Gas ran out to quick.

[daveypower]

Hey guys, changed my gassless swp 150 mig over to gas, dispossable bottle, did a few practice welds on an old piece before i got started on the panel, was just doing a few tack welds on an old panel, and before i know it it was empty.

Thing is when i wasnt welding i could hear the gas escaping, and when i pulled the torch trigger out a little more it stopped, so i must have a very very close contact on the trigger for gas? can i open it up and move the contact alittle, or take the welder back? 2yr warrenty, only have it about a month, first time using gas.

 

[madkayaker]

They last about 10min. The sip at work will leak gas if the reg is screwed down to far

 

[daveypower]

They last about 10min. The sip at work will leak gas if the reg is screwed down to far

id say i got about 20/30 tacks, nowhere near 10mins of welding, so yours will leak at the reg or at the torch, ill be honest i didnt know how far to open the reg as theres no gauge, just listened for gas to flow.

 

[langy]

id say i got about 20/30 tacks, nowhere near 10mins of welding, so yours will leak at the reg or at the torch, ill be honest i didnt know how far to open the reg as theres no gauge, just listened for gas to flow.

Get yourself a flow meter and fix the leak

 

[madkayaker]

The one at work sounds like the reg is leaking when its screwed down to far. The valve in DIY torch is often quite poor. Might be worth checking everything is properly connected and clean

 

[daveypower]

Get yourself a flow meter and fix the leak

i will do, wont be buying gas until its fixed lol.

The one at work sounds like the reg is leaking when its screwed down to far. The valve in DIY torch is often quite poor. Might be worth checking everything is properly connected and clean

Problem is though lads, when i pulled the trigger on the torch the gas flow stopped, this is when i wasnt welding obviously, i noticed i could hear gas so i pulled the torch trigger out and it stopped, so i must have a torch problem.

so thats why i was asking about the connections inside the torch?

 

[SiPMerlin150]

If you have to use disposable bottles.. forget the argon/co2 mix, or even the pure co2 '360g' size bottle. I purchase the 600 odd gram pure Co2 bottles (same size disposable) and I can easily make that last for a full 0.7kg spool of wire Use only as much gas as you need, I have no flow meter and normally set it by ear, the only problem with that is id you are silly, you can shoot wire into your ear so I recommend you point the torch past you ear whilst you listen for gas. (someone out there has pierced their ear from this no doubt).

 

[Jim_gsxr1000]

Get your self kitted out with a refilable bottle, i have Hobby weld, much more gas than thos disposables!

 

[simonp]

Wot Jim said.
The disposables are a false economy. Get a hobbyweld or R Tech cylinder and regulator with a flow gauge. You won't regret it.

 

[ibrooks]

I can get several months of hobby MIG welding out of a disposable high capacity bottle so there is something very wrong with the setup for the people that are only getting minutes out of them. No argument that a proper re-fillable bottle is far better economy but if I'm taking my welder to a job rather than taking the job to the welder I know which I'd rather be carrying around.

I actually had a bit of a surprise the other day over the torch valve in my Clarke 150. I've been using a pub bottle and reg which has 6mm bore rubber pipe but the welder has 4mm plastic so I have one of those adaptors to go from one to the other. I always turn the gas off at the bottle when I've finished welding and if I pull the trigger on the torch 20 minutes later then there will be no hiss as the gas in the pipe and reg has escaped. I always assumed this must be through the valve in the torch. The other day I ditched the adaptor and made a proper joint from the 4mm pipe to the 6mm stuff and put a quick release connector in the 6mm pipe so I can disconnect the welder from the bottle. As per usual I'd turned the gas off at the bottle when I finished welding and switched everything off for the day - imagine my surprise when I went in there 2 DAYS! later and got a hiss from the torch when I pulled the trigger. My first thought was that I hadn't turned it off at the bottle and it had been sat there seeping gas away for 2 days but no the valve in the torch really is good enough to hold at least some pressure for a couple of days. It must have been that adapter leaking gas all the time.