Hobbyweld gas

[dangerous doug]

Anyone on here using hobbyweld gas?

Both my BOC bottles are empty and I don't really want to keep paying the BOC prices that Comes with them So I'm looking at going elsewhere.

 

it says on the hobbyweld website bottles are £60. I assume this is just a deposit and the gas isn't in that price. so can anyone tell me how much it costs for the gas in that bottle?

[mickeyw]

Correct.

I've been using their argon co2 mix for MIG for some years now. You pay a deposit on a bottle, then a price for the gas/refill. It's no different to how you get propane bottles really.

They have distribution point around the country, but you can order online and state which outlet you want to collect from, or they will deliver for a price.

http://www.adamsgas.co.uk/product-category/hobby-welding-gas/

[dangerous doug]

Thanks for the reply, it is definatly cheaper than BOC, I can get 2 bottles of argon from hobby weld for the price of one from BOC!

[secondjeremy]

Check the gas pressure.  Someone tried to sell Hobby Weld gas to me but couldn't give me a figure for the pressure in the bottle.  When I checked I found it was much less - possibly about 1/2.

BOC have their own scheme - https://www.ryvalgas.co.uk/

which seems good value.  Obviously run by British managers as the smallest reel of MIG wire on offer is 15KG - which I'd have thought won't fit most of their potential customers welders.

 

[mickeyw]

38 minutes ago, secondjeremy said:

Check the gas pressure.  Someone tried to sell Hobby Weld gas to me but couldn't give me a figure for the pressure in the bottle.  When I checked I found it was much less - possibly about 1/2.

BOC have their own scheme - https://www.ryvalgas.co.uk/

which seems good value.  Obviously run by British managers as the smallest reel of MIG wire on offer is 15KG - which I'd have thought won't fit most of their potential customers welders.

 

That's interesting Jeremy. I wasn't aware BOC were making an effort in this direction. Are they a recent arrival?

The Hobbyweld bottles are 137 bar, which as you say, is about half the Ryval pressures.

What was killing me pricewise was the bottle rental when a BOC size Y bottle was lasting me 2-3 years!

To begin with Ryval looks like a better deal, until you take the delivery cost into account. I can't see an option to collect from a local depot, which I can for my local Hobbyweld outlet.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

I have given up on BOC and am going over to rental. I have just bought an outright 30 litres at 300 bar which is 1/3 more than BOC bottle £90 outright aqnd $80 for contents from SPA welding in lancing, they do hobbyweeld too and albee all renatl free.

 

They have BOC bottles being handed in literally daily now !

N

[dangerous doug]

SPA Are a bit far for me nige. That is a good deal though! I diddnt even think of the bottle pressure so this is another thing to think of. I don't weld every day so I'm not sure it will effect me too much

[landroversforever]

I use Albee as they've got a couple of places near me, one only 15mins from work. 

The Albee cylinders are 11L @ 200Bar and 13L @ 300Bar for the larger one. Can't remember what my bottle price was, but the gas is about £60 a fill on the 11L.

Also worth bearing in mind that the Albee ones come with a regulator attached to the bottle, not sure how many others do. BOC argon ones at work do.

[dangerous doug]

Right just been to a hobby weld distributor and the bottle deposit of the size I want is nearly £200 plus £60 for the gas and with it being a lower pressure it doesn't work out that much less. 

[landroversforever]

Albee have a distributor in Waterbeach if that's any use? http://www.albeegascylinders.com/suppliers.php

 

[muddy]

I've just bought an Albee, 13l 300bar.

 

285+vat IIRC. I like the idea of a new reg every time as it travels around a lot.

[Cynic-al]

I have hobbyweld, BOC universal is the best gas I've ever used but it just got too expensive for the amount I use.

Hobby weld are lower pressure so you get less gas but they still last me 2 years. I think deposit is £60 (you get £50 back if you surrender the bottle I think) and a refill is £35. They do argoshield in 5% and 15 %. I think BOC universal is 11%. I think the 5% would probably do you upto 6mm. The 15% just blows through on bodywork but really digs in so is great if your doing thick stuff with a small welder. No reason why you can't use the 5% and dig out for thicker stuff though I guess... or have a bottle of each.

 Theres one called adams gas too but I've never used them.

[MuddyWinny]

Have you looked at Elmdale Welding?

You pay for the right to use the bottle for 10 years and then refills. Worked out the cheapest for me.

As already said above also look at the pressure in the bottle. Some suppliers are much lower.

[retropower]

I use Gas Direct and just rent bottles. Rent for their large (full size) bottles is £4.50 a month, a fill of argoshield is £15 for a full size bottle and they charge £10 delivery for as many bottles as you need. Oxygen is £9 a bottle and pure argon for tig is £20 a bottle. They seem to fill to around 250 bar

[Maverik]

I go Hobbyweld, I've got a distributer very close so suits me to be able to get a refill whenever I need it, bottle are smallish so not difficult to store and TBH if you're hobby welding then it will last a good while, I did a good 4 weeks of constant welding 6-10hrs per day and I went through 2 bottles. If you're doing more than that I'd argue it wasn't a hobby, so bigger bottles should be needed.

Personally I'd be very wary of using supplied regulators, something that's potentially controlling a explosion in a bottle I like to know what the history is, with using own regulators I have peace of mind, gives a bit more consistency with welding set-up etc too.

[UdderlyOffroad]

I've found the Hobbyweld bottles are either not very full to begin with, or the bluddy things leak.  It's seems mine are constantly empty, and I haven't done much welding recently.  I always turn the bottle off too.

I might give BOC /Ryval a go, especially as I just started a job which doesn't offer flexitime, so getting to the welding factors in work hours is now a challenge, albeit the £19.50 delivery charge stings a little.

[Bilbo9000]

Was looking at Hobbyweld recently, but decided to go with Southwest Gas Supplies (sgsgases.co.uk). They are available through a number of motor factors in my area and kept in stock so shouldn't be a problem if I'm in a hurry when it runs out. A 10 litre bottle of 5% CO2/Argon mix was £70.00 for the bottle and £38.76 for the gas. As far as I know they are also filled to a slightly higher pressure than the Hobbyweld bottles, 200 bar opposed to 137 bar.

Edited August 28, 2017 by Bilbo9000

[landroversforever]

On 30/07/2017 at 8:55 AM, Maverik said:

I go Hobbyweld, I've got a distributer very close so suits me to be able to get a refill whenever I need it, bottle are smallish so not difficult to store and TBH if you're hobby welding then it will last a good while, I did a good 4 weeks of constant welding 6-10hrs per day and I went through 2 bottles. If you're doing more than that I'd argue it wasn't a hobby, so bigger bottles should be needed.

Personally I'd be very wary of using supplied regulators, something that's potentially controlling a explosion in a bottle I like to know what the history is, with using own regulators I have peace of mind, gives a bit more consistency with welding set-up etc too.

I'm personally far happier with a regulator that's being maintained and inspected every fill. I think all BOC welding gas comes with a built in regualator now. It also worries me with the potential dangers of having the bottles around unsecured etc. I'd be willing to be most people don't handle or store bottles correctly or have had any kind of training in the use of compressed gasses.

On 30/07/2017 at 11:10 AM, UdderlyOffroad said:

I've found the Hobbyweld bottles are either not very full to begin with, or the bluddy things leak.  It's seems mine are constantly empty, and I haven't done much welding recently.  I always turn the bottle off too.

I might give BOC /Ryval a go, especially as I just started a job which doesn't offer flexitime, so getting to the welding factors in work hours is now a challenge, albeit the £19.50 delivery charge stings a little.

Hobby weld bottles are only 130something Bar from memory rather than the 200/300bar for Albee.

[discomikey]

I think this subject is very much down to what suits you..

 

I don't use enough to warrant a rental bottle of argoshield from Engweld or somewhere similar, I run a Hobbyweld bottle which comes filled to the 150bar not 300 bar, i would jump straight to Albee or similar but the fact that my local supplier will deliver and collect bottles for free and works on a monthly account so i can actually have an extra bottle and as long as it is returned before the month is up, i only pay the gas, as the deposit is taken and then recredited before i get the bill.

 

So the gas itself is far from economical but when i need gas i get it same day, just from a phone call while i'm still at work, so when i arrive home that evening im ready to go. 

 

I'm toying with the idea of purchasing my own AC/DC pulse TIG as I have recently started at work, Gas usage is much higher on this so I may have to conisder moving to rental bottles to make this more economical.