Hello Metalshop, I recently purchased a small MIG welder to try my hand at aluminum welding. I have everything together now except for 100% pure Argon gas for the Aluminum and Ar/CO2 mix for any mild steel I might want to do. The only problem is apparently if you don’t already have a bottle to exchange, they are hard to come by. I called Air Gas and they don’t sell new bottles any more. Northern Tool apparently is out. Now I know welding is still happening, so where do the new kids get their first bottle(s)?
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Tractor supply sells them, some Home Depot’s, Local welding supply place will sell them too. Ive used Allied Welding supply in Denton.
Air-gas sometimes doesn’t even have nitrogen when I go by.
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Thank you much. I will start looking around there!
I’ve gotten tanks from Metroplex. Do not get the small tanks that NT or HF sell used on the small portable kits. Many times they lack the DOT stamp on the bottle needed to have them refilled or exchanged.
Get as big a bottle as you can stand. They are much cheaper to refill per cubic foot of gas since a lot of base cost is the exchange fee or thee refill fee. Plus you’ll avoid the PITA of running out often or having to go refill them.
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May I recommend buying tour tanks from https://gascylinderservices.com/. They refurb tanks and provide you with a new hydro test good for 10 years. I bought my tanks from them and had metro fill them. If you buy new tanks, make sure you don’t do the exchange. Drop them off and pick them up. I echo the above about buying the largest tank you can.
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Look on Craigslist. If you buy a brand new tank you end up exchanging it for an old tank anyway when you need it filled. Doesn’t matter what gas is in the tank, you can swap for a different gas, I usually end up swapping tanks at home depot since they are open Saturday nights when I run out.
Try this search in craigslist. I tried to post the url but it got broken up by the spaces
cylinder|tank|bottle|argon|c25|co2|oxygen|helium|nitrogen -concentra* -water -comp* -jack -gallon -edger -saw -ryobi -dead* -oil -lift
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Just an fyi, you don’t have to do the exchange, you can drop it off, metrow will fill it and and let you know when to pickup. I’ve done it quite a few times now.
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Thanks Yashsedai! I will check them out.
Thank you Photomancer. I will check out Metroplex, I am amazed at how many of the welding places are located at/near downtown. I live in Prosper and expected to see some in Celina at least but they are all in the industrial areas of Dallas which I guess makes sense. I have been thinking about the 125CF bottles. Especially for the 100% Ar since I am new and everything I have you tubed has the pressure set to 30 or 40CFM for Alum.
I tried CL but not much luck there. That weld guru article was good though. At the bottom were links to Amazon site for Weldfabulous. Have you ever dealt with them? $364 for a 125 Ar full tank delivered to my house??
The 125cf bottle is a nice size, it’s not so big that it can’t be handled easily and you won’t run it out of gas. Will fit inside a car. Good luck.
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That’s kinda what I was thinking. Thanks!
I use 125CF bottles for areas that are further away & harder to get to. Otherwise I use 200 or 300CF bottles.
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