Tools you have bought/want to buy feedback thread

[PeeBee]

How much for a gas refill, @PeeBee?

$159 for this size bottle, but no on-going rental as i own the bottle.

[MudRunnerTD]

Way back in 1997 we were camped at jacks waterhole in the Kimberley next to a guy from Sydney with a brand new landcruiser and a brand new jayco. He recounted the story about his fuse blowing hassles with the jayco from pick-up. Could not keep the main breaker from tripping on his way from Syd to Alice, so at some time along the road he pulled the breaker out and jammed a 1/4" bolt into the jaws, which fixed it for a while then something else 'big blew' and he lost all power. Getting to Alice he found a service agent and the van was booked in. They eventually found a large tek screw right thru the middle of a major cable. Lucky it didn't all go up in smoke, but he was 'oh so proud' of his electrical mastery - as I am at times!!!

Hahahaha. Legend. After i fitted the front mount cooler on the GUIV i had done a fair bit of work to the car at once. it started blowing the parker fuse. That is a MOFO of a circuit and is huge and all over the car. every light on every switch. Damn it. i pulled the centre of the dash out chasing that fault for hours and hours. It really dd my head in. what a nightmare......

Several Hours later....... Dash all over the place...... Inspection mirror in my hand with a torch shining through looking into every nook and cranny looking for a short. Damn it to Hell. Ready to give in and take it to an Auto Elec knowing he was going to redo everything i had spent the day doing was really pissing me off. Of all the circuits! this was the Beast.

Faarrrkkking Thing!!! I mounted the Winch solenoid to the front of the radiator support panel.... With a couple of Tek Screws... Shut Up. I Know. anyway. Bugger me. running along the underside of the top radiator support panel is a bloody Loom and one of those tek screws disappeared into it, i just caught a flash of it in the mirror by chance. I removed the tek screw (3 seconds) and the short was gone... I didnt even bother pulling the Loom out, I got a lucky break.

Tek screws Rock. Just know what is behind the panel.

[MudRunnerTD]

How much for a gas refill, @PeeBee?

$159 for this size bottle, but no on-going rental as i own the bottle.

I rented an E bottle for a couple of years thinking it was the way to go. $20 a month it added up quickly when i was months between uses. I ditched it a few months ago when i went ot use it for the first time in 6 months (6x$20 is $120 for it to sit there) and got 10 minutes into the project and ran out of Gas!!!Damn! i paid rental on an empty bottle. I went and bought a "D" size for $300 and it is $100 to refill when i need it. wont take long to be in front, should have done that from the start.

[PeeBee]

Thats a good refill price - assuming the D is the next smaller size down or is it bigger than the E?

[MudRunnerTD]

Thats a good refill price - assuming the D is the next smaller size down or is it bigger than the E?

Nah its smaller.

The stupid thing about the rental is the refill is cheaper. $75 or so for a refill. No charge to put back. I could have just returned it for 6 months at no charge and grabbed another for $75. Would work out cheaper to give back a half full bottle for 6 months at a loss and grab a new fill when needed but who is that organised. Not me.

[jff45]

Wholeheartedly agree on the gas bottle purchase system. The rental on my E size bottle had reached $210/year and I didn't use a bottle in a year doing only hobby stuff. When I bought my first AC/DC TIG 4 years ago, I bought the argon E size bottle outright then thought, bugger it, might as well get the MIG bottle too. Yes, it hurts the pocket but it works out better over time.
Since owning the TIG I've done a lot less MIG so I've only swapped the MIG bottle once in 4 years.

[Seluntiy]

I bought a semi-automatic welding machine



There is no carbon dioxide cylinder, so I connected a fire extinguisher with carbon dioxide

[PeeBee]

I bought a semi-automatic welding machine



There is no carbon dioxide cylinder, so I connected a fire extinguisher with carbon dioxide

Thats novel! What pressure do you get from the fire extinguisher? Is the gas supplied for the fire extinguisher suitable/produce a good weld?

[Seluntiy]

Thats novel! What pressure do you get from the fire extinguisher? Is the gas supplied for the fire extinguisher suitable/produce a good weld?

The gas pressure in the fire extinguisher is the same as in a normal cylinder. Carbon dioxide is no different. I put the pressure at the outlet about 0.2. I'm still just learning, but I like the seam.
Just turn the fire extinguisher upside down

[PeeBee]

The gas pressure in the fire extinguisher is the same as in a normal cylinder. Carbon dioxide is no different. I put the pressure at the outlet about 0.2. I'm still just learning, but I like the seam.
Just turn the fire extinguisher upside down

I was more interested in the quality of the CO2 and any impurities that might be introduced. i would think there is not as close attention to the quality of the CO2 as opposed to that supplied as an inert environment for welding, but if it works and welds look good and strong, must be ok, I will certainly keep this in the back of my mind for future use though.