argon gas for a welder

[73chargers4404]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me i have the correct gas for my welder ,i need argon/CO2 mix ,the tank says {compressed argon} on the bottle.i dont know if that means it has CO2 in it or it does not.

[Mopar440+6]

There should be a tag near the top of the tank, close to the valve, that has the full contents description. It should tell you which gasses are used and at what percentages.

[derailed]

should have a label like this near the valve, sounds like you may have just argon

[73chargers4404]

yah they gave me the wrong gas to bad i did not notice until it was all gone ,my buddy the welder was getting pissed he could not get his welds to lay down,now he knows why.now we have to fix a whole days worth of f@#$k ups .it was strieght argon

[derailed]

wow that sucks, straight argon is more for tig

[73chargers4404]

yah,i hope it dont screw up my welder.

[is_it_EVER_done?]

Whatever gas you use can't hurt your welder. I switched to CO2 instead of an Argon mixture a long time ago due mainly to cost, but now I wouldn't use anything else.

Any gas you chose will have an effect on the welds, but with just a little experience you should be able to adjust to it in just a matter of about a minute, so Argon gas didn't cause you to be unhappy with your welds.

I would recommend you at least give CO2 a try, and if you know someone with a restaurant or bar, you can get it even cheaper than at the welding supply store. You will need an adapter for the thread differences between CO2 and Argon bottles, but you can pick one up for a few bucks at any welding supply store.

The reason I like it so much is it allows me to use a fan nearby (low speed) so that the smoke and fumes get blown away as opposed to going up your mask. You will need to increase the CO2 flow rate in order to not have it blown away also, but at about 1/4 the cost of Argon, it's a cost effective option, plus you can lay down just as good of welds as you can with any other gas, without any more spatter even though you will get told that spatter increases.