[Braehill]

Matt,

I'm not sure who the local gas supplier is in Gassaway, whether it'''s Valley National or Airgas or somebody else, but some suppliers offer a lease on their cylinders. My local supplier leases me a 330Cf Argon cylinder for $69 a year and all I pay is for is the gas when I exchange the cylinder, usually around $50-55 . I know Airgas charges a monthly rental and this adds up if you're not using it up in a timely fasion.

I personally would stay away from buying the 80cf bottles that most welding supply stores sell and having them filled while you wait. You'll end up posting here in the future with some mysterious condition of contamination that is caused by the moisture that's inherent to the way that they're filled. There has been plenty of post lately that all come back to this.

I'm the last guy that you want to take council from on Mig welding, my total experience with Mig could probably be measured with a yard stick. But as far as gas goes you are better off with mix of some sort that includes CO2 whether it be 75/25 or 95/5. I don't usually go against what Steve recomends, but I don't think straight CO2 would be good for old horse shoes, especially if you don't clean them up shiny, but I've been wrong before.

Len

[AKweldshop]

Matt,
are you considering using Tig or gas shielded bare wire Mig for welding "rusty" horseshoes?

[mcoe]

I was going to use the Mig for the horseshoes but we wanted a Tig for horseshoe nails. We made a few things out of nails with the Tig welder at school and now we aren't in a class that lets us play with someone else's toys so we were thinking about buying one to weld nails with and a few aluminum horseshoes that we get.

[AKweldshop]

With even light rust, "mig", will just be tons of porosity!!!!!
I'm not sure how rusty your "horseshoes" are, but I would grind the area where the weld is going clean. CLEAN
John

I was going to use the Mig for the horseshoes but we wanted a Tig for horseshoe nails. We made a few things out of nails with the Tig welder at school and now we aren't in a class that lets us play with someone else's toys so we were thinking about buying one to weld nails with and a few aluminum horseshoes that we get.

[AKweldshop]

But yes, for your Aluminum "stuff", a 185 amp AC Tig, "hint", will work good.
John

[mcoe]

We use a flap disk sander on our grinder and clean all joints even with flux core. Since we weld on the back of the piece, the front is still rusty and we know we are getting a good quality weld.

[AKweldshop]

Okay, yeah, keep it clean, and you can Mig or Tig it very nicely.
John

[mcoe]

Right now we are using flux core and I like it for dirty stuff or when we weld outside but we don't have heat in our shop so we need to keep the door shut all the time and the flux core puts out so much smoke that it gets hard to see in there. We have a vent fan to keep fresh air in there but the flux core smoke over powers it at times so we want gas especially for this time of year.

[AKweldshop]

Right now we are using flux core and I like it for dirty stuff or when we weld outside but we don't have heat in our shop so we need to keep the door shut all the time and the flux core puts out so much smoke that it gets hard to see in there. We have a vent fan to keep fresh air in there but the flux core smoke over powers it at times so we want gas especially for this time of year.

I know what you mean
I like Mig way better than Flux-Cored, for the same reason.
Like Otto says, Appropriate is what its all about....
John

[mcoe]

I think the stuff welds good especially on old rusty painted crappy metal but its hard to handle in a closed in or tight space.

[AKweldshop]

OK - I admit to never having used C25 as it's not available here - but logically CO2 is known to run hotter & provide more penetration when mig welding - so the BOC mixes ( which after checking I stand corrected by coldman's reply - thanks - I had'nt really checked on the exact mix since it changed name ) make more sense to the layman - 5% (ish ) for light gauge material as per the OP's question & 20% ( ish ) for regular fab shop type stuff - the % CO2 also effects the voltage at which spray transfer occurs a bit - have you ever thought of trying other mixes ? I know ChuckE2009 recently had 80 / 20 as his LWS was out of C25 - I don't think he's commented as to whether he's felt much difference - but maybe that little is not noticeable in general use.

OK, noddy, we're back on topic to how this thread was started....
Ok, the thing where co2 is really hot for penetration....
So, I am mistaken, 90/10 or 95/5 is really good for thinner metal....
I was talking to my guy down at the lws, and he was saying and, I knew this, but 90/10 is used for spray transfer.
He also said 90/10 works good with these little 115v migs for welding 18 ga or so.
Then he said a guy had brought in a 84cu ft of it half full and asked if i wanted to use it up?
Ok, so I brought it home and used some of it welding on some scrap sheet metal.
My apology, noddy, I could run nice little beads with no burn through, which 75/25 would've burned through.
So, Time wounds all heals
John

[coldman]

Right now we are using flux core and I like it for dirty stuff or when we weld outside but we don't have heat in our shop so we need to keep the door shut all the time and the flux core puts out so much smoke that it gets hard to see in there. We have a vent fan to keep fresh air in there but the flux core smoke over powers it at times so we want gas especially for this time of year.

Just in case you were not aware, flux core is the most toxic form of welding. The burned flux (and smoke) gives off many toxins and known carcinogens. If you are exposing yourself to any amount of this smoke (even outside) you are doing yourself serious harm. You must upgrade ventilation to keep smoke smoke away from you and/or invest in forced air supply to your shield when using flux core.
Flux core was developed to increase weld deposition rate (and hence profits). Operator health was not part of the development equation. Oh well, there's always another welder where he came from.

[mcoe]

I know that flux core is toxic that is why I was wanting to hook my welder up to gas so I don't have to deal with the stuff. I was also looking at getting a Tig and was asking if I could just get a bottle of Argon and run it on both welders. I can't stand using flux core all the time but can't afford the extra cost of hooking both welders to separate bottles.

[coldman]

Sorry if I came across as telling you how to suck eggs, I just didn't want to be silent where health was concerned - just in case.

By the way, Otto's idea of using or mixing CO2 is an excellent one both in terms of cost and outcomes.
Cheers.

[AKweldshop]

I know that flux core is toxic that is why I was wanting to hook my welder up to gas so I don't have to deal with the stuff. I was also looking at getting a Tig and was asking if I could just get a bottle of Argon and run it on both welders. I can't stand using flux core all the time but can't afford the extra cost of hooking both welders to separate bottles.

We all know Any form of welding is toxic!! no one will argue that point, am I correct?
Respirator man!!! common house fans work good for forcing fumes a certain direction.
I have a couple of nice Fume Extractors, I know not everybody can afford one, but, they live up to their name.
I always try and wear a respirator, even if its one of the cheep white nose pinching things.
It will pay off in your rocking chair. I know/have known a couple of old pipeliners who have died and are dying of lung problems!
They would weld 48"od. pipe 1 in wall, beveled and welded from the Inside!!! with like a 1/4 9018, smoke and fumes everywhere!!!
Simply put, any fume elimination efforts will not be wasted....
John

[mcoe]

I totally agree, I have a box fan set up right at table level sucking fumes out and I wear a respirator while welding because I am allergic to horses and since we use old horseshoes, if I don't wear the respirator then I can't stop sneezing. I was just getting tired of every other run having to wipe my helmet off to see out of the lense.

[AKweldshop]

I totally agree, I have a box fan set up right at table level sucking fumes out and I wear a respirator while welding because I am allergic to horses and since we use old horseshoes, if I don't wear the respirator then I can't stop sneezing. I was just getting tired of every other run having to wipe my helmet off to see out of the lense.

I'm not talking just to you, Matt, but, to every one of "US"

[noddybrian]

@ AKweldshop.

Glad you were open minded enough to try the alternate gas mix - it seems from reading posts here that many Americans consider C25 the only gas suitable for Mig - I'm not sure why - there appear to be alot of hobby welders here that would actually get better results if they used 90 /10 or 95 /5 mix - from my experience there is no need to use higher CO2 ratios unless regularly welding over 10mm thickness which is outside most hobby welds & the smallish machines being used .

I do agree on the ventilation / fume issue - there are some quite nasty heavy metal / chemical fumes coming off many weld processes - I never bothered when younger as I tended to be outside or in large buildings with a draft or two - but many of the things I did when young are starting to show up now I'm 50 - none of it's good ! - even grinding is more of a hazard than you'd think - because the metal dust is so fine it's not that obvious in the air unless noticed in sunlight but I've breathed in enough I now set off security metal detectors ! - the spent abrasive & bonding agent is no better - some grinding is unavoidable - but with the availability & lower price of cold cut saws I'd say it's time to replace the old abrasive chop saw for most things.

[adamharington]

Gas welding fumes are more dangerous to health because the emits some highly dangerous gases which can affect lungs badly. So it is better to take better precautions.

[Sweetnighter]

Good day, everyone. I need some info about welding flux Lincoln FX 780. Could not find proper thread. Any way. For ventilation of welding department I need to know specific emission value (g/m of weld beador or g/kg of flux) of poisonous emanation during welding process by the use of flux FX 780. Maybe you could advice me some text book where these values could be mentioned.
At Lincoln they told me that there's almost no fume, because of the unique technology of SAW but as russian folk proverb say "trust, but check".