I have a medium duty MIG setup here. The Question is, what happens if I put butane/propane down it? My thinking is that the propane/butane would ignite at the welding torch tip, and the C & H would 'consume' the O2 in the area, as they are both higher in the reactivity series than Fe. I would imagine it would be fairly smokey (sp?) as there wouldn't be enough O2 for a clean burn. It could even clean the metal, as the very hot C may reduce any Fe2O3. At the other end, How would it affect the regulator/valve? The butane/propane molecules are bigger than the CO2 and Ar they usually have, so shouldn't leak. I ask this as I have no CO2/Ar, and lots of propane. The fittings on the tanks are the same I think. This is a very much "in theory" idea, but would be great if it could work I just don't want to damage my equipment; anyone who has tried this around? Thanks, Profqwerty
Ive never welded but afai'm aware you have to use Acetyline and pure oxygen. Once lit it'll burn pure but the temperature will be lower if you use standard propane/butane. Im unaware of what you use the Argon/CO2 for but Im sure someone will pipe in and educate.
Bindi, you're thinking of oxy acetylene, as in "Click click click, WOOF, hsssssssssssssssss" prof' is talking MIG, "Snap, bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" The quick answer is, don't do it, you're not meant to do it and bad things could happen. Of course, I've never tried using the wrong gas. Be interesting to see if anyone knows wat would happen...
DON'T DO IT... You use CO2/Ar becuase it is an inert gas. Propane is not an inert gas... At best you would probably just end up with crappy welds and a crappy flame-thrower if you try this, at worst you could blow something / yourself up. Here's some info from another site: "Ideally different gas mixtures are used to weld different metals. Mild steel uses argon mixed with %25 carbon-dioxide (CO2), aluminum uses pure argon, stainless uses argon with one or two percent oxygen (O2). However we learned that even some pro welding shops use argon for everything. The CO2 keeps the carbon content in steel weld up and the O2 keeps the stainless steel soot free. We can live with low carbon steel and dirty stainless steel (stained steel). For our hobby/business welding we'll use argon only." Basically you would not be accomplishing anything (good) with the propane. You can MIG weld w/o CO2/Ar, is just doesn't turn out as well, is a little harder to control, and builds up a lot more soot... But using Propane won't help ANYTHING... GL, Buy some CO2/Ar if you are going to use anything...
They actually do have propane/butane welders, but they burn 'wider' (not such a sharp welding flame tip) and not that hot. (I don't know what MIG is, but I assume you are talking about a Acetyleen (sp?) setup.) I reckon it should work on your setup, but I advice against trying it. I'm not an expert and neither are you apparantly. Always be very cautious when working with gases.. You wouldn't be the first guy to blow up his house and himself.. so stay clear from experiments. Talk to your local hardware shop gas/welding-expert.. he should know what to do. L
The theory behind the idea is good enough, but it would need to be sealed to work. When oxygen burn new oxygen will rush to the flame, so you will never use all the oxygen.
Yea, don't do it. My very limited knowledge of welding tells me that you NEED to have an inert gas around the welding tip. Propane would just flame up and probabily ruin your welding torch. Basically what devenfore said...
Do it anyway and post vids. I only started welding for the first time on tuesday so my expertise rank is rather low. Common sense (or "un-common sense"/"common un-sense" if you will) tells me that you most likeley won't destroy your equipment as there will be no flame shooting down the tube thingy (not enough oxygen). Worst i can see happening is, like stated above, you get a pretty crappy flamethrower with a poker in the middle... I would definateley try it myself if i had to weld something and couldn't be bothered to go to the store but someone not prepared to clean up the potential mess and pay for potential ruined equipment shouldn't.
I was wondering how long til someone posted this! Anyway, I have decided to go for Ar/CO2 mix, as it comes with that "it's been done before, it works" factor. Potentially ruining valuable welder doesn't quite appeal to me (at least, not yet ) Profqwerty
mig uses an electrical arc to weld the metal. the CO2/Argon mix is used to keep oxygen away from the arc because if the molten metal oxidizes, it creates bubbles and therefore a weak weld. if you want to do torch welding (very difficult) use oxy acetelene with the proper gear. I.E. a torch made for it. never run a combustable gas in an electrical welder (mig, tig, arc) it will go very boom. welding is fun
we do repairs to steam and gas turbines used by power companies....and we have about 30 welders 29 TIG and 1 MIG we use straigh argon for everyting...we have one huge asss bottle that has plumbing ran to all machines....the argon displaces the oxygen and and anything alse around it which makes the welds nice a purdy...no argon=****** looking welds that dont penatrate 100% the more penatration you have the better.
Even if it did shield the weld from oxygen the propane would be broken down, and start adding hydrogen and carbon into the weld, Hydrogen in joints is definitely a bad thing, as for the carbon, I don't know if it will just form a soot, or start to alloy into the joint, hardening it, and making it more brittle.
