What are they called again...?

[inchpincher]

The gadget that goes on your gas regulator to smooth the flow and stop the initial gas surge? And put your hand up please if you use one!

Ta

 

[gavuk]

gas miser?

 

[pedrobedro]

Or a flow meter ? Gas economisers would be a bit of overkill for a diy welder, they cost quite a lot. A good two stage regulator would be an alternative and stop a bit of waste.

 

[inchpincher]

Gas economiser seems to be the right doodad, thanks. You're right, they are a little pricey. I've been doing a lot of thin mig, stop/start lately and the torch has quite a pronounced surge of gas every time I press the trigger, it's been annoying me such is the price of gas. I stole my good reg for the tig so maybe time to invest in a better one for the mig.

Ta,

 

[wyn]

I have been using two of these gas savers for a couple of years. One on mig and one on tig.
I'm not too sure on how much it saves, if any, but thought i'd give it a go.
When i touch the trigger on the mig there is just a steady flow and no surge.

 

[voipio]

A solenoid valve close to the regulator would probably do the trick.

 

[hotrodder]

A shorter gas line between the reg and solenoid will help/reduce the volume but won't do much for the inital surge itself? They're only expensive* if you go for a posh all in one jobby like the Elga optimator which are a multi stage reg + surge thingy and flow meter... http://www.gasiq.se/econtent/244/more_info_optimator.html There's a cost estimate calculator on their site which is a bit better than usual 'upto 50% gas savings' as it lets you play with things from a 100% spot/tack welding to 25% tacks/75% longer welds. Unsuprisingly they start with an assumption of spending 1K a year or more on gas

* and even then not spendy compared to a dual stage reg + flowmeter etc

 

[Lawnmowerboy]

or just turn the flow down to 6lpm and the initial surge will be smaller thus saving gas by having less pressure in the line.

 

[hotrodder]

It's not just the pressure in the line, it's also to do with the way the reg works. I hate gas laws so... http://www.alspecialtygases.com/Prd_single-stage_versus_two-stage_regulators.aspx which is really just the differences between single and multi stage regs
ETA more numbers for elga optimators http://www.gasiq.com/econtent/files/25/optimator_uk.pdf