Anybody know about how much wire of each type you can expect to use while building a “stock” Keith gasifier?
Hi Kyle,
I was with Wayne while we built mine. He didn’t have to weld all of it but he came close. I don’t think he changed the spool of wire. He might’ve while I wasn’t looking. Now we did burn through some argon, practically a whole 4ft tall bottle. Try to get a shielded area to work in so you can conserve that stuff. Wayne works in an open shed where it all blows away pretty quick. Mostly it works fine, but on windy days it can be a challenge.
In comparison I burned up over 12 pounds of flux core wire on my first gasifier, and that was not as involved as the Keith style. I think you burn more pounds of the flux core because it’s not solid metal. Plus my cheapo welder wasted a lot of it as spatter.
Finally got my welder, it is a Lincoln 180 Dual so it will run on either 110 or 220 just change the cord to the one you want. It is not the cheapest one but, I do like that I can run it off a generator or power inverter in my truck. Lincoln has a rebate going on now for some modles, I am fighting with them about my rebate because they say I had to buy it from a retail store not online. The rebate flyer does not say you can not buy one online, it says you have to buy it from a Lincoln dealer which I did. Overall though it is a great welder, very satasified with it. My Lotos 5000d plasma cutter on the bottom of the welder cart great machine for the money.
What is a good size for the argon bottle? I am thinking about buying one from tractor supply and wanted to get the right size. I will be building a WK gasifier but other than that, just small stuff.
Wayne has a small one that he keeps on the welding cart and a large one that he takes to the supplier to get refilled. He can fill the little one at home using the big one. That way he gets the best of both worlds, fewer trips to the store and a nice portable bottle. If you live close to your supplier then just get the little one, but be prepared to refill it often.
I have the little fire hydrant sized one and get about 2 hrs welding between refills. Costs me 30 dollars to refill. Wish I had got a bigger one to begin with.
Thanks, Chris and John. sounds like I need one of the larger ones if I want to weld for a while without gong to the store.
Another welding virgin question
Trying to get my welding setup in place, and am brand new to all of this. I understand I will be running 75% Argon 25% CO2 through the MIG welder. Do I use 2 separate tanks and some kind of mixing regulator, or does the gas supplier put the premixed gas into a single bottle? If it is already premixed what “color” or bottle do I need (I notice they come in versions for argon and for CO2, and there appears to be some kind of color code).
Sorry for the super-newbie questions.
Gas is mixed in a single bottle. Not sure if they are color coded; my supplier uses brown for the mixes…75-25 or even 100 argon. There will be a sticker on the bottle telling what % or mix is in it.
OK. Thanks. How big of a bottle do I need in order to avoid frequent trips to the supplier (which is some distance away) ?
Oh, never mind. I see some discussion about that, above. Sounds like the ideal setup would be a large one and a small one.
What kind of connecting setup do you need to fill the small one from the large one?
Hello Kyle,
Below are my big bottle, little bottle and the connection.
I usually refill the little one 10-15 times before I refill the big one.
I weld mild steel with straight CO2, it is 1/3 the cost of argon mix.
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Can you tell any difference with straight C02, Dave? If not why would they mix? Maybe for stainless?
Another question, is there any difference in solid .023 wire like from Harbor Freight vs Lincoln / Miller brand? I was told there is a difference in the flux core from those places.
Don M
Don
CO2 welds a little hotter, I just run less heat. As far as wire goes I’m using cheap Chinese stuff from the Big Box store. It seems to work OK for me, But I have been welding 50 Plus years.
Dave
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I use the argon co2 mix and buy my .023 wire form Menards @ $35.00 for the 8 inch roll it is made by us steel although I have used made in china wire didn’t notice much differance. Depends where you are if a Menards is close by.
I like the small bottle/big bottle idea Wayne.
I just got my welder and I’m researching bottles. Is that a 20cuft bottle you are using for your small bottle and a 125cuft big bottle?
I expect to waste some gas as I learn to weld (new to mig welding) but was wondering how much gas you typically use on a build? - Trying to get a guesstimate of what I will need.
When doing say the cooling fins on the firetube (a LOT of welding) do you find it more convenient to tap the large bottle for heavy welding and use the smaller bottle for day to day or always the small bottle and refill?
Hello Henry,
I ‘m not sure of the capacity of the small bottle but it is light enough to handle.
The big bottle is 280 cu feet and too heavy to be lugging around. One bottle should build the gasifier and all the modification on the vehicle.
Chris, I have a few suggestions for adding to your comprehensive welding guide. Just like the average car driver doesn’t have to change spark plugs all that often, every MIG welder has a liner inside the long wand that will eventually accumulate grit and cause start and stop wire movement. You’ll squeeze the pinch rollers tighter, change the end tip, and keep scratching your head. I replace one at work about every two months, as well as replacing a felt wire wipe before the rollers.
Next, when welding across a span that has low contrasting reference to what you are joining, I find that even with my $200 darkening helmet, the most consistently straight bead coverage is to traverse from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock towards yourself, no matter how I had to rotate the work to accommodate it. You can prove it with an unlined sheet of paper. Put on sunglasses, and see how straight of a line you draw across versus towards you.
I have heard that some companies offer a kit so you can hook up a 20oz co2 tank to a mig set up… now that would be small and portable