Tig with the wrong gas....sigh

Buddy of mine called me up early this morning in a panic. His ancient Airco (Miller 300) was doing all manner of wierd things while he was trying to weld some aluminum A/C bits in his automotive garage.

I suggested some things to try..nothing worked, so I loaded up one of my spare tig machines (Airco/Esab 250 Squarewave) in my trailer and took it the 45 miles over to his shop. He had some hot jobs that needed to go out today. He is also my mechanic..so we try to keep each others backs scratched.

Firing up his machine..it really DID act wierd, burning back the electrode, leaving soot and smoke (which should have been my first clue..sigh) so I disconnected his hardwired machine, moved it out of place and installed my machine. Fired it up.

And damned if it didnt do the same thing.

This particular machine is a sweety, which is why I hang on to it as a hot spare, so I know how good it will weld.

I was scratching my head..and in an offhand manner, one of his mechanics mentioned swapping out the argon bottle last night with a full one.

Eureka! Checking..it was indeed marked Argon. So I hooked it to one of his MIG machines..and damned if it didnt act like every bottle of C25 Ive ever run, same color to the welds, same bead etc.

So we called the welding supply company and told em the problem and they said they would being down another bottle and swap it out. About 3 hours later..they did, and after hooking it up...both machines were welding great again. (mine welds better neenerneenerneener)

So the refillers DO f*ck up now and then. Just thought Id mention it.

Shrug

Gunner

"Abortion is self defense" Bob Kolker

Reply to
Gunner
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Good catch.

Be thankfull it wasn't a mismarked tank of oxygen.

Tell your friend that he needs to change gas suppliers before the next time it happens.

TMT

Reply to
Too_Many_Tools

"Too_Many_Tools" wrote: (clip) Be thankfull it wasn't a mismarked tank of oxygen. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You certainly wouldn't be able to weld. The hot metal would sparkle and burn, but you can't ignite oxygen. Probably no more dangerous than using a cutting torch.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

????

There's a convenient time to have that experience?

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

Yep! I have had that happen to me too. I don't know how they can screw it up, the bottle's color is different. It will only happen when it is most inconvenient, why is that?

Reply to
Tom Gardner

I wouldn't be too confident in the bottle color. I've found that it seems to vary between regions, even with the same company. My Airgas Argon bottles were light green / cyan in CT and they are maroon here in TX. Don't know why...

Pete C.

Reply to
Pete C.

Misfilled sheilding gasses are a PITA, but mostly harmless.

There was an incident that I am aware of, at an aircraft maker's shop in Montreal, where a breathing air bottle was filled with nitrogen. That one cost a technichian his life.

Good eye on the troubleshooting!

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

As mentioned earlier, What would have happened if it had been an oxygen bottle? I have an idea but it 'aint pretty......

Rob

Reply to
RDF

I don't know anything about the big commercial tanks, but the oxy bottles you get at Home Depot for brazing torches have a LH thread. Impossible to hook one up where it doesn't belong.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Color-blind employee at the refiller? Although you'd think that would be one of the first things they'd screen for when hiring...

Reply to
Doug Miller

Doug, Acty. bottles are LHT . I use F sizes industrial cylinders anyhow. I was just curious as to the reaction the arc and a pure oxygen environment would have out of the end of the gas lens. Kaboom? one hell of a fire? flamethrower? new way to meet St. Peter?

Rob

Reply to
RDF

I don't know, but I don't think it would be good. :-(

Maybe any and all of the above. Fuel + pure oxygen + ignition source = Very Bad Things Happening.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Oh, hell yes! When working on a project, I can just go some other part. When a machine is down and the truck is on the way to pick up that product...

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Maybe I'm just missing it, but where are you getting the Fuel in TIG? Yes you have Oxygen, and the ignition source, but unless you add oil or something similar to your molten metal, I would think you would get oxidized slag before you build up any concentration of O2.

Reply to
Todd Rich

"Todd Rich" wrote: Maybe I'm just missing it, but where are you getting the Fuel in TIG? Yes you have Oxygen, and the ignition source, but unless you add oil or something similar to your molten metal, I would think you would get oxidized slag before you build up any concentration of O2. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Finally, someone who "gets it." What do the rest of you think happens when you pull the trigger on a cutting torch?

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Tawm,

Do we really need to explain Murphy to you . . . AGAIN. Pay attention, dammit!

Reply to
Robert Swinney

Tsk, tsk . . . Leo! Don't lump us all together.

Reply to
Robert Swinney

One of my argon bottles (first test date ..1941) is maroon, and the other 2 are gray. The C25 bottles are green, gray and tan (3 different bottles, solid colors) the Trimix bottle is..hum...brown.

Gunner

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. Lazarus Long

Reply to
Gunner

I think the worst case would be oxygen in a nitrogen bottle that is used to refill fire extinguishers.

That could cause some big problems that would take a while to figure out.

Another tragic thing would be some sort of inert gas in medical oxygen. People would be dying and by the time they figured it out, it would be way too late.

Good thing this does not happen very often.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

Osygen in a nitrogen bottle and then fill an accumulator or charge a oleo strut. It will blow your head off if it is in the way. Oil and high pressure oxygen is an explosion. Nitrogen does not chemically combine with oil.

John

Reply to
john

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