Welding Tips and Tricks

While welding some steel, I was having problems with contamination. I used the the bubble test and found a leak fore and aft of the main nut that connects with the argon tank. I had snugged the nut down tight. The argon tank is fairly new, but I'm not sure if it is the tank or the flow meter. I found a decent flow meter on the internet and considered ordering one for a backup if it didn't solve the problem. But does anyone have any suggestions on how to tell if it is the tank, or the flow meter?

Who owns the cylinder?


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You can usually see visibly which is at fault - if it's the regulator you can normally dress it a bit - if it's old & battered & due for retirement then do so - if nothing else is wrong a bit of time dressing will work even if you have to unscrew the neck & mount it in a chuck & spin it against some fine abrasive - if it's the cylinder then ask the gas supplier about changing it - if they won't then consider spreading some valve grinding paste on the mating surfaces & gently lap the regulator to the bottles valve seat.

The surfaces like fine, no visible problems on either. Thanks for the direction, I'll try getting a new flow meter first.

It maybe worth a new regulator - where traditionally they seat metal to metal on the cylinder the new ones mostly come with a small O ring in a groove so will tolerate mild blemishes on the seats & don't need tightening up so much - makes sense as similar pressures are used for BA & scuba & they have sealed using O rings for years.