Don't buy a bottle.

If it's yours, you are responsible for recertifying it regularly.

If it's "leased" from a supplier, the gas is cheaper, you never have to worry about certifications, and you're not waiting for a fill. Just bring in your empty, and they'll hand you a full one.


Steve

Hello back to New York. Just so you know in advance, bottle are certified for either five or 10 years, and an expired bottle must be recertified before it is refilled. When you get a bottle through a gas supplier, you don't actually own "that" bottle. You own the knowledge you'll never hav...

6013 is a general purpose mild steel rod designed and fluxed for AC "crackerboxes", and is often called "farmer rod" for its frequent use in agricultural repair. I've experimented with it (don't ask why... I was bored) and it does perform much better on AC. Perhaps for similar re...

Steve, I have a tip (from experience; I use it daily at work) for conserving that expensive helium. Lose the 1/4" compressed air line. A helium atom is the smallest thing in nature outside of a laboratory or the core of a star, smaller than a hydrogen molecule, and will leak out of damn near an...

LOL, cheezy,

I almost busted a plate test a few years ago. That's when I discovered I needed glasses!

It makes a hell of a difference when you can see what you're doing!

Steve

We like to call ourselves craftsmen, so we are usually our own worst critics.

The vast majority of our welding is 75A or less. It's the amount of extreme flexing that kill our torches

jpence38 is correct, it will not harm your machine. I caution you, however, not to rely on these gasless welds to support any weight or bear any stress from the wind, etc. If in doubt, conceal a proper weld on the back side of the piece (or wherever appropriate). Do not trust these "textures&qu...

The aesthetics will depend on the inspector.

If there is a bend test involved, you should be using er80 rod, if they won't let you use a chrome-moly alloy. er80 comes closer to the tensile strength of the parent metal.

edit:
p.s. I only noticed after I posted that this message was ancient.

I always push 3&4g, and 3&4f positions. If you drag 4g, the heat builds up at the back of the puddle after a few inches and either drips out or leaves a bigass grape.

If you like to "walk the cup", you'll love those big cups. Much smaller wrist action for the distance traveled.

Sandblasting is probably your BEST option for this, and Admin is right, silica sand is the right choice. Any residue left by plain 'ol silica sand will float to the top like slag in a stick weld. For structural welds where I work, this is often the only prep we do, unless the material rusts heavily ...

Wobulate, I'm not so sure. I use a water-cooled flex head at work every day, rated at 250A. It's smaller than my personal 150A dry rig, and will fit into tighter places. I suspect the airflow required to equal the cooling capacity at 100% duty cycle would be excessive. On the other hand, compressed ...

Man, I was griping about 1/2" X .045 ss socket welds! What the heck are you working on?

Steve

I think you've taken the right path. Simply put, electricity is MUCH cheaper than Helium. I often weld Al to 1/4 inch with 100% argon at work, but I have the benefit of "unlimited" electricity (460/3phase). At the current price of helium, it's cheaper to upgrade your panel.

Steve

This could be a great idea for a water-cooled flex-head torch. I burn through a lot of these. An air-cooled flex-head will get hot enough to anneal the copper in the head. A water-cooled torch never gets that hot, so the copper "work hardens" when you flex it, and fails. (Anyone with an ai...

Thanks, torn7th,

I'm looking forward to what I might learn (or share). This trade has always seemed to depend on people helping each other along the way.

Steve

I'm a self-taught welder who has been making a living at it for 20+ years, and was thrilled to discover this website. Much of what I've learned along the way came from looking over another welder's shoulder (I still do that). This site explains what's happening better than most of the people I've wa...