OT - Mig welders - how long should a bottle last?

I've been playing around with my new Lincoln 175HD mig welder, and I ran out of gas awfully quickly. I have one of those little bottles - about 15 inches tall - and it seems that it is gone already.

I set it up according to my instructions - 25-30 cu ft per hour - and I guess I drained it in about that much time. Should I set it back some? Or should I leave it at that?

I guess for any kind of real welding, I need to get a larger bottle, right?

 

I had to go to a larger bottle...Are you using CO2 or Argon???

 

Save the small bottle for when you run out on the weekend

 

turn your reg down, i usually run mine around 15. but i would buy a bigger bottle also....

 

yeah i have the same problem too wasnt sure if it was a leak or not, but im on my third bottle since i started chopping my top

 

Make sure when you open the valve on your tank to use your welder, you open the valve the whole way, those valves will leak through the stem if it isn't open the whole way. No sense wasting gas while you're fitting things up.

 

u have the gas to high 15 is cool for most stuff. somtimes you can go lower .If your welding on heavy steel or frames get some fluxcore wire and a chipping hammer and wire brush saves money and it stronger.

 

get the bigger bottle... I run the @ 42" ish tall bottle and it lasts longer than a spool of wire. get gas and wire at the same time works ok. last longer (time wise)than the BIG bottles on the tig

 

how much it usually cost u guys to fill a bottle, it costs me 20 bucks and its not the tall bottle either

 

The little tanks are only 20 cubic feet, they don't hold much. Turn down your pressure, if you don't have a lot of air movement through your shop, you can get by with the pressure set @ 15psi. The only time I turn mine up above that is when I am welding outside, then I only go to 20 psi.

A 130 cf tank is about 4' high and will last a lot longer for about 2x the money the 20 cf tank runs. I run one of the big tanks on my welder, a 380 cf, and if I do a lot of welding I will go through that tank in a month. Also, be sure you shut off your tanks when not in use, welding gas tends to disappear when the valve is left open over night. Gene

 

last bottle was $23 for the MED 42" ish(75/25) and $36 for the big one(argon)

 

what last longer usually the spool of wire or the gas?

 

This is my first real experience running a mig. It makes sense to turn the volume up when the wind is moving the gas around. I'll turn it down when I get it refilled.

I'm running the 75/25 mix, and was really pleased with the way it was working. I really noticed the gas was gone when I started burning holes.

I'll get this bottle filled and keep it as the spare - thats a great idea. It ran me $27 and change to fill/swap it out the other day. I'll see what a big (or bigger) bottle will run me and probably have to shell out the $$$ to just get it done.

As I said, I'm really pleased with how this is all working. When I burned through and created a hole or three - lol - I just dialed the amperage down, slowed the wire speed down a bit, and then just chased the edges of the hole in a circle until it was closed. What I really like about the mig is that many of the welds don't have to be touched up with the grinder or anything like that. Just hit them with a wire brush and then spray paint over them. That is the real reason I've been wanting a mig - cleaner looking welds.

 

My bottles were lasting just a week or two till it remembered to TURN THE FARGIN VALVES OFF when I was done welding...LOL...


DOhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

 

Try using co2, it lasts MUCH longer and works fine.

 

They never last long enough, and you always somehow end up with a little more welding to do, and all empty bottles . . . . and I have about 5 tall bottles!
wil
www.sakowskimotors.com

 

I don't know much about the sheilding g***es, but its been suggested to me that the 75/25 mix is good for just about everything. I'm mostly welding on mild steel - probably nothing thicker than 1/4 inch combined thickness - so I'm learning what will work best for me.

Anyone else for suggesting straight co2? Is it just as good? More expensive/less expensive?

I'd like to have this be somewhat on the economy issue, but also don't want to skimp on the quality. I'm a novice welder - I'll admit it - but I was decent with a stick welder. I moved to the mig because everything looks nicer, and it seems to be much easier to run a bead.

I'm always open to suggestions.

Also... when I checked my gauges and noticed that my bottle was flat empty, is it normal to have condensation around the line? At least I figure it was condensation. It was wet and had no smell to it at all. Just enough there to get my palm and fingers wet, but not all drippy - if that makes sense.

 

I bought the bigger bottle and run at 15 - 17 depending on the breeze, inside or outside.

 

I paid $34.00 last week for the blend and big bottle.

 

CO 2 is a bunch cheaper than mix BUT you have to use a CO 2 regulator as the mix one will freeze up and kill it's self. Do to the cooling effect of CO 2 you get a hotter/more penatrating weld. But if you plan on a lot of sheet metal welding stay with the mix as it will work better. You save a fair bit on bigger bottles as the time/labor to fill one is the same as a small one.

 

you have a leak , and turn the bottle off when not using it, turn the gas down as much as you can, to much gas just wastes it, and make sure there are no fans or wind blowing in the shop it can blow away the gas making you use more, i can go a lot of welding with a 15" bottle and if you do a lot of higher amp welding with a 110volt machine you can overheat the transfomer it does not hurt it but gives a lousey weld like you do not have enough gas

 

Try flux core wire. No gas needed.

 

I'm using the same regulator and never had any issues, argon mix is probably a little better for sheet metal, but I really don't see that much difference, co2 lasts way longer though and is much cheaper in the long run.

 

Big bottles are called "T" cylinders in the welding trade

 

Just an addtional note, just as the cost of gas is less in the big bottles, wire gets a lot cheaper in the larger rolls, too. just don't buy so much that it will rust on you.