mig welder..

Anyhow, this came with everything except the argon tank. I'm not shure which size tank to get, Im planning to do some occasional aluminum welding, but not a lot, what size do you guys suggest, and what kind of cost is involved? Lease/buy the tank?
cost of argon per cf?
I'm thinking I want an 80cf tank, but not shure..suggestions??

And like I said, I've been stick welding for 40 years, I know from experience that I can stick weld 1/8" aluminum at 140 amps, been doin it for a couple of years now, just couldn't do the thin stuff that this mig welder can do.

Again, thanks guys..

As I explained to Kent, I think using a 100%AR is a wise move for a home shop at $65/200cft cylinder.

You get the best all around gas for either Mig or Tig. For about $100 or less, you can add a scratch start Tig torch while using DCEN with 2%tungston.

T_Bone

Kent

There would be no reason not to use 100%AR on mild steel as to it"s weldability. Using 100%AR on mildsteel would certifiy without any problems.

Yes it would be more costly to use 100%AR in a production enviorment but for the home shop where a guy may use one 200cft cylinder a year, then I see where it would be more cost effective as then I only need one cylinder of gas at $65/200cft to weld with Mig or Tig.

Another problem I had with keeping a tri-mix gas cylinder I had for many years, 75AR/23HE/2o2, is I didn"t use it often and the gases seperated inside the cylinder to where I used up most of the AR first and the left over gas mix didn"t Mig weld worth a darn, about 1000psi or 50% of the gas left. I had to add more AR to use the rest of the cylinder contents.

T_Bone

Kent

Well that is a very unusual statement from a gas supplier as there pretty sharp on welding theory.

Yes, I do agree that there will less penetration when using 100%AR when comparred too using 100%Co2 on mild steel, however just adding as little as 0.5volt increase would over come any lack of penetration while using 100%AR.

Now this is more critical on small amperage Mig machines like my SP100 but it's nothing that a slight adjustment of wire speed won't correct as 99% of the time I run the machine wide open voltage on any type of welding I use it for and only adjust wire speed for differnet materials.

T_Bone