Mig Cylinders - BOC .v. Hobbyweld

[poudini]

I have a BIG project to do over the next year or so - replacing inner and outer sills, floor pans, chassis work etc so I was going to get another account with BOC like I had years ago for a large Argon/Co2 cylinder but while browsing the web I have come across the Hobbyweld range (And plenty of other similar companies) offering 'rent free' cylinders ....... On the face of it this looks like a pretty good idea, especially with the high rental costs of the BOC cylinders BUT the cylindcers that are being offered by the other companies mostly seem to be 10 litre or 20 litre sizes, a lot smaller than the cylinders I am used to getting from BOC - What sort of usage am I likely to get out of the smaller cylinders? I don't want to be forever going backwards and forwards getting my 'rent free' cylinder refilled - Are the smaller cylnders better value for money long term or am I better just sticking to BOC (Or Airproducts)

[tractorman]

The Hobbyweld cylinders hold less gas (lower pressure according to BOC guy) than the BOC ones I had when I bought my Portapak (about 25 years ago). However, I don't use a heck of a lot of gas, so it doesn't really matter to me! I bought Hobbyweld gas for the MIG and, while doing that, asked about the Oxygen and discovered to buy a new bottle (and gas!), was hardly any more than a year's rental of a BOC bottle. The Acy is a lot more expensive though - about £160-£170 for a 5l bottle (though that would be about two years' rental of a BOC bottle). At the rate I use the oxy set, it would work out better for me. It's just annoying that I got another BOC acy early last year and, since sorting the MIG, I have hardly used the oxy set and don't want to "throw away" a full bottle of Acetylene! This year's acetylene rental (with some money bak for early return on the Oxy bottle) was £78. I think I got about a tenner back for three months' unused oxygen rental - odd if it's about £80 a year!!

I seem to think that, in heavy use, I could get through a bottle of oxy in a fortnight, but that was quite intense working for me!

[Grumpy Northener]

BOC / Air Products bottles are filled to a higher pressure as stated by tractorman - we were getting about 3 hours welding time out of a 18 litre bottle of the hobby gas supplied bottles - then we picked up on the BOC deal through Volkszone - off the Mig welding forum - link below - worth reading through as several posts down it confirms costs and how to arrange it - a bit of hassle but !! - I have just carried out extensive welding on a bodyshell (see Early Javelin Restoration on the members cars & projects thread) + other projects in the workshop - the BOC Argon light is great gas to work with and achieves a stable arc / clean weld - the 20 litre bottle has just been changed and seen somewhere in the region of 12 hours + mig time + a full size reel of 0.8 mig wire - given this performance the BOC Y / 20 litre bottle is the most sensible / cost effective solution that I have found to date.

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/show ... hp?t=42004

[jimmyybob]

BOC are doing Oxygen refills (full size) for a pound...yes £1
Always worth a call they have just lowered all the pricing as they finally realised that the likes of Gas Direct are cheaper by miles.

[Grumpy Northener]

Did a bit of checking whilst in the workshop yesterday the hobby weld bottle that we have on the TIG weighs circa 19 kilos (stamped to bottle) & is charged to approx 2000 psi when full - the BOC Y size bottle that is on MIG weighs circa 29 kilos & is charged to approx 3000 psi when full - further to this the BOC gas produces a cleaner weld and a more stable arc - although BOC have largely ignored the smaller bottle / hobby side of the market in the past they are now waking up to it and I get great service & help / advice from our local agent.

[kevin]

im lucky in that my local car breakers does airproducts agoshield and cougargas refil exchanges for £40 each. no contract needed. full size bottles and they last me a long long time unless i forget to turn the valve off once finished

kev