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Hi there, I'm new here and thought I should tell you about a recent experience I had. Sorry for the long story, I like to be thorough.
As I do a lot of automotive repairs, building trucks and other general stuff, I also do some fabricating and welding to sometimes make things the way I want. About four years ago I decided to replace my 'no name' mig welder with something decent. I went with a Miller 212 with the spool gun, thinking one day I will weld aluminum.
Fast forward to last month and I want to build an aluminum bracket/hanger for some customizing I'm doing on my truck. So I go down to the local welding store and I purchase a bottle of Argon. I'm excited and get home, hook everything up and dig out the pile of crops/scraps of aluminum I had purchased a while ago. Having done a little (very little) aluminum welding in my younger days, I get my welder manual out and refresh myself. Then I get started and to my disbelief, it looks like crap. So I try again...push...pull...still crap. Change settings...many settings...still crap (black and full of porosity). After cursing and cursing I give up for the day. Next day I get up, and struggle some more and call up buddy who is welder by trade. He comes over and tries...and tries...and tries. Still crap, and another day wasted. Third day now, another friend (welder/fabricator) comes over to see what the fuss is. I hand him the spool gun and he's stunned. His welds look like my crap. So after trying different things, we decide to take the machine apart to look for leaks, thinking shielding gas is not getting to the gun. Couldn't find anything obvious. Then I pipe up and ask Dennis "Stupid question, but could the bottle have different gas than what is labelled?" He says "Doubtful, but hey, lets go to my place and get one of my bottles".
We get back, hook everything up again and wouldn't you know it...a real weld. The bottle of Argon that I bought, is NOT Argon! ARGGG! One of things I hate the most, is wasting time. This cost me two and a half days of solid grief and loss of "production".
I guess the lesson is, to never assume the label is correct and also, there are no stupid questions. Well, at least now, I trust myself in my capabilities of welding.
I returned the bottle of (?) and the guy was stunned when I said, "I want to return this bottle of Sh/argon!" He was very apologetic and said he would send that one back for analysis and he would let me know what gas was in that bottle. No answer yet.
Anyone else ever have this issue? Is it common?
As I do a lot of automotive repairs, building trucks and other general stuff, I also do some fabricating and welding to sometimes make things the way I want. About four years ago I decided to replace my 'no name' mig welder with something decent. I went with a Miller 212 with the spool gun, thinking one day I will weld aluminum.
Fast forward to last month and I want to build an aluminum bracket/hanger for some customizing I'm doing on my truck. So I go down to the local welding store and I purchase a bottle of Argon. I'm excited and get home, hook everything up and dig out the pile of crops/scraps of aluminum I had purchased a while ago. Having done a little (very little) aluminum welding in my younger days, I get my welder manual out and refresh myself. Then I get started and to my disbelief, it looks like crap. So I try again...push...pull...still crap. Change settings...many settings...still crap (black and full of porosity). After cursing and cursing I give up for the day. Next day I get up, and struggle some more and call up buddy who is welder by trade. He comes over and tries...and tries...and tries. Still crap, and another day wasted. Third day now, another friend (welder/fabricator) comes over to see what the fuss is. I hand him the spool gun and he's stunned. His welds look like my crap. So after trying different things, we decide to take the machine apart to look for leaks, thinking shielding gas is not getting to the gun. Couldn't find anything obvious. Then I pipe up and ask Dennis "Stupid question, but could the bottle have different gas than what is labelled?" He says "Doubtful, but hey, lets go to my place and get one of my bottles".
We get back, hook everything up again and wouldn't you know it...a real weld. The bottle of Argon that I bought, is NOT Argon! ARGGG! One of things I hate the most, is wasting time. This cost me two and a half days of solid grief and loss of "production".
I guess the lesson is, to never assume the label is correct and also, there are no stupid questions. Well, at least now, I trust myself in my capabilities of welding.
I returned the bottle of (?) and the guy was stunned when I said, "I want to return this bottle of Sh/argon!" He was very apologetic and said he would send that one back for analysis and he would let me know what gas was in that bottle. No answer yet.
Anyone else ever have this issue? Is it common?
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