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Old 08-13-2015, 12:05 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Default Welding gas quality

I got a bottle of dirty acetylene recently, and discovered it by welding some aluminum and the top side was crinkley - not smooth at all - but the root side was very smooth.

I had a friend from Nebraska visit recently, and he also got a bottle of dirty gas in his shop, giving rough welds - we analyzed the problem in my shop by going through the simple drill of checking each thing and seeing the same issue he had in NE demonstrated in my shop in CA: rough on top, smooth on the root. (The gas only touches one surface.)

I got an email today form a fellow in SF Bay area, CA saying his flame is "golden" at the tip, instead of pale blue: dirty gas.

I will only say here that 1) Airgas had the MOST antiquated acet production facility in the US for over ten years. 2) I had complained bitterly about the funky greasy welds I was getting on aluminum, to no avail. (They sold me "re-refined" acet for two prices, though !)

However, 3) AirGas rebuilt the facility to state-of -the-art a couple years ago. So, why the dirty gas?
4) Because the bottles are still grubby - and they are putting clean gas in grubby bottles.
Why is this in other states? Because cylinder exchanges can be national, so bottles travel. I have two argon bottles here that were brought to me from LA. (Not L.A.)

Argon is also subject to dirty bottles, and dirty gas shows up in different states at different times.

So, if you are having welding problems then you should go through the drill of confirming each step and eliminating the good aspects of the process, and leaving the suspect(s).
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Last edited by crystallographic; 08-13-2015 at 12:11 AM.
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Old 08-13-2015, 08:42 AM
longyard longyard is offline
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Thanks for that heads up Kent. I THINK Fay Butler is trying to market some expensive Argon purification equipment.
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Old 08-14-2015, 12:58 AM
qkiss qkiss is offline
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Over the years I have gotten dirty argon bottles at different times in different areas. The last time it happened it was explained to me that the bottles need to be pressure tested from time to time and the way it is done is hydraulically with hot water. The hot water is then drained and the heat is suppose to help it dry. Sometimes the water is not completely purged and contaminates the new gas.
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Old 08-15-2015, 09:38 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by qkiss View Post
Over the years I have gotten dirty argon bottles at different times in different areas. The last time it happened it was explained to me that the bottles need to be pressure tested from time to time and the way it is done is hydraulically with hot water. The hot water is then drained and the heat is suppose to help it dry. Sometimes the water is not completely purged and contaminates the new gas.
Dirty gas used to be unknown. It may be the sheer volume of cylinders now being processed, or the attention to detail is now lacking due to financial shifts. Gas is the most profitable item in the inventory for the large companies. The margin for discounts is large, so shop around. But the gas quality suffers far more now than in the past.
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Old 08-15-2015, 03:23 PM
Gareth Davies Gareth Davies is offline
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I have to be honest but I never used to believe this as the only person who ever complained about it was a rubbish welder and his welds were always black! I'm not sure we have this issue in the UK but it's interesting to hear that it does exist.
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Old 08-16-2015, 11:45 AM
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Superleggera Superleggera is offline
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Per Argon for TIG -- most folks don't realize they have dirty gas when they are only welding steel or stainless. But try and weld some 6061 aluminum and you will swear your TIG machine is broken. In Arizona, I've had 7 bad bottles of Argon (intermixed with another gas or dirt?) that I have had to get exchanged via two different vendors over the past 10 years. Fortunately they know me well enough that they do without question at this point. I use about 30 argon bottles per year (lots of back purging) -- so about 1 out of every 40-ish bottles has problems -- but I don't weld aluminum on a regular basis so I could have used numerous contaminated argon bottles without possibly knowing it.
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Old 08-16-2015, 01:54 PM
robtg robtg is offline
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This may be of interest.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/...gas-dryer.html
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Old 08-17-2015, 09:56 AM
weldtoride weldtoride is offline
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Originally Posted by robtg View Post

Definitely, thanks for that link.

Not an O/A issue, but I posted before (either here or over there, can't remember) my frustration with Tig gas coverage that I finally, after way too long traced to a faulty gas lens. It was brand new lens, but a no-name. I'm not shilling for them, but these guys carry Weldcraft brand for less less than what many charge for no-name consumables: https://weldingsupply.com/ They also have a brick and mortar if you're in the Chicago area.
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Last edited by weldtoride; 08-17-2015 at 07:30 PM. Reason: sp
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