Tester pack of tig rods?

[Kent]

Well it's the monopoly I rebel against. You have to rent a bottle whether you use it or not. I'd much rather just buy one and pay for it to be topped up. I'm a hobby welder so I need to plug into the economy of scale and use large bottles rather than disposables but this also means I pay £100 a year for nothing...

S.

Your just on a bum deal on the rental

 

[Stueeee]

Well it's the monopoly I rebel against. You have to rent a bottle whether you use it or not. I'd much rather just buy one and pay for it to be topped up. I'm a hobby welder so I need to plug into the economy of scale and use large bottles rather than disposables but this also means I pay £100 a year for nothing...

S.

If you don't want to pay BOC's excruciating cylinder rent, Adams Gas (and others) do rent free cylinders. The "Trade" cylinders here seem better value than the hobby version. http://www.adamsgas.co.uk/index.php/search?txtSearch=Trade&cat=Welding ,Heating, Cutting, Brazing of Metals&keyword= Trade&limitstart=0&option=com_virtuemart&view=category
I returned my Argomix and Pure Argon cylinders to BOC earlier this year in favour of the 200 bar Trade cylinders from Adams Gas; I would change out my Oxy Acetylene cylinders from the BOC robbing bar stewards as well if there was a viable alternative.

The Volkszone BOC deal might reduce your rent and cylinder refill cost if you aren't based anywhere near one of the "rent free" cylinder agents.

 

[Mr shiney]

I ended up onthe Volkszone deal in the end. I have Argon, Arhoshield Lite in Y size,W size oxygen and a flame 50 size acetylene. Plus a little PD Argoshield that I use if I need to do something away from home.

None of the rent free places worked out any cheaper in reality as they are all a good drive to do a cylinder swap and BOC are 2 miles away.

It's a bit hard to swallow the cylinder rental prices a lot of the places charge, but then I guess the reality is that the business model is around the cylinders and not the gas that goes in them. At least with BOC I can pick up and drop off as I need and they are convenient.

 

[Mr shiney]

On the subject of a tester pack of rods, we could do our own group thing, buy a mix and split them into smaller packs and share the cost?

 

[Shox Dr]

On the subject of a tester pack of rods, we could do our own group thing, buy a mix and split them into smaller packs and share the cost?

While I'm not interested, it does sound like a good idea.