Welding Gas Tanks

I have tig, stick , and mig welders.
I always go for the tig. Doesn't matter what I'm doing, I use the tig. The mig gets used very rarely to throw something together really fast or do field work off a generator, but the tig has so much more control.

You absolutely can use a mig for tanks. Bradj on here has done some amazing work with a mig.

My 200A tig pulls less than 20 amps at 220v
 
To run a tig continually over 90A you need bigger fuses than the 10A you probably have installed in your 220v circuits. I have never blown a 16A fuse welding on 140A which is max for my 220v machine. I wouldnt bother trying to seal a tank with co2 mig, too porous welds. You can just spot weld a tunnel to a tank and run a liner instead?
 
Btw i've only tried welding alloy with a 50% helium/argon gas once, but ive seen radiographs of helium vs argon, pretty cool, the melt goes at least twice as deep. Tried to weld together some 1/2" wall tube with one of these bad boys once:
https://www.ewm-group.com/en/ewmprodukte/geraete/tigacdc/tetrixac.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=ewm_flypage.tpl&product_id=377&category_id=36
It tended to set my gloves on fire before i could join the pieces
 
When i was very first learning to weld with MIG i decided to cut the seam off the bottom of a gas tank and weld it back together for a clean look. I got it done but after grinding the MIG welds back it definitely leaked. I sealed it up with some silver solder, and it holds fuel fine. Now that i can TIG i would use that instead though. Also i REALLY like silicon bronze for welding thin sheet metal.
 
I got an AHP 200 amp inverter for $850 to my door off Amazon a few years back and other than the clumsy gas pedal that machine has been a super reliable tigger... 120/220 never seems to cycle out for my stuff.

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doc_rot said:
......Also i REALLY like silicon bronze for welding thin sheet metal.

With TIG and a 30 thou steel tank and say 1/16 thoriated electrode, how do you get the sil bronge to melt without melting the this steel? Do you use MIG Sil Bronze wire or 1/16 TIG rods?
 
@Ryan: The electrical system (except for the breakers) in my workshop is roughly as bad as the one in your house in Vienna and the old Stahlwerk TIG hasn't tripped the breaker (as of yet). TIG has a very steep learning curve, but is really, really rewarding in the long run. MIG is easier to master, but you will run into the limits.

I personally see MIG and TIG as two processes for very different applications: All the heavy stuff on my sidecar build has been done with MIG, as my MIG-machine has got a lot of grunt, I couldn't always get the tolerances to what I would like to see them with TIG and it blends in well with the stock welds (there's some funky rules and regulations overhere when it comes to modifying bikes), for the finer and finnicky stuff, I generally use TIG. Additionally MIG is more tolerant to gaps and impurities. If you want to TIG-weld something properly, you really have to re-learn the term "clean".

That being said, MIG and TIG cater for different needs and are not so much in direct opposition.
 
teazer said:
With TIG and a 30 thou steel tank and say 1/16 thoriated electrode, how do you get the sil bronge to melt without melting the this steel? Do you use MIG Sil Bronze wire or 1/16 TIG rods?

I really like ceriated tungsten for the low amp stuff. I use 1/16" ceriated or lanthanated elctrode 0.045" sil bronze filler rod. It melts at a much lower temp than steel so its quite easy to not melt the steel. the trick is to do a back and forth pattern with the torch so you preheat the steel ahead of the puddle then back to the puddle before you dab and advance the puddle.
 
I´m a lucky guy.

My wife will buy me a brand new TIG I just need to pick a model that will suit my need. 8) 8)

Do you guys have some advice on which machine I should pick and what I should look out for?

Just found the firm ELMAG...do you guys know if these are any good?Will have a meeting with a technician...

Thanks!
 
I have been using the Eastwood TIG 200 at home, Miller Syncrowave at work. the Syncrowave has a bunch of add-ons like arc pulse, and a cooling system. Its pretty big and heavy but a real workhorse for production fabrication downside it comes with a steep price tag. the Eastwood Tig its an entry level welder that does both AC and DC. its only $700 and has a three year warranty. My only gripe about it is the regulator it comes with was pretty chintzy so i had to replace that, and the foot pedal has a tendency to blink out when you are tapering off. I have had it for about 2 and a half years and it has been a fabulous welder for the money. This is some stainless I welded with the Eastwood welder.
 

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ELMAG is just chinese badge engineering. (Which in its own right isn't a bad thing, but you can get the same machine for a lot less...)

My Stahlwerk is a bit dated by now, but was dead cheap with around 1000 Euros, back then. Stay away from the Fronius stuff unless your wife has made a recent inheritance. (With the specs outlined below, you'll be somewhere close to a five digit figure with a Fronius. Nice machines and all, but not that nice.)

For myself I was eyeballing the APEX 200 series, which is China-stuff but with some nice waveform-modulation for ally welding. Stamos does some nice ones too and apparently they are quality checked in Germany, so can't be all bad. Trying to recall the name of the welder I used when welding some stuff for Expo in Milan a few years back, because that was really, really awesome and only like 3 or 4 grand.

Because you asked for what to look for: no less than 200Amps max current, 250 would be better. As you want to weld fuel tanks, the higher pulse-frequency it can do, the easier it gets to weld super thin stuff. A footpedal isn't a must, but eventually you'll want one, so it better be a standard 7-pin-setup. Make sure you can turn the amperage down to less than stupid low, i.e. somewhere around 5 Amps. And definitely don't buy a completely new model/series unless your dealer is directly in Vienna and will do some sort of pickup service or the like. (Which is why I went with my Stahlwerk, as the same kind of machine has been around for at least the last five to six years.)

Hope this gives you some kind of idea.
 
Ryan Stecken said:
I´m a lucky guy.

My wife will buy me a brand new TIG I just need to pick a model that will suit my need. 8)

Thanks!


You lucky sod, I hate you ;D
 
You should check out migatronic or parweld, nice good quality budget machines. Miller or lincoln electric aren't commonly sold in the europe and spare parts are a problem. Not bad machines, they just dont work well in the european infrastructure.
 
der_nanno said:
Migatronic was the name!
Yes, surprisingly great machines! Been running mine professionally all year round for heavy 12 hour welding shifts, never serviced it, been running for 5-6 years.
Now it needs a cleaning and calibration, still works fine.
 
Just to throw a spanner into the discussion, so to speak! :D

Has anyone used one of the Dillion/ Henrob/ Cobra oxy acetylene welding torches. A bloke gave me one a few years ago, as he said he could not get it to work! If you look at the videos on Youtube it can weld any type of metal very easily!!!! Has anyone tried it, or know if it is worth the effort? Supposed to be very capable (in the right hands) on welding thin panels like fuel tanks.
In the past we had to pay monthly rental on the gas bottles in Australia. The market has now changed and we can easily get non-rental gas bottles which makes the oxy/acetylene options more cost effective than a new tig.
 

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Genuine gas welding is quite the step up form TIG, I had to do it in school a few times and I admit I can see the appeal, but I had a really hard time learning it. (But that probably also partly was down to the instructor, as in retrospect he obviously wasn't too skilled with the Oxy set himself...)
 
Thats a very weird looking gun that henrob. Doesnt look very wieldy to me but i dont see why you couldnt weld thin plate with it as well as any other setup.. i prefer an x11 handle with a small bendable copper nozzle for thin work. Just learned the oxy/acetylene setup these last years, excellent method for gas tanks.
 
Looks like I should invest some time and learn how to oxy weld. The Dillion runs on only 4psi for both the oxy and acetylene, just hope the regulators can be reliable at such low pressure.
Given my current lack of welding skill, I will be getting my mate to tig weld up the headers on the XS896.
 
It's similar to a jeweler's torch. I've used them a bunch when I was in school. They're quite capable. I see them pop up on eBay for a decent price under retail now and again, but I never get them before they're gone. They're absolutely worth a purchase, especially with the additional prospect of brazing.
 
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