Anderzander Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I'm a learner welder - and have been using a Clarke MIG and CO2. My question is : If I switched to an Argon mix - what would the actual differences ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Better welds !... And you want argosheuld light NOT argon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 Is that better welds as in cleaner ? Better penetration ? Stronger ? Or is that all just different ways of saying the same thing ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 all of the above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I was led to believe co2 welds had more penetration but argon was more superior in every other way? Either way the results are normally negligible penetration wise I'd go for a co2/argon mix as suggested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco-Ron Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I have found that 15% argon and 85co2 works best for me. .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I'm no welder but from my experience if you go for something like the hobby weld you will see they offer different co2 %. You will find the higher co2 the deeper it penitrates but it will be too hot for bodywork etc. The best I've ever used was boc universal, it seemed to improve my welding no end on all thicknesses they just got too greedy for my pocket Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
De Ranged Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 No penetration doesn't improve ... without going into the reasons why you will get less arc wander due to the argon content, this means you should be able run less voltage and have less splatter and control the pool better... so you should be able to lay a better bead As for a difference... I liken it to the difference between flux core and CO2 Oh and don't be tempted to run pure argon lol this is a bit specialized, it narrows the arc stream even more and requires slightly different technique to weld with... used by alot of automated welding bots so they can increase the speed of the welding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Idris Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 If you are welding old metal I doubt you'll tell the difference? I'm mig with pure argon, because of the tig set I bought. It's a very different game compared to work, which is brand new sheets of metal. Tony can lay down mig welds that look as good as they possibly ever could! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 Can I add a 'bottle' question I was going to go for the 'hobby weld' - none rent supplies - but I've been given an old BOC argoshield bottle......is there a change anywhere might fill up the old bottle ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymorris Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Try some of your local steel fabricators , small firms will be the best , they'll probably change a bottle for cash . The only problem might be that boc bottles are bar coded (I've read it somewhere ????) I change air products bottles for a couple of people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 I can confirm BOC bottles are now bar coded, so swapping is no longer possible as the bar code is linked to the person who got it from them. The little '£20 bottles' from them is all now unless you go with Air Products. Les Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddy Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Yes BOC are now coded, if you can find someone with a few bottles on rent that hasn't sent all their coded ones back yet you can swap yours for one of theirs, you can even have a full coded one the only issue is once they send yours in and BOC realise they have an extra bottle they aren't paying rent for. we have moved to rent free I think air products at home with no noticeable difference in weldability ( plenty of landrover welding and bits of fabrication up to 15mm with 210 amp mig) Will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
De Ranged Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 If you know someone in trade there is a good chance they have a transfer hose, you can't buy these lol they have to be specially machined up.... as they are made so they disable the non-return valve in the valve stem You can get them to full your bottle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 Thanks everyone .... I think I might go the hobby weld route and just get BOC to take the old one back. If not now - then the next time there would probably be only coded ones about and it will in effect just be taking up workshop space. Really helpful info here though thank you - Ooo one last question - what kind of flow would you set the Agoshield to ? I was using 10 - 14 lpm at the shroud with CO2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 I tend to leave mine at 14 but in the garage 8 would be ok. Somewhere I have a boc recommended settings guide I will try find it and scan it.... The hobby weld ones last me about a year, the boc ones used to last about 2. On hobby weld that's a £60 refundable deposit and 2 exchanges at I think £35 a go. On boc that's 2 years rental at about £85 a year and one fill up at about £30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 That would be great please Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Albee gas is good. The large one in have I'd pressurised to the same as the boc Y bottle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Ooo - I'd not heard of Albee, and they have a stockist near me. I'll check their prices out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 OK so it's a spinny roundy thing that I took apart and scanned, if you print it out, cut out the window, put one over the other and rivet in the middle it will make more sense, but if you can't be bothered to do that each figure is as follows; Material type Material thickness Recommended BOC gas Welding wire diameter Welding travel speed (mm/min) Welding current (amps) Welding volts Wire feed speed (m/min) Gas flow (l/min) Welding position Edge preparation (sorry I don't have a reference for the last 2 attributes) https://www.dropbox.com/s/upssnzx9gfhbxvf/MIG.pdf?dl=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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