Scuba tanks for welding gasses?
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That is the reality of it. Buy once, swap forever. I have acetylene, oxygen, and argon tanks that I bought. A quick check of them shows almost half are out of hydro. I'll drop the empties off without a second thought and drive home (technically not legal) with full ones. "Buying" a tank from a tank farm means that you pay a reasonable up-front cost so that you don't have to watch the calendar on returning it, and when you do return it you just pay for the contents. You can't beat that deal.
The first rule of hobby welding is that you figure out how your supplier operates, open a cash account, and do your best to fit into the flow.
You will become tied to your supplier so start out on the right foot. I shied away from the huge suppliers as they probably don't have time for you. Not always true, it has a lot to do with the local distributor. I'm sharing who I deal with just so you have something to compare your options to: http://www.keengas.com
Start by buying your welder from your local distributor. There are cheaper ways to get started, but they turn out to be far more expensive over time.
Best of luck! Have fun, anything you want to know is a vid online...
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
...or you could skip the gasses and just learn to stick weld or use flux core.
Just sayin.
Just sayin.
OP
I've watched a few. I'm trying not to watch anymore before this class as I have no idea what's the guy might be doing that's not right.
My buddy who welds a bit switches between the two. He's got a nice miller bobcat 250 but I've only ever seen him stick weld with it. The one time I welded something with him (we built a trailer for an atv) we used stick. I'm not going to be buying a big miller... I decided since I'm taking a class, I'd go ahead and learn mig based on my reading about welding. Tig seems far more complicated for only a little improvement in results as far as I can tell.
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I just bought a Miller 211 Autoset. I’m MIGging aluminum but it also wirefeeds flux core and stainless wire just fine.
They are about a grand on the secondary market. I got mine in the Habitat for Humanity resale store in Sarasota. Came with cart, welding blanket, roll of flux core, roll of stainless wire, no one had ever even unpacked the regulator.
OP
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The first civilian dive manual LA Co Underwater Recreation by the late Bev Morgan published in 1954 cautioned about converting and using acetylene tanks for lung diving (aka SCUBA =lung)
At that juncture in dive history we were trotting over to Palleys, Aeromotive or Paramount surplus and purchasing WW 11 surplus high pressure tanks; 38s, 60s and the big 90s Cuft. installing a WW 11 m medical valve and presto ! a diving tank was born.
Welding must be very therapeutic -- My wife who is the poster girl for a professional lady was the president of the local community college and needed a deviation from the norm. It was discovered in a welding class. She enrolled just to learn about welding - 2 years later she earned an AA in welding- and converting SCUBA tanks to an acceptable item of home décor ( as witnessed by @Akimbo & @Scuba Lawyer)
Good luck in your welding class- It is addictive per my wife
SDM
At that juncture in dive history we were trotting over to Palleys, Aeromotive or Paramount surplus and purchasing WW 11 surplus high pressure tanks; 38s, 60s and the big 90s Cuft. installing a WW 11 m medical valve and presto ! a diving tank was born.
Welding must be very therapeutic -- My wife who is the poster girl for a professional lady was the president of the local community college and needed a deviation from the norm. It was discovered in a welding class. She enrolled just to learn about welding - 2 years later she earned an AA in welding- and converting SCUBA tanks to an acceptable item of home décor ( as witnessed by @Akimbo & @Scuba Lawyer)
Good luck in your welding class- It is addictive per my wife
SDM
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
I went to welding school in 1982 down south at Cuesta College. We were training to go to work at Diablo nuclear power plant but that gig never happened. We trained in 6010 for pipe and 6011 (AC version), and a lot of 7018 LH (low hydrogen) structural high strength.
I was already working in body shops and it was all MIG with some oxycetalene gas welding still.
MIG is the easiest to learn for sure, but MIG is not considered structural. It was developed for sheet metal. The polarity is wrong for deep penetration, a MIG weld mounds up and sits on top with minimal penetration.
Flux core (wire feed) is just about as easy as MIG and is considered structural because the polarity is opposite from MIG. It’s good for welding outdoors because you don’t have to worry about the gas being blown away by the wind. The flux core provides shielding gas and creates a bit of slag but it comes right off. I really like it. It’s similar to something like 6011 stick but a lot easier because you just pull the trigger and get your travel speed down.
TIG is the most precise welding and extremely clean, but time consuming. You can pretty much do anything you want with TIG. You have total control over every aspect but there is a learning curve with manipulation. TIG allows you to weld steel, stainless, aluminum (on AC), bronze, and other stuff. If you’ve ever heard the term “dropping dimes” that would be TIG.
I’ve been doing a lot of aluminum stick welding lately building some huge monument sign cabinets for another sign shop. Interesting stuff.
I have every welding process in my shop, except for dual shield.
Have a great time in your welding class!
OP
When you say "flux core" is that stick welding or is that the gasless mig stuff or something else?
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
Flux core is a flux filled wire that you use in your MIG machine but doesn’t require any gas. But you have remember to switch the polarity on your machine to use it or won’t work, it just balls up and makes a mess.
On my Lincoln machine I open the side door and there are two wires that I switch with wing nuts. Some machines might have a switch now?
You might have to change the tip to the appropriate wire size. They also make a special tapered nozzle that closes down around the tip to keep spatter out since you don’t need an opening for gas.
On my Lincoln machine I open the side door and there are two wires that I switch with wing nuts. Some machines might have a switch now?
You might have to change the tip to the appropriate wire size. They also make a special tapered nozzle that closes down around the tip to keep spatter out since you don’t need an opening for gas.
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