Alushield – MIG and TIG welding

[Clarky]

Does anyone use this gas for their MIG and TIG?

I may (one day) by a TIG welder as well and thought that if I did I could share a bottle between the MIG/TIG.

Michael

 

[weldequip]

That would be fine for TIG welding & aluminium MIG but not mild steel MIG, you need the argon mixture for m/s.
weldequip

 

[Clarky]

Thanks for that.......

So two bottles it is

Now to find a TIG welder.

 

[shenion]

That would be fine for TIG welding & aluminium MIG but not mild steel MIG, you need the argon mixture for m/s.
weldequip

Alushield is an argon mxture .

Pure argon works (have used it here), but the welds are tall . For steel CO/2 is added; for Aluminum, Helium is added. These added gasses reduce the cooling effect of the Argon and make the weld pool flow better. It also increases the arc resistance. This can be bad for high-current welding as you need high voltage and arc becomes less stable.

Miller recommends Ar or Ar/He for TIG on mild steel. So the alushield should work on TIG.

I see no reason it would not work for steel as it uses 2 very inert gases. Ar/He should be better for almost anything than Ar/CO2 as CO2 is not completely inert; but it would be more expensive as He is more expensive to produce.

Funny, Co2 and He are added to Ar for the exact same reasons (reduce cooling effects and change arc resistance). But for Al welding CO2 would not work, so He is used. Noone talks about using He instead of Co2.

I have seen references to Ar/He use in robotic welding.

Ar/He would be interesting to try as a "univeral gas". Not much literature online on Ar/He mixes. Co2 is a first choice due to cost. He should work just as well, but the cost issue discounts it.

 

[weldequip]

I see no reason it would not work for steel as it uses 2 very inert gases.

You wanna see the price of it over here!
And it's called Alushield because, errr... it's for Aluminium
weldequip

 

[malcolm]

It would be interesting to try as an experiment - certainly the savings in bottle rental for me would outweigh the differences in gas cost. Anyone know if it's possible to pick up argon/helium mixes in disposable bottles to try?