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bowleggid
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    Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:25 pm
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    Grand Junction, CO

I'm told that the welding suppliers in Colorado (Denver - North) sell "industrial" grade helium, which is also balloon grade, at 99.5% He. Is this pure enough for use with aluminum?? -- I installed a Y on my Square Wave & am "sneaking a little in" like Roy & Jody do -- floating the ball -- adding a small amount to Argon to get the enhancing effects of He.
I've only used UHP Helium so far - & I love what it does for welding aluminum - but it appears to be much more difficult to find. What is the minimum acceptable percentage of helium purity for welding aluminum in this manner -- or if I wanted to use only He as a shielding gas (no Ar) -- what's the minimum purity?
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    Mon Feb 09, 2015 4:48 pm
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I would just get the industrial grade He and you will probably find that you will want to mix Argon with it, pure Helium is much harder to establish a arc than say a 50-50 mix. I have a smith mixer and usually set mine from 25-he to 75-Ar or 30-he to 70-Ar. My local welding supply contact told me that the only difference between UHP and industrial grade Helium is they have to verify the contents and purity of UHP because of the fact that it is also used in the medical field.

Pete
Pete



Esab SVI 300, Mig 4HD wire feeder, 30A spool gun, Miller Passport, Dynasty 300 DX, Coolmate 4, Spectrum 2050, C&K Cold Wire feeder WF-3, Black Gold Tungsten Sharperner, Prime Weld 225
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cptjackm
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    Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:46 pm
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Thanks for that HE link, very helpful.
Jack
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    Thu Dec 26, 2013 12:41 am
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Yea, I was about to say, 99.5% would be pretty low indeed for industrial. I had always read 99.995% is industrial, which is 50ppm impurities.
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