Welding Gas

[jeffncs]

Preparing to weld my cage together in a week or 2 and am looking into welding gas. I'm 90% certain that I'm going to use .030 solid steel wire with 75% / 25% (AR / CO2). Thoughts on this combination for a clean, structural weld?

What should I be prepared to spend for a cylinder of this gas around Pennsylvania? Looking to rent the cylinder, not buy, most likely.

Jeff

 

[Cavalry]

75/25 is fine as well as 92/8 or any other popular argon ratio. Depending on the size of your cylinder you may be limited to argon ratios and mixes. dont sweat the ratios so much just concentrate on a clean weld with good penetration. My small 55cf cylinder was around $125 my 125cf around $150

personally I almost always use .035 wire as a GP wire. But that depends on your machines capibilites. .030 will be fine in a smaller welder

 

[1owner66]

I would go with a higher argon mixture like 86/14 or 90/10. Welds come out cleaner with better penetration. These mixtures run "hotter" and you can spray arc better. Your machine may have a chart on it showing what settings to use and if you compare them with different sizes of wire and different mixtures of gas you can see what I mean.

 

[Ohio Bronco 21]

What kind of welder,brand etc are you using. It doesnt really matter the above listed mixtures will be fine, just wanted to know. I purchased a small tank ready to go with a 90/10 mix for about $120, I own the cylinder and can have it filled for cheap if i ever run out. Im in ohio, so prices will be close in PA

 

[jeffncs]

I'm running a Miller 135. Up until now, I've been using flux-core, but don't want to deal with the splatter from that with the cage.

The solid wire / gas will also come handy w/ my body work. I'll be able to dial it down to use less heat, resulting in less warpage.

JN

 

[Flash69]

I have a 135. I use .030 and .035 wire,75/25 gas. Works great.

 

[daj]

Make shure your work is clean, migs don't like anything but clean metal and they don't like wind. You can also use splatter block.

 

[daj]

Make shure your work is clean, migs don't like anything but clean metal and they don't like wind. You can also use splatter block. It comes in a spray can

 

[mag409]

I have been using stargon, which is an Argon/Co2/O2 blend. The addition of oxygen burns hotter and I seem to get good flow and penetration at the toes of the weld. My suggestion would be to bite the bullet and buy the largest cylinder budget will aloow. Once you use solid wire and gas shielding I would be willing to bet you won't want to go back to fluxcore. Just my .02 cents.

 

[jeffncs]

I called a local supply house to get some quotes. Not bad at all. The cylinder (159cf) rental costs $6/month plus a hazardous gas fee. The fill (trimix) will be $26. Basicly, I'll walk out the door with a full tank for under $40. Of course, I'm also going to buy solid wire.

I'm pretty happy with the price.

Thanks for all the advice.
Jeff