Teach me about gas cylinders for welding/cutting

So I have a 220 Harbor Freight wirefeed welder. Father-in-law got for me last year. Played with it a few times. I pretty much suck, but I can run a crappy bead. Got the helmet/visor and other safety crap too. Nice gift, actually.

So the welder I have can run shielding gas as well. I now have three tanks, one black and unlabeled except for a (Q), one heavy duty helium tank and the other labeled for Nitrogen. Can't find current certification dates on them. No "owner labels", as I returned those with them already.

So here are my questions:

1. Do suppliers swap tanks for tanks? Can I drop off an empty tank and get a full tank of the same size, and effectively just pay for the gas and a surcharge?

2. My Nitrogen tank is green. Can I just take off the "N" sticker and have them fill it with either a plain CO2 or a C-25 mixture? That is, if the tank is certified. This one is 20" high by about 6" in diameter. I think it is what is referred to as a "40".

3. I have another tank that is black, labeled "Q", which equates to an "80" tank.

4. Final tank is a Helium tank, probably a 125 or a 150 based on size.

Any suggestions on what can be done with these would be appreciated.

I'd like one tank for a shield gas, and possibly a pair for an oxy-acetylene torch to play with. How can I trade these tanks to get what I want?

Thanks!

go to a Welding shop... one of the tanks(black maybe) could have been used for Argon, green tanks are generally Oxygen, not sure on the color of Nitrogen, should be interchangeable tho.. just take them to a Welding shop, they will test them, and fill them, and tell you what you should do...

I seem to recall that nitrogen gas has been delivered to me in both green and/or black tanks. Green seems to be the primary color I've seen though. We use the gas in broadcast antenna installations to purge and pressurize the feed lines going up to the antenna. Off topic, sorry.

A welding shop should be able to help you. Generally they trade out the empty tanks for full ones, and you pay for the gas. If you want different gas, I'm sure they'll sell that to you, and you may or may not need to pay the difference in the cost of the tank.

Holy crap. DF go to Airgas at the Port and run all this past them. The tank exchange is pretty straight ahead but colors and labels are not interchangeable and they are rather decent to do business with. Candy's ole man ( can not remember his name ) will baby sit your butt, which I find comes in handy.

Thanks guys!

Welding was one of the best things that happened in high school. But I haven't done any since, unfortunately. My recollection is that the green tank had oxygen, and the orange tank had acetylene.

Sounds like you're set to have some fun Andy. Enjoy!

Sg

SG,

My main goal is to not blow anything up, or set myself on fire. Anything after that is a win in my book.

make sure you get a quality hose, regulator, and cutter/welding setup, cheap crap can and does cause problems and accidents...

Adjusted that for ya. . ...

You been reading that "Mole" thread??

just askin'

Aw SH how could you!

Played around with Oxy/Acetelyne when I cut the old springs and axle off my boat trailer after the bearings exploded on I-5.

Green is oxy and red is acetelyne. (at least the set I had)

Most gas/welding joints with do a change out much like propane. I went through a place on Martin Way by the dog pound.

If there is ONE thing I would stress above anything else is keeping those screw-on metal caps on the tanks at all times they aren't hooked to your torch and set in a cart. If one of those tanks tips without that cap and the valve ruptures, you've essentially have a Space Shuttle Challenger loose in your shop. ...And it will only aim for expensive schit.

--Oh that and wear clothes and boots you give fvck-zero about.

No, pretty much just worried about myself.

The guys at Airgas were pretty good. To get what I want will be about $80. Pretty cheap. I'll pick up my gas tomorrow.

On to torch kits. I see a few different brands, Radnor and Victor. I don't need a full professional outfit. This is a kit that I'll probably use 4 or 5 times a year.

For the Radnor kit you get hose, regulators, and cutting and welding tips for about $240.

For the Victor kit you pretty much get the same for about $300.

I don't want something that will break after the first few uses. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

i've only ever used victor. took a class about 5 years ago at the pratt art school in seattle, and they had victor stuff. if they use it in a school for years of abuse from students, it's probably pretty solid stuff. don't know about radnor.



willy

Victor, period... Radnor is decent, but Victor is better by a long shot imo...make sure you buy a tip cleaner, not sure if the Victor kits still come with them...

Victor but they have a bunch of kits. Best thing is pick a middle one with solid regulators and the torch will be OK. If you need things like a heating tip or other things like a bigger torch you can pick them up separate later on.

The Victor set I looked at comes with heating, cutting, and welding tips. Thanks!

I also have an older style Victor cutting torch that was inherited. It looks pretty cool, so I'll give it a go once I get the other one dialed in.

Well that was easy. Got my three tanks, 150 O2 tank, 80 Acetylene, and a 40 C-25. The guy took a quick look at the valves, asked what was inside previously, didn't even check the dates. Got my torch kit as well. Gonna burn some stuff up this weekend! Hopefully not myself.

What's the worst that could happen?

im sure you know this, but im going to tell you anyways... 5 PSI on the acetylene, NO MORE than 15, matter of fact, just to be safe, dont ever go past 10 PSI, if you go over 15, you will blow yourself up... stick with 5 PSI... for the Oxygen, go to 10 PSI, ive gone to 15, but its not really nessecary... and make sure you bleed the lines correctly when you are finished, because if you dont, the Acetylene will go past 15 PSI, and you will go BOOM...

Didn't know that, so much appreciated. I have a friend who is a welder that I'll be calling. Going to get a cart tonight. I have a manual. Looks like I'll need to do some reading.

Andy ~ when you need to practice cutting & welding, I'll bring my '71 Superbeetle down so you can hone your skillz. The pan is rusted out a bit. My feet don't get wet yet but it may not be long.

Bring it down Chuck. The turkeys need a new roost.

Don't buy a cart. A cart is an excellent first project. You have a welder now, for making things like carts, racks, and burn marks in every bodily crevice.

I bought a hand truck. From that I'll make a cart. Half way done.

Dog, bring that front lip up way higher on the cart, weld like an 8 or 10 inch wide peice of steel to the front of it... ill see if i can find out where my unc gets his glasses at, those green hard plastic goggles hurt like hell after a while...

should work great for a backyard cutter/welder...

Sadly, that's the best offer yet but I'll pass for now. Thanks anyway...

You will learn to weld. You will decide to build a boat (drift boat or sled). You will go fishing in the boat you built. While running whitewater, you will hit a rock, sink the beautiful boat and drown. Welding can kill you. Be vewy, vewy, careful!

they used to charge demurrage on tanks. Do they still do it?

Oxygen, green, Acetylene, red
we used to get big 220 ft3 plus Nitrogen in blue tanks
don't know the rest of the codes but all combustible gasses used
to have left hand threads on the fitting
Is that still common practive?

Don't know if I got charged demurage but fuel tanks do have reverse threads.

Thanks for the heads up Alan. I thought catching myself on fire was the big issue.

Well, I've burned through a "150" tank of O2, and an "80" tank of acetylene. Getting the hang of it. Hunter even got into the action today by cutting up an old siezed up 80 gallon compressor. Haven't set myself on fire, but I have managed a few minor burns.

From the scrap we have cut up, we have paid for the torch kit and the gas. I call that a good investment.

Haven't used the C-25 on the mig welder yet, but I will probably do that once I have a free weekend. Then I can build a boat.