I have little experience welding using other peoples welders and I finally bought my own MIG. Where should I go to get shielding gas? Any other recommendations about anything welding would be apreciated.
tanx

Any welding shop in your local area should be able to help with an argon/co2 gas mix for your welder. Just set up an account :deal:

1)You will save money in the long run if you purchase your own bottle vs. leasing a cylinder.

2) Get the biggest bottle they will sell you (200+ cubic foot) capacity- the gas refills cost the same as the little "hobbyist" bottles they will try to sell or rent to you. Just to give you an idea, a 200cf bottle will last you all year in your home shop.

3) There are several trade names depending on your supplier's connection but for mig welding you need a argon/co2 mix( ask for 75/25) and nothing else. There are a dozen other blends that do the same thing but it's all a gimmick. Throwing in 3 extra gases at less than 1% concentration does nothing but add more money to the sale come refill time.

Hope this helps keep a little money in your pocket. Post up if you need any help or advice getting started out.

BTW, what kind of setup did you just get?

If you plan on welding aluminum you will need 100% Argon, not a mix.

i personally use 100% co2 to weld regular steel no problem. its waaay cheaper.

It will depend on what you will weld most of the time. a straight co2 mix will do most of the work anybody has. Then you can get into the argon-co2 mix and it has things that work well. If you decide to MIG weld aluminum you will need straight argon.
Again, what will most of your work be done on, also how thick, as the different gasses can help with your weld penetration and how clean is the weld when you are finished

I bought a Lincoln 135 with continous voltage adjustment. Maybe a little wimpy but was what I could afford and allows me to use in places where I don't have 220V, which will be often.

I only plan to do mild steel right now to do floor/trunk pans and body sheet metal (in a long while once I have more practice). I thought this would work, though once I am better I would like to do aluminum for various things.

What should the large gas cylinder set me back?
How about the refills?
I just wanted to know before I went.

I learned on a $2500 Miller welder someone I know has, so I am interested to see how this cheapo works.

Thanks for the help so far.

You will be really suprised at what that machine is capable of doing on mild steel. Don't think I would spend the extra money to tool up for aluminum though. The 35 thousandths that machine is aluminum rated at works out to about 1/32" sheet metal. i would buy argon for dedicated aluminum but you can still weld anything that machine is capable of with 75/25 making it your best bang for the buck. I would talk to a manager and try to pay around $250-$275 on a cylinder. A bottle that size lists for around $360. A gas fill should run you around $30. Also a hydro test (dot re-certification) runs $25-$40 every five years.

If you run straight CO2 it will penetrate more and clean the weld less. The Argon is in the mix for cleaning, and it does make a difference if you are picky about your welds. As the others have said use straight Argon for aluminum; also use a tri-mix (CO2,Argon,Helium) if your are welding stainless steel.