 and performs much better outdoors where there is a breeze that can blow the shield gas away and cause unsightly oxidation.

I too like harryman have a welder in the shed which I have not used for years. It's the difference of being a rust free syncro owner now, and a bay window owner then, doing all the welding on sunny Saturdays.

I am considering breaking out the welder soon, as I have some cunning plans for the inside of the van that may envolve welding, but not until I have built the syncro shed.

simon

i thought you could get "gasless" wire nowadays for the hobbyist who can't be bothered with the gas?

great link, thanks Mininuts, heard of the gasless wire, but haven't heard wether it's good or not.

wasserleaker wrote:great link, thanks Mininuts, heard of the gasless wire, but haven't heard wether it's good or not.

Your welcome
Gasless wire is ok for the odd tack and small weld here and there but, if your doing quite a bit and you want the weld to be half decent I'd stick with gas sheilding.
Your set is a 180 amp you say? You should get a nice, quality weld with those amps available. Are you using 0.6 or 0.8 wire?

0.6 or 0.8 is a bit of a sore point! got both wire sizes but the roller which drives the wire cant be turned round to use the 0.6 groove cos it's seized on or loctited, broke an allen key trying to undo it, tried plusgas pen. oil, heat, still no good, so it's looking like 0.8!

Oh dear
0.8 will be fine although you might find at times that there is maybe too much wire when you have to drop your amps especially if you want to do any downhand vertical welds.

argon/Co2 mix,

Hobby bottles fine, either Argon/CO2 mix or CO2 only, I sometimes have weird 'bright arc' problems with the Argon mix, never with CO2 (Mininuts, any ideas on that?)

Pub cO2 gas supposedly isn't pure, has air in it, thus nitrogen..., but a lot use it succesfullly

Suggest soemthing else is wrong with the welder setup, torch or technique...

Really must learn to do downhand verticals properly, but having enough trouble with my forehand upswing spirals, esp. with helium shielding

HarryMann wrote:I sometimes have weird 'bright arc' problems with the Argon mix, never with CO2 (Mininuts, any ideas on that?)

Not quite sure what you mean there.

You did have glass in your screen did you?