mig welding cylinder size

I have a hobart handler 140(mig) and was thinking about buying a ar/co2 cylinder so I don't have to use flux cored wire. I am looking at 20 cubic ft or a 40 cubic ft cylinder. I don't think I will need anyting larger than that. I am not interseted in a large cylinder as I don't weld all that much. The other question is whether or not I just rent a cylinder when working on a project. -benb

 

To be more specific could anyone give me an estimate of how much I could expect to weld on a 40cf cylinder.

 

I am leasing a medium sized bottle for my Firepower. I think a 40# would do just fine. I think my 10 year lease on the bottle cost me about $47 and the first fill was free.

 

I *think* I have a 35 CF one (about 3' tall) and that lasted me through one contractor's rack and believe that I could have gotten 2 racks with that one bottle. If you're just doing a few projects here and there, the 3' bottle should last plenty long enough. At the welder's supply in my town, they allow you to trade in your bottle towards a larger bottle. They allow original cost on the bottle, so you don't lose any $$ on the deal.

 

at 20CFH, a 40cuft bottle will last more or less 2 hours. That's "trigger on" time, so probably a days worth of actual work if you are at it for 8 hours. I get about 2 months out of a 160 just doing hobby-type work for myself.

 

I have a 3 foot tall and about 6 in accrost bottle that will last me for at least a larg spool of wire if I weld out of the wind.

Just a side thought some welders need to be converted to gas new lead and some tubing. some thing worth cking in to.

 

I have a craftsman wire unit that has a small line for gas plumbed into the back. Do I assume that all I need to do is buy a bottle, fill it up and start welding???? I don't have any papers on this rig as I traded it for a table saw. The gas will sure help when it's time to start fixin sheet metal on the '56.

 

You need to check and see if you have the solinoid valve for gas, you will need the sleeve to the gun for gas, and then you'll need a regulator, either for CO2, CO2/Argon, or straight Argon. It was cheeper for me to find the conversion kit than to buy pieces separately. If you've already got the solinoid and sleeve to the gun, then all you need is the regulator and tank. Check with your local welding supply and they'll set you up.

 

Good idea on the manual, I'll get right on that. The line on back of my rig is 1/8in like you'd see on air shocks. Seems kinda small.

 

Thats about the size of the line on my Miller.

 

I just bought a 80CF tank for 150.00. This 75/25 fill is supposed to be 35.00 but they neglected to charge me - I didn't go back. I would go with a larger take if you can afford the room - you never want to run out on a Sat/Sun afternoon. Of course my tank is hooked to the new HH187, which is a little bigger and you might be able to get by with something else.

 

I just bought a 40CF bottle of Co2 for $60. The guy told me it would cost about $6 to refill it.

 

I started with a 40 CF bottle and after a couple weekend when I had to run flux core to finish projects I upsized to a 90 CF bottle. I tend to not do small evenly spaced projects, I weld alot when I start welding and got tired of running out on sunday. I also filled for about 20% less per CF with the big bottle than the small one. I use AR/CO2 mix.