The Welding Thread

[mrsleeve]

cant really input much on hoods, other than to say my pancake will last me life time more than likely.... Not bulky, not hot and cumbersome to wear, I love it. Best of all a welder friend of mine got it for me, as a thanks for helping him fix his truck on our only day off in 2 and a half months.

[marshallnoise]

I called a LWS and priced out a 125cuft cylinder filled with Argon for $248 after tax. After that it is $38 a refill. Sound about right?

[red2.4srt]

I called a LWS and priced out a 125cuft cylinder filled with Argon for $248 after tax. After that it is $38 a refill. Sound about right?

That seems about right for the sale, $38 is pretty cheap for a 125 Argon around my area, so good deal on that!

We don't even sell anything above an 80cf cylinder and that sells at $199 filled.

[marshallnoise]

Cool beans. I will check Praxair or whatever they are called on the way to work. The guy at the small shop I got the price above from was way nicer than the Yelp reviews said. I just told him outright that I am a hobbyist and that I will never be a big customer. He seemed understanding of that.

[IronFreak]

cant really input much on hoods, other than to say my pancake will last me life time more than likely.... Not bulky, not hot and cumbersome to wear, I love it. Best of all a welder friend of mine got it for me, as a thanks for helping him fix his truck on our only day off in 2 and a half months.

Never had the pleasure of using a pancake. welding in a shop with people on either side it wasn't really an option unless you were looking for some flashburn.

I called a LWS and priced out a 125cuft cylinder filled with Argon for $248 after tax. After that it is $38 a refill. Sound about right?

Look on CL for estate sales and actions at farms or industrial businesses. I picked up a 125 and a 300 tank for $250 at one. Test date was shot so I had to pay that fee ($10 a bottle here in Omaha). Good way to get into some big tanks for less money.

[marshallnoise]

My only fear is that I would be buying an already leased tank and as I understand it, then I would be throwing money away. Local prices aren't very good right now either.

[IronFreak]

Well that would be a concern if it had a barcode sticker on it. That how the companies around here track leasing now. if it does.....pull the sticker off. Than there is no way to identify the tank.

[marshallnoise]

Well that would be a concern if it had a barcode sticker on it. That how the companies around here track leasing now. if it does.....pull the sticker off. Than there is no way to identify the tank.

They don't stamp the neck of the bottles anymore?

I called Praxair and they are much more expensive than the other place I called. I will call Airgas and give them a shot too.

[IronFreak]

They don't stamp the neck of the bottles anymore?

I called Praxair and they are much more expensive than the other place I called. I will call Airgas and give them a shot too.

Unless they have changed things drastically all that stamp indicates is the test date of the bottle. It has nothing to do with the leasing of it. Our local suppliers started to put bar code stickers on your bottle so it ties you too it. Red2.4srt can probably clarify but the number indicates the date tested, so in 5 years it needs to be retested, unless it has a + next to it which gives it 10 years. I could be wrong on the duration's but it's something along those lines.

[flyboyx]

everyone freaks out about leased bottles. if you can get your hands on one cheap, just take it in to the gas store whose name is on it and have it refilled. i bet i have 8 or 10 bottles of various size, ownership and age. i have NEVER had a problem getting one refilled. even if i have an owner bottle, it always gets traded out with an "airgas" bottle when i take it back to the store. i have never worried about it and no one has ever given me the slightest bother. some old farmer gave me a 240cf cylinder once. it was pretty rusty from sitting around outside for years. the last inspection date i could find was 1927. the earliest was around 1911. i paid the fee for inspection(i think it was around 15 bucks) and it came back with a new stamp saying it was good for 5 more years and a new coat of paint. what i am saying is that i don't think they fail very often.

also, acetylene cylinders are a different animal, but the high pressure cylinders are all the same except for the valve. lets say you get a cylinder with the wrong valve, you can usually just trade it out at the gas store for the one you need.

one more note: i started out with 60 or 80 cf cylinders that came from craigslist or ebay. at any rate they were really cheap i thought they were a little small. every time i took the cylinders back to be filled, they allowed me to trade up one size. they never charged me more money for the cylincer but only for the extra volume of gas. i now have 2 160cf(maybe 120) filled with c25 for the mig and 2 160's filled with argon for the tig.

it is really nice to have a spare bottle laying around so that when you are in the middle of a project, you don't have to stop what you are doing to get a refill.

[mrsleeve]

Never had the pleasure of using a pancake. welding in a shop with people on either side it wasn't really an option unless you were looking for some flashburn.

.

I dont really see how you can get flash burn form a good pancake. There is a wooden frame/box on the inside that you sand and tailor to fit your face around your eyes,

like this

[flyboyx]

I dont really see how you can get flash burn form a good pancake. There is a wooden frame/box on the inside that you sand and tailor to fit your face around your eyes,

like this

its all in what you get used to i guess, but i don't think i would be able to get used to that. i have an older auto dimming hood. every now and then i buy a new clear lens cover for it and put a new aaa battery in the holder. i have the friction set so i can just give my head a quick nod downward and it lowers itself into position perfectly so i can start welding without disturbing my position.

i think the mask above is really cool, but i couldn't imagine getting it in place and then attempting to get yourself back in position while trying to tig something.

[marshallnoise]

So this guy is selling two 300 tanks for $100 bucks. If I don't want a 300 but want a 150 or so, I should be able to trade this in, right?

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/bfs/4944756674.html

Edit: The guy said it has West Air stamped on the ring.

[red2.4srt]

They don't stamp the neck of the bottles anymore?

I called Praxair and they are much more expensive than the other place I called. I will call Airgas and give them a shot too.

Airgas most likely won't sell you anything above an 80cf cylinder, although sometimes managers can make exceptions. Hopefully they can for you, but i'm not sure the price will beat the one you already received.

Unless they have changed things drastically all that stamp indicates is the test date of the bottle. It has nothing to do with the leasing of it. Our local suppliers started to put bar code stickers on your bottle so it ties you too it. Red2.4srt can probably clarify but the number indicates the date tested, so in 5 years it needs to be retested, unless it has a + next to it which gives it 10 years. I could be wrong on the duration's but it's something along those lines.

You're exactly right, test dates will show as 11 14+*, the first number being the month and the second being the year. There should be a grouping of 4 letters/numbers arranged in a square between the month and year which designate the testing facility. The + means it can be 10% overfilled and the * would signify a 10 year retest. If it doesn't have a *, it's considered a 5 year retest only.

[red2.4srt]

everyone freaks out about leased bottles. if you can get your hands on one cheap, just take it in to the gas store whose name is on it and have it refilled. i bet i have 8 or 10 bottles of various size, ownership and age. i have NEVER had a problem getting one refilled. even if i have an owner bottle, it always gets traded out with an "airgas" bottle when i take it back to the store. i have never worried about it and no one has ever given me the slightest bother. some old farmer gave me a 240cf cylinder once. it was pretty rusty from sitting around outside for years. the last inspection date i could find was 1927. the earliest was around 1911. i paid the fee for inspection(i think it was around 15 bucks) and it came back with a new stamp saying it was good for 5 more years and a new coat of paint. what i am saying is that i don't think they fail very often.

also, acetylene cylinders are a different animal, but the high pressure cylinders are all the same except for the valve. lets say you get a cylinder with the wrong valve, you can usually just trade it out at the gas store for the one you need.

one more note: i started out with 60 or 80 cf cylinders that came from craigslist or ebay. at any rate they were really cheap i thought they were a little small. every time i took the cylinders back to be filled, they allowed me to trade up one size. they never charged me more money for the cylincer but only for the extra volume of gas. i now have 2 160cf(maybe 120) filled with c25 for the mig and 2 160's filled with argon for the tig.

it is really nice to have a spare bottle laying around so that when you are in the middle of a project, you don't have to stop what you are doing to get a refill.

That's a great idea as well, most places wont take competitor cylinders as they could be potential lease/rental cylinders and they rightfully can't refill them since they aren't their property. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I see plenty of Prax cylinders with our fill labels on them and vice versa.

I generally try to get my customers to swap their customer owned cylinders to keep them from paying any test fees. They still own that asset, but only pay for the fill and they'll never have to worry about retesting since they're getting circulated cylinders everytime.

They do rarely fail but boy do they raise some hell when they do. We had the bottom of a 60cf AR/CD mix fail at 1600psi while filling and it knocked the other 27 cylinders down it was filling next to, put a 3 foot wide hole in a metal deck roof and finally landed 75 yards into the next property, buried valve down and a foot deep in the ground. Single loudest noise i've ever heard in my 28 years on earth.

So this guy is selling two 300 tanks for $100 bucks. If I don't want a 300 but want a 150 or so, I should be able to trade this in, right?

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/bfs/4944756674.html

Edit: The guy said it has West Air stamped on the ring.

That's certainly a viable option and it's a damn good price too!