Water-Cooled TIG connectors confusion

[graham-xrf]

Your regulator is actually a flowmeter. See the red line on the black scale? Set it to that number, and you'll have a good start. Of course, General Zod is correct about setting the argon to a minimum value for a clean weld for the situation you are in. The nice thing about the dial flowmeters is that you can set them with the torch off. The rotameters are actual flow gauges (the ones with the ball in them). You need to set them with the torch on.

I said don't use zip-lock bags. They are too expensive. Just the cheap sandwich bags with the flap are fine. The medium bags hold almost a liter. At 20 lpm, they will fill in a little less than 3 seconds. If you are really picky, you can inflate them in a full bucket of water and measure the water that spills out over the rim. If you are really tight on funds, you can pour the water on the garden or water the plants. This is difficult to do with a zip-lock bag, since it is hard to seal the top over the end of the torch. The zip-lock bags also cost slightly more.

Thanks for the clues about the gauge being a flow meter.
OK - I get it now. You are inflating various size plastic bags while counting seconds, as a way of "measuring" the gas flow.

The flowmeter gauge units involved may still need a little detective work. I may settle for believing the numbers in black are litres/minute.

Available gauges and flow meters seem to have a ultra cheap sort, by post from China, around £8.50 to £12.00. Today, the rate is 1.39, so for USA folk, think around $11.81 to £16.68. Then there is a long gap, with the next cluster starting around £22 to £27 (about $30 to $38). From there, offerings are fewer, in £30 to £45 (about $42 to $62). The cheapo sort seem also to be mostly shiny chrome/nickel plated, while the more expensive ones have the "all brass" steampunk look.

I also see gauges with units kgf/cm2, which is a near approximation to bar. (1 bar = 1.0197kgf/cm^2)

 

[ericc]

Yes, the flowmeters have a standard orifice. Pressure drop relates to flow rate. I just buy name brand flowmeters, like Victor. I also only buy well-known torches and parts, either Weldcraft or CK Worldwide. I've used my friends Chinese import welder with all the stuff that they economize on. I think it is false economy. The hoses are not crimped correctly, and the collets don't grip tightly, possibly due to metric inconsistencies. They still weld, as long as the hoses aren't hissing too badly. I think my friend also blew up his flowmeter, but he did a huge amount of welding, probably more than 10X the price of the welder. I've blown up 3 flowmeters. But that was a lot of welding.

 

[General Zod]

I just think that if the better flow and maybe up to a third saving on wasted gas is to be had with that good stuff, why use any other?

Yes, but let me tell you a story. I had some porosity issues. I checked everything even to the point of bypassing the machine solenoid. Even replaced the ENTIRE gas line with a different one, just in case. Opened the TIG torch to make sure everything was sound, checked all the gas-lens parts and none looked compromised. Tried a completely different TIG torch and no porosity, so I knew it was somewhere in the other setup. Porosity went away when I replaced the (immaculate looking/condition) cheap-quality import gas lens collet body/cup and replaced with a standard collet body set-up! I spent (wasted) 5 hours trouble-shooting everything and it was right there in front of my face. I couldn't believe it. I put the cheap gas lens setup back on and BAM porosity again! I couldn't believe it since it had worked fine previously and was in perfect condition. I threw out all my non-CK and non-Weldtec TIG parts/consumables after that. Either CK, Weldtec for gas-lens setups or just a plain collet body/cup setup. It's not worth the hassle to take a chance on the cheap stuff (for gas lenses; the import standard collet bodies/collets/cups work just fine).

So yes, I agree, use gas lenses to save a little on shielding gas, but use quality parts.