[douglasgiersch]

Now I no I've made a few noob questions recently but this one should get some people talking, have just purchased cig weld mig145 I think is it's size, anyway went to look into get some argon and put it into flea bay to see rough price but didn't come up with much usefull stuff, but I did discover that there is disposable argon bottles for sale kit is 145 with one2.2 kg bottle and regulator then 80 bucks for refil (new bottle) welder wont see heaps of work, has anyone had much experience with these? Not a huge fan of gasselss mig but will buy a spool if bottle runs out when need it.

[ball]

douglasgiersch wrote:

Now I no I've made a few noob questions recently but this one should get some people talking, have just purchased cig weld mig145 I think is it's size, anyway went to look into get some argon and put it into flea bay to see rough price but didn't come up with much usefull stuff, but I did discover that there is disposable argon bottles for sale kit is 145 with one2.2 kg bottle and regulator then 80 bucks for refil (new bottle) welder wont see heaps of work, has anyone had much experience with these? Not a huge fan of gasselss mig but will buy a spool if bottle runs out when need it.

don't bother with disposable ones.

get one from the many gas suppliers that will rent you one and just change it over when you run out.

the rental each month is a bitch but it is more cost effective in the long run

[mnemonix]

^^ agreed.
I forget the exact cost, but roughly disposable cylinders were about $30 each and would last me about half an hour at most (more like 10 minutes).
If you're a noob, you'll chew up cylinders just getting used to how your gear works. It will get bloody expensive.

Swap and go cylinders are around $300 up front and under $100 to exchange. They'll run for days of welding. The saving soon pays off.

[shep]

We get bent over on gas prices in the nt but it is still under $15 a month to rent a half decent sized bottle of argoshield.


The local gas agent here is a strange one but

[zooky08]

i payed just over 300 for e size bottle for first time and its been neally a year and im still havnt used it all up. ive made two trailers with it and the odd welding jobs. still is 3/4 full

[douglasgiersch]

IF it was up to me i would fork out the rental on tank for BOC in town, step dads in charge of the money deparment, sometimes a good thing not when it comes to being a tight arse, i do notice there is a place thats sells full tanks at 220 a go, not sure on tank size but are 50cm by 11cm radius tank and wieghs 3.5 kg, is said to be 0.63m3 of gas. recharge is 60 bucks ago with possible frieght charge on my end to send old bottle. now im not sure excatly how long that would last im fairly handy with mig but at school just bang the gas on to the better half of green on the gauge (dont really look at how much) and go for it. .63m3 does sound like a hell of a lot, cant find a way to get prices for tanks from boc.

[shakes]

I run with disposable here and there. Knowing my gear I get about a metre of weld on thin car panels.

If I have less than that to do disposable all the way.. If I have a few things to do, or heavier gauge stuff a bottle wins hands down.

The other downside of a disposable is you don't get an accurate flow/pressure gauge which makes tuning a little harder as you need to wind open the valve as the bottle runs low, PITA!!!!!!

[ball]

douglasgiersch wrote:

IF it was up to me i would fork out the rental on tank for BOC in town, step dads in charge of the money deparment, sometimes a good thing not when it comes to being a tight arse, i do notice there is a place thats sells full tanks at 220 a go, not sure on tank size but are 50cm by 11cm radius tank and wieghs 3.5 kg, is said to be 0.63m3 of gas. recharge is 60 bucks ago with possible frieght charge on my end to send old bottle. now im not sure excatly how long that would last im fairly handy with mig but at school just bang the gas on to the better half of green on the gauge (dont really look at how much) and go for it. .63m3 does sound like a hell of a lot, cant find a way to get prices for tanks from boc.

BOC rental is the same Australia wide.

I can tell you exactly how much that is.

Gas prices vary depending on location and if you get them from an agent or a gas and gear store. Regional areas will be a bit higher than metro. NT is shitloads more than everywhere else.

Shoot em a pm with your postcode and I will tell you where you closest one is.

You would probably only need a d or an e2. I will look in the morning and tell you what the volume of gas is in each cylinder. An e2 is better value for money and the monthly rental is so close between sizes it doesn't matter.

[douglasgiersch]

Local plumtec does bottle hire/fill whatever you call it, through boc supplier closest/easiest place for me to get it, that would be very hand Ball thanks.

[2stroker]

I have just been through this for my welder at home, BOC bottles can be rented monthly, quarterly or yearly, it is $15 a month for an E size bottle and costs just under $100 for a fill. My initial outlay was just under $115 dollars which got me up and running. The bill is sent by email each month or you can have it debited from an account each month,also at any time you can change to quarterly or yearly with a phone call. I am useing argo shield light which is what they recommended after asking what kind of work I do.

[jdk81]

I picked up some disposable bottles on sale ($5 each). I used one and shit-canned that idea. The bottles cool down due to gas expansion and flow rate and pressure drops way too much. After each 50mm of weld, I had to adjust the pressure and reduce the wirespeed (because it was cooling the weld too much).
Its very expensive to use those bottles, and welds can become inconsistent

Gasless is rubbish, i've made a fair bit of stuff with it, and would really prefer not to use it.
If you can't afford gas, you can't afford a mig.

MMAW (stick welders) are significantly cheaper and imo more useful than a gasless mig.

[KEENSY85]

hire a bottle much easer i got a g size so i could just hire it till its empty

[rick1970]

I'm wanting to change from gasless to gas. Rang local BOC to yesterday for some prices, using the bosses account. For an E Argonsheild light, rent was $14.47/month, gas fill was $114. Boss checked some old BOC invoices, his rent on a G bottle was $180/year and a refill was $90 (Argonsheild universal).

$114 for a e versus $90 for a (3 1/2 times bigger????) G dosn't sound right. Or is the boss just getting a great deal on the G bottles.

[KEENSY85]

thats strange ill have look at my docs later

[ball]

rick1970 wrote:

I'm wanting to change from gasless to gas. Rang local BOC to yesterday for some prices, using the bosses account. For an E Argonsheild light, rent was $14.47/month, gas fill was $114. Boss checked some old BOC invoices, his rent on a G bottle was $180/year and a refill was $90 (Argonsheild universal).

$114 for a e versus $90 for a (3 1/2 times bigger????) G dosn't sound right. Or is the boss just getting a great deal on the G bottles.

The "E" will be a retail price the other a negotiated "loaded" price.

If he uses G's a bit then a good account manager will give him a better deal on the gas. $90 for a G argoshield universal is a very good price. The retail on that cylinder in the NT is over $320

The better price doesn't just transfer over automatically between cylinder sizes. Each size has to be priced and loaded separately.

Rental will be the same regardless.

[Jackson]

It might pay to look outside BOC aswell. A place in Newy will let you 'buy' a bottle (an e is $275) instead of refilling it when you need more gas they just swap your empty one for a full one and I can't remember exactly but an e was only a little bit dearer than BOC.

[Ridge]

I use an E size at home, it costs me $49 a quarter for rental and i pay around $90 for a refill. I started out using gasless at first and won't be going back to that anytime soon.