Help using Flow Meter please

[carl37]

Hi,
Just added a flowmeter to my armory and wondered what the best way to set the flow is. Should primary adjustment be on the Regulator or flowmeter? and in either case what ratios do you go by? e.g. should I set the regulator to say 40-50% then set the flowmeter at high setting or vica versa (high pressure, low flowmeter rate? )
Thanks, Carl.

 

[GrahamGKD]

Hi Carl, The way I use mine is to set the regulator to a higher flow than you will need and then use the flow meter to set the 'actual' flow rate.

 

[gordon stephenson]

I do it the other way round and never had any issues, Open the flow meter valve quite a way and then set the regulator flow while pulling the trigger with the wire feed tension flicked off.

 

[Davek0974]

Afik, it makes no difference as flow is flow, how it is controlled is not important.

 

[cracker666]

I bought a inline flow meter and out of curiosity I also bought one at the end of the nozzle.
It shows how inaccurate mine is.
When set at 12lpm mine was 8lpm.

 

[cracker666]

I set mine with the Mig off as mine is a SIP
And non solenoid gas valve.

 

[carl37]

Thanks guys.

 

[pedrobedro]

I bought a inline flow meter and out of curiosity I also bought one at the end of the nozzle.
It shows how inaccurate mine is.
When set at 12lpm mine was 8lpm.

How do you know which one is accurate ? I would do it like Gordon, you may get a burst of pressure if you set the regulator a lot higher than the flow meter.

 

[ChrisJohnsSculpture]

Clearly the regulator needs to be set at least as high as the flow-meter but which actual valve you use to adjust the flow shouldn't make any appreciable difference. I use the flow-meter one as it's more accessible.

A big difference between flow out of the bottle and out of the nozzle could also indicate a leak somewhere.

 

[carl37]

Thanks. I find it interesting that flowmeters are apparently calibrated to work at certain pressures. On mine it says the output pressure on the reg. should be 2 bar. Why they say this I don't know? Maybe it's just the maximum pressure the flowmeter can work with. I barely get my output pressure gauge to 1 bar, but I doubt this would affect the flow rate readings?

 

[cracker666]

See this is the thing I didnt know if mine was inaccurate, but I have a dial gauge for bottle pressure, one for argon out pressure, then through a HI-LOW Flow meter and as a double check a nozzle meter.
I just double check the output at the nozzle is about 10-15lpm