Scuba tanks for welding gasses?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

kelemvor

Big Fleshy Monster
ScubaBoard Supporter
Messages
7,661
Reaction score
4,707
Location
Largo, FL USA
# of dives
200 - 499
I'm picking up welding as a hobby. Taking MIG classes starting later this month. Do you guys know if the gas station will have any problem replacing the valve and filling a lp steel scuba tank with 95% Argon + 5% Co2?

I've got far more scuba tanks than I actually need, including some lp108's... I was thinking of re-purposing them.

If I do this, can I take it to a dive shop for cleaning and return it to nitrox (pp blends/100%o2 cleaning needed for me) or does the use of argon/co2 preclude any further use in scuba.
 
they won't be able to change the valve unless it's NPT thread. The threading used in scuba is very different than welding threads. Likely cheaper to just buy a bottle through the supplier. When you "buy" a bottle, you actually end up exchanging them back with the gas supplier when you get it refilled, but you pay a one-time rental fee of whatever the bottle value is.
Changing gas doesn't matter to what the bottle is filled with, they don't care.
 
Thanks! Too bad, welding stuff is kind of expensive and I was hoping to save a little cashola. I hate renting stuff, so hopefully i can find a tank of my own.
 
I don’t know what size welder you’re practicing on, but I have no fewer than 6 125 cft argon or other shield gas cylinders, and a ton of 300 cft O2 cylinders, all out of hydro. Not that they would be handy for you, but they shouldn’t be too tough for you to source locally.
 
Or, it might be handy for you, as I do t live that far away...
 
Find a sharp machinist and have an adapter made to fit the tank. Threads are easy for one "in the know".
 
Thanks! Too bad, welding stuff is kind of expensive and I was hoping to save a little cashola. I hate renting stuff, so hopefully i can find a tank of my own.
You may be able to buy the tank you need especially if it is marked for a supplier that is no longer in business. The remove the ring and you are good to go. I recently got an O2 tank like that.
 
Thanks! Too bad, welding stuff is kind of expensive and I was hoping to save a little cashola. I hate renting stuff, so hopefully i can find a tank of my own.

the big T bottles are usually around $300 for a "customer owned bottle" if you buy it from the gas suppliers. Not that much money, especially compared to scuba tanks. By the time you deal with getting the valve swapped out even if they made them in scuba threads, it wouldn't be worth the effort
 
Buying gasses at a welding shop is a bit different than getting scuba tanks filled.
The typical transaction at a welding shop consists of dropping off an empty cylinder at the tank farm, walk into the shop or meet the salesperson on the floor. Make the transaction. Back to the tank farm and they hand you a completely different cylinder that you load and take away. Out of hydo means nothing. They go through so many cylinders that a hydro is just a regular thing. The cylinder you drop off may be a much newer hydro than what you pick up, or the other way around. No real way to track it. I have dropped off cylinders that were 10 years out of hydro, no questions asked. It is also possible to change sizes. While not cut and dry it generally goes that you pay the difference between sizes plus the fill.

As for making an adaptor, don't. That cylinder at a welding shop will not be one of the regular ones. They will take a second look at it and hand it back to you. They know there cylinders off the back of there hand really well. They won't want it, neither will anyone else.

Sell the scuba tanks, take case and buy welding tanks. That is how to take care of this.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom