MIG Gas - Buy or Lease? - Tank Size?

[CluelessNewB]

So Santa delivered a new Hobart 210 MVP. I need gas! I don't expect to be doing large amount of welding just a bit of repair and small fabrication projects. My first project will probably be a cart for my new welder. I'm looking for information on buy vs. lease for the tanks and what a good size tank to get.

Thanks!

 

[Scruffy]

So Santa delivered a new Hobart 210 MVP. I need gas! I don't expect to be doing large amount of welding just a bit of repair and small fabrication projects. My first project will probably be a cart for my new welder. I'm looking for information on buy vs. lease for the tanks and what a good size tank to get.

Thanks!

I would check around where u live and look at their hours and if open on sat .
Around here u can either rent 6 months at a time or buy
I would figure the rent vs buying it it dosen't take long to pay for tank plus no annoying bills to pay
Here u just exchange tank , dosen't,t matter if it's rented or purchased.
I do business at a local John Deere dealer, many not the cheapest but their hours and open till noon on sat is worth it to me

Hope this helps a little. Scruffy

I forgot about tank size. Try to stay with a common size. I have one 44 tall 7 diameter and one 60 in by 10 the smaller one is a lot easier to move around and lasts a long time. Not sure of the cubic feet of the tanks. That is what they go by

 

[richl]

You could also consider just using flux core wire,mthis eliminates the need for having an external gas source...there are some drwbacks that may be a "no go" for you. Its a bit harder to control the puddle becuse of the smoke from the flux, the welds tend not be as pretty, and it does take some practice to get the technique to make nice beads a bit longer...aas for tanks, i prefer owning my own, get as big as you can, they are cheaper to use, while they are obviously more expensive to fill, the cost is offset when you use the gas. When you are learning you will burn through the smaller tanks quickly... though its never a good idea to just have tanks full of gas not being used in the shop) so do lots of welding projects...
I prefer solid wire to gas shielded wire, but its not cost efficient for me righ now so i have been using shielded wire the last decade or so... thoug that migt change soon for me.

hth
rich

 

[xalky]

I buy from Maine-Oxy here in CT. There should be one in your area. They're open on saturdays till noon. They treat me well. I buy my tanks, but they only sell up to an 80lb tank, after that you have to lease them. I'm not sure if thats a CT thing, but every welding gas place around here has the same policy. I much prefer welding with gas than flux core especially inside the shop. Outside, flux core has it's advantages as it's not subject to the breeze affecting the weld shielding.

 

[astjp2]

I have a 300 cubic foot tank of C02 for my mig, I own the tank and this allows me to shop around for gasses to get the best price. I have 2 each 80 CF tanks for tig, one is pure argon, the other is 75/25. Each material you weld requires a specific gas. Aluminum likes the straight argon, steel is either straight CO2 or 75/25 depending on the alloy. Tim

 

[RandyM]

So Santa delivered a new Hobart 210 MVP. I need gas! I don't expect to be doing large amount of welding just a bit of repair and small fabrication projects.

Congratulations! This is what we all thought when we bought our machines.

 

[Rbeckett]

I bought my tank from Tractor Supply and I can swap it 7 days a week if need be. Some folks have has issues with Gas Pony but I have had great results with mine and would recommend it to anybody with a smaller machine..

Bob

 

[Ed.]

I rent my cylinder as that is the only option I have here in Australia, the E size I have is 4.1cubic meters which does a lot of welding time @ 8l/minute and lasts me on average about 1 year (about 8.5hours at 100% welding time), but in reality most weld jobs are only a few seconds or a minute here and there, although 8.5 hours doesn't seem a lot it really is in a hobby. That is unless your in production in a commercial environment. The rest of the time you are assembling, cutting, measuring, grinding etc and not much welding.

However I have since found out that there is a company that will sell me a cylinder but their refill is quite expensive and I have to get it from them as no other company will refill them, however I am now getting to the stage where most of my welding projects are finished so a gas bottle will last me several years and I will save on the exorbitant rental cost.

Once this bottle is empty I will be sending it back and looking to getting my own cylinder.

Cheers

Ed.

 

[Gary Max]

I bought both 75/25 and 100% Argon tanks----- heck I even spent the extra bucks to buy a spool gun and Al wire for it. They have been waiting on me to get some Free time to use them for over a year now. Tanks where $300 per.

 

[GK1918]

My take on this, is we own all our cylinders. The mig cylinder is around 90 bucks. We deal with Air Gas 'thats all we have around here'
they dont fill them we exchange them. Far as I know Air Gas suppose to be nation wide i think... As far as argon I think an exchange is
around $25 more or less......I dont like renting things its like an itch that dont go away like taxes......