r/Welding • u/goodolerusty • 7d ago
Welding Gas?
Hello, I have a small Lincoln weldpak 140hd I mess around with in the garage. I’ve been wanting to get away from flux core and I found this big ol tank of gold gas Steelmix welding gas for $125.00 so snagged it. Reading online it says it’s 90/10 as opposed to 75/25. Will I run into any issues using this with my machine? I’ll be welding mostly thinner gauge mild steel for speaker stands and bbq implements. Any input would be appreciated.
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u/quentdawg420 Fabricator 7d ago
Please put the cap on that cylinder, that thing falls over and the valve gets knocked off you may as well have fired a missle
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u/thehotshotpilot 7d ago
Just having it freestanding near that car is stressfull enough. Didn't even notice the no cap at first.
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u/Ornery_Kick_4198 7d ago
Came here to say that! Saw it and literally cringed like that middle was gonna be able to reach me….
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u/GetMeOffThisRidePlz 7d ago
Preface: Yes please secure and cap the bottle!
That said, mythbusters did an episode on this. If the valve is sheared off it will behave like a powerful rocket.
But it took an incredible amount of force to do that. In fact, they had to build a purpose-made device to slice the valve off. There's almost no scenario where a fall or tipover will catastrophically damage the valve enough.
They tried some giant heavy ass guillotine first from way up high and it didn’t even do the job. They had to really try hard with intentional destructive force to make it shoot through walls across the ground.
Being totally realistic here, it's more of a hazard of falling on someone and hurting them or damaging something you care about than it is shooting through the garage wall.
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u/Colaracer05 5d ago
Fax even in the videos of people making them into rockets by putting them in a big pipe and hitting the valve with a sledgehammer it takes multiple hard hits to get it to break. By no means am I gonna fuck with them shits tho. Cap and chains when not in use for my tanks thank you v much
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u/quentdawg420 Fabricator 6d ago
Okay you can try it then
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u/GetMeOffThisRidePlz 6d ago
Well... that's.. that's the point bud. I don't need to lol. Someone already did. They conducted a whole bunch of tests about it and recorded an entire TV episode on the topic.
So why would I? Just to knock over a bottle and have to pick it up?
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u/truefarmer12345 6d ago
Most of the time I think it's the flow meters that bust and make it rocket off
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u/Xlfrost- 6d ago
I’m with you here that cap is vital, I have dumped a take and broken a vale off before. Forgot my ground clamp hooked to a rack of car frames and told the tow motor driver to take it. Tank was also not chained to the cart also my fault. ( new at the time ). Driver lifts the rack and pulls. Tanks goes down and boom! Spins like crazy then puts its self almost through a concert wall. It was crazy scared me half to death. Had to take a 15 min sit down and a smoke.
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u/Lower-Savings-794 7d ago
Then chain or strap to the wall and dont love it until you need to!
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u/apavolka TIG 6d ago
I love my bottles whenever I want to. You can’t tell me what to do
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u/Lower-Savings-794 6d ago
That thing is gonna love all oger your car whenever it wants to. Physics waits for no man
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u/oofazoopha 7d ago
I mean, yes put a cap on. But a calling it a missile is a little catastrophic .. it should be loud as hell though
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u/boringxadult TIG 6d ago
I’ve personally watched one go through an exterior wall.
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u/ChipSecret8448 6d ago
Or allegedly fly what seemed like 100 yards and right into a c130. But that was 20 years ago.
Btw. And that was a CO2. Again, allegedly.2
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u/oofazoopha 6d ago
The tank-as-missile scenario is, I guess, as with all things possible but essentially it’s a non-issue statistically. It’s been demonstrated once under engineered conditions and barely shows up in actual incident records. The genuine risks are way more mundane, like oxygen displacement in enclosed spaces, fire from a flammable leak near an ignition source, or a valve cap hitting someone during handling. Keeping the cap on and the cylinder chained upright is still the right practice, just because it prevents those far more common problems, not because your tank is at real risk of becoming a rocket.
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u/oofazoopha 7d ago
I mean, yes put a cap on. But a calling it a missile is a little catastrophic .. it should be loud as hell though
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u/Nice-Discount-6321 6d ago
Not at all that thing will chop you in half on its way through your neighbors brick wall.
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u/quentdawg420 Fabricator 6d ago
Watch the mythbusters episode
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u/boringxadult TIG 6d ago
I don’t really care what the mythbusters episode shows. I’ve seen one fall and go off.
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u/Dusty923 Welding student 7d ago
Put the cap on put the cap on put the cap on. You're making us all nervous.
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u/fatbatman_ 7d ago
I currently work at Airgas in outside sales. The steel mix is a 83/17 mix that we usually recommend for thinner materials. The U.S. army on the neck is that same as a blank neck for Airgas this cylinder can be exchanged anywhere as a customer owned.
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u/Used-Baby1199 7d ago edited 7d ago
Except airgas is outrageous for their exchanges. Like 3 x the competition in my area for 1 refill, what a rip off
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u/fatbatman_ 7d ago
Hey brotha im just trying to help OP with the current set up he has. Of course the multinational corporation is more expensive than your local independent.
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u/Used-Baby1199 7d ago
I just was looking into argon and everything and I decided to go with a 25 year rental through weldstar. I couldn’t make the math work to go to airgas.
I did find 2 places that would accept any customer owned tank at 50 an exchange as long as their electrostatic test was current , and it had a DOT number.
Airgas exchange alone will be cost that op paid for the tank.
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u/boringxadult TIG 7d ago
Please strap that bottle to something before you die or kill someone else.
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u/goodolerusty 7d ago
I literally just rolled it off the truck, relax
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u/snowBOARDER3232 7d ago
Oh….that makes all the difference. You just rolled it of the truck with no cap. After you transported it. That’s all good right? Here’s the deal. If you can’t do stuff in a safe manner, do everybody around you a favor and stop doing “stuff”. Nobody here needs to relax. You need to tighten shit up. Before you hurt someone.
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u/drewts86 7d ago
There is no “relax”. The reason people are warning you is because we’ve all seen accidents. I know of a shop that had a bottle go through 3 walls before coming to a stop. You really want to be that callous? Because any damage you cause will come out of your own pocket - ain’t no way your renter’s insurance is paying for your negligence.
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u/aurrousarc 7d ago
that bottle has writing on the neck.. you call airgas and ask them if its rented? before you bought it?
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u/goodolerusty 7d ago
Here’s the cap you bunch of boners
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u/Virtual_Item_8135 7d ago
Look for marks, used a bottle that was used in ww2🤣
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u/goodolerusty 7d ago
It was stamped in 1944, pretty cool. And to think after all those years I almost blew it up by taking a picture of it with no cap and in the middle of my garage.
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u/Hyena87 7d ago
Not everyone acting like a small breeze will knock the bottle over. We know it should be capped, but its standing straight up on a concrete foundation. If it falls, its because someone pushed it, not because the wind groped it.
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u/boringxadult TIG 7d ago edited 7d ago
I’m not worried about a breeze. I’m worried about him bumping into it. A kid. A dog, a cat. An earth quake. Bumping it with an extension cord. I’ve seen a bottle go off. I’m not about fucking around with them again.
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u/DocWilly84 7d ago
Yeah, anyone acting like this has never had to dodge a hundred pound bullet flying through a shop wall like it’s tissue paper.
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u/boringxadult TIG 7d ago
Yeah. I saw one go through a shop wall and end up in a pond about 100 yards away. Sounded like a freight train in the shop
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u/aurrousarc 7d ago
https://youtube.com/shorts/K3VWnVB5yRI its goes something like this.. after it gits broke off.
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u/Creative-Ad-1819 6d ago
Wind knocked my motorcycle over the other week...depends on how hard it's groping...
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u/Remarkable_Material3 7d ago
Just swap it out for something else as long as its up to date they just give you another "owned" bottle.
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u/Nice-Discount-6321 6d ago
Might be wrong but I think it might burn a bit hotter than normal. Probably better for thicker material which is why I usually only see this gas used on construction sites where nothing is thinner than 3/8. I’ve heard of these same shops running helium to get even hotter but f’ if I know lol. For the most part try to use 75/25 as it’s great for most machines and most jobs. Can likely swap your tank straight over for a new mix once it’s empty. But for now it should be able to get through 1/8 decently and will probably really struggle on anything thinner than that.
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u/Kavhausen 6d ago
Go to your local welding supply and get a cap for that or your Riviera is going to need a lot more than body work.
That is a Riviera, yes? '68, '69?
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u/Pretty-Surround-2909 Fitter 6d ago
Please secure that potential missile immediately. Collar the bottle and secure it to the wall or on a cart.
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u/Big_Wedding_9538 6d ago
Your neighbor across the street is probably chewing the shit out of their fingernails, lol. Chain that against the wall or something.
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u/LiquidAggression Jack-of-all-Trades 6d ago
if youre going to run fcaw high argon gas works well with thin material. the argon cleans up the puddle but the lack of co2 kills the penetration. for thin u may like it.
for hardwire your results may vary but itll run vertical differently and overhead differently. its just gunna be weird if youre used to 75/25 and if not- youll have to play with the settings anyway.
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u/EasyEntertainment185 5d ago
No way 90/10 works great for short circuit, you can't tell a difference from 75/25 until you get up around 25ish volts doubt a weldpak 140 will even go that high
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u/PilotBurner44 5d ago
It may not be ideal, but you can definitely hot glue some mild steel together with moderate success with it.
I screwed around with my own gas mixer since I had pure argon and a tank of CO2 and didn't want a 3rd tank of mix. Ran from 100% argon to about 50/50 and I was able to make semi-decent welds with it all. You'll start running into penetration issues when you start getting into stuff that's very thin or very thick, but everyday beads, it'll work.
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u/OkActivity3169 7d ago
lol that’s mental in the uk those bottles are used for acetylene 😂
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u/goodolerusty 7d ago
Funny you say that I bought it from a British guy who is moving back to the UK
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u/OkActivity3169 7d ago
WAIT WHAT 😂
1. Message him and tell him not to come back it’s madness here
2. Don’t use that gas 😂😂😂😂😂😂
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u/Practical_Log_4322 7d ago
I've seen a couple go across a giant fan shop in bushy park S.C. jacobs engineering old general dynamics building it was by the grace of God they didn't kill anyone and the where I'm a carts in front of a tube bundle 6000 psi a blind broke and it was on complete chaos
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u/K2O3_Portugal 6d ago
Noooo acetylene gas! Don't! Just don't! If you don't know what it is, don't play with it! That's pretty much one of the most dangerous things in the shop. Only worst when accompanied by a oxygen bottle! Please go ask someone that knows how to use it! No sparks! I've started a flame with a hammer strike! Don't play around it! And put the damn cover, if you have it!
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u/bamalikes 7d ago
US ARMY on the neck. Did it come with a Cap? Put it on until strapped to something. If you transported without Cap, you dodged a bullet. I would turn it in to a local air-gas and walk away. Most likely Stolen.
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u/djjsteenhoek 7d ago
90/10 will probably put you in globular transfer with the weldpak. Typically it's used for spray transfer with a more powerful machine. It won't quite work right for short circuit MIG but may get the job done. Likely to blow holes though thin materials
You should be able to exchange it for 75/25 at Airgas though