My little mig set packed up the other day, always used the little disposable halfords bottles as it doesn’t get used very often. Bought a second hand replacement but it takes proper cylinders.
A quick search and it seems I either have to open an account with someone like boc and pay rent every year?
Any other way of doing it?

hobbyweld or adams gas.

which evers closest. less gass than boc (only 200psi instead of 300psi) but infinately better than the little bottles which i really struggled to get a decent flow from due to the low pressures in them.

60 quid deposit and 40+vat to fill

Cheers. I’ll have a look.

I went down the BOC route(many years ago), I think the rental is 5 yearly on mine, I don’t make as much use of it as I should but its there when I need it.

Using BOC argoshield in a hobby bottle, think its around £30 a year rent and about £18-£20 to fill last’s quite a long time and helps produce really decent welds. (Weld quality down to my inept use of equipment not the gas)

Just find a local fire extinguisher stockist / re-filler and buy a co2 bottle.
I think I paid about £20 for a bottle that is around 3 foot tall by around 8″ diameter. I have never had to refill it but they said it would cost £7.
I looked into gas types and co2 seems the best choice for home use as its easily available without a monthly contract. I believe the welds are a bit messier but I had excellent results. I was welding up a kit car chassis from 2.5mm x 2.5mm box section

Andy

co2 is fine if your doing plate.

thin sheet its crap at (my skill level with the hot metal glue gun maybe doesnt help)

Its fine on thin stuff too really but if your welding outside you may struggle as it doesn’t take much breeze to ruin the shield you are trying to create.

as an asside – i have an in date boc bottle i aquired when i got given a regulator from a colleague who doesnt know where it came from. , any chance of being able to get it filled without being arrested/backdate billed/having to take out a contract with boc ?

im looking at getting a second hobbyweld bottle atm as i have to do a 60 mile round trip to pick em up and i ripped through my last one in a week of chassis work – and im not done yet !

What about fitting the regulater?

“but if your welding outside you may struggle as it doesn’t take much breeze to ruin the shield you are trying to create.”

surely that would be the same with the argoshield ? – i use wind sheilds when im welding = big sheets of cardboard propped around the area im welding.

i definantly get better results on 1.6mm sheet with 5% argoshield – which is also the widely accepted norm.

have you got a regulator with your new welder ?

you need different regulator threads for Co bottles as you do Argoshield

http://barnet-welding.co.uk/Industrial_Gas_Welding_Regulators?zenid=bgfcrm7qmnqv6okunf6dkm0ri3

have good prices decent regulators

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/range/guid/628688F9-084E-41F1-87F3-ADE549DC71BB

have an argo/Co2 adaptor for 7 quid if you go down that route – co2 is female regulator – Argon is male.

Yeah got a couple but there the standard large cylinder argon ones.

Yes you will have the same problem welding outside with argoshield as with co2.
And yes argon mix is better to use but in my experience for home use co2 is the better option. We use argoshield at work and I use co2 at home and I wouldn’t bother with the argoshield contract just for use on a car chassis or bodywork.

you just need an adaptor from the machine mart link for 7 quid to step from argon to co2 bottles.

i might look into a co2 bottle for my second bottle and keep it exclusively for plate work then.

Cheers