Heh, that's one more than we have, and I'm counting the battery kill switch.

well yeah, but that is next to the b-pillar, in easy reach of safety crew (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Started cleaning out the garage today so I can pull in a couple 220V sockets for us to weld in a cage. And, a 210 amp Hobart mig welder followed me home (with a cart, 10 lbs of wire and all kinds of good stuff). Now I need to buy another welding bottle (man, those have gone up since I last bought one).

I'm thinking 60 cu ft minimum, or should I go for an 80?

I can't remember what size my tank is, but it is the biggest tank that you can purchase / own. Any bigger and I would have to rent it for a monthly charge. Not sure if it is a state law or ?

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=13848

I think I have the 125 cu-ft. I wouldn’t go any smaller myself.

Yea, 125's are large. My cart is limited to a 75 lb bottle. I might push that a bit, but I'll have to start welding on the cart to make anything like that fit.

Take plenty of pics on how tight the main hoop fits, as you know im kind of in the boonies. I think I could manage the rest of a roll bar in my car if I manage to get just a good fitting main hoop.

PS - I never heard from you about that hood. I still have it.

You never gave me a phone number to call you while I was coming through town on Sunday. I was going to pick it up, but couldn't call you.

Alan is sending me the "kit" (he has templates from this cage) shown here:

http://www.skyhighway.com/~bfpix4/IMG_1880.JPG

I have an 80lb bottle and it's plenty big enough, 60lb are OK. I use my MIG in stages, do enough welding to go through a bottle in a week then I won't touch the MIG for 9 months. A mega big bottle is a PITA to move around. If you are a fab shop or do work for people on the side then I can see a 125lb of bigger making sense. But most of us don't weld enough to use that in 2 years! Except when you are initially building a car of course.

The number was in fact emailed to you. Well it'll likely still be here next time. LOL


Mainly I just want to see if the cage is tight enough to tie into the b-pillar area.

Oops. Somehow I missed that message (or forgot). Crap...

I'm probably going to do a 60 cu ft bottle. 60's are expensive these days, 80's are worse. The last 60 cu ft I bought was about $125 full. Looks like they are going to be $200-ish now.

I've gone through 3 125’s of 100% Argon in the less than 2 years TIG welding. But I might use more gas since I have an air cooled torch and I use about 20-30 seconds of post timer.

I never thought a 125 was hard to handle. I can load and unload it from my truck myself without too much stress, but that could be because I’m a beast of a man. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/dunno.gif)

I have some 250’s too. Now those are BIG.

Something else to consider is I think they charge less per /cu/ft to fill larger tanks than smaller ones. At least they do for propane.

I have 125's - they are the largest that I can get into the truck. Go smaller only if the LWS is close, and open on Sat. You can blow thru 1/3 tank on a weekend, and you don't want to run out Sun afternoon when you're on a tear.


edit - there's the rental option, too. If you don't think you'll use the welder much after the cage build, then buy a 60 for futures and weekend backup, and rent a 125 for the duration of the build. I pay about $40 for a 125 fill out here - you'll go thru a 125 on a full cage.

This post has been edited by Blainefab: Jul 28 2008, 10:45 PM

Might have to build a larger welder cart, or beef this one something serious. I'm sure I'll use the welder a good bit when I'm done. Maybe not "this much", but enough. Between Racerdad and I, we'd have two 60's (if that's what I buy). That might hold us, just keep them both topped off. Hmm...

Or find a "sponsor" that keeps you stocked in gas (Mig mix/argon/nitrogen ... even CO2 to make dry ice for that cool suit), wire, cut-off wheels and all those little things that add up over time.

Thanks Steve!

Natwel Welding Supply
702 Culebra Rd
San Antonio, TX 78201
(210) 736-2444

(IMG:http://www.lawmotorsports.net/Pics/Mitch/Montage_Natwell_01_750.jpg)

/shameless sponsor plug

Wow... you need to snap some pix of that garage in "clean-mode" cause I have a guts feeling it's one of those priceless Kodak moments that almost never exist... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/nutkick.gif)

Nope, I just have a very liberal definition of "clean". It looks about like it did, but I can find more floor space in 5 minutes by stacking stuff on the car. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Actually, I need to move some stuff upstairs into my ex wifes walk in closed (boxes and stuff). Guess she's not going to be needing it anytime soon. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Ok, the garage is now actually pretty clean. We have room to park the car in the center and open the doors to work. The 220 volt outlets are installed and wired and the welder is up and running (on flux core for now, should pick up an 80 cu ft bottle this week). I have a chop saw and I'll get a tubing notcher and we should be ready to go once the cage parts arrive. I'll try to post some pics when I get a chance.

And, I'm actually going to buy my 80 cu ft bottle from tractor supply. They want more for the bottle, but less for refils and they do bottles on exchange (and they are 1 mile away and open weekends). So, refils are going to be easy to get (even if we are at a track out of town) and they are cheaper refils. The initial price of the more expensive bottle and cheaper fill is about $10 more than the welding shop. But the welding supply wants $44 to refil an 80 cu ft and Tractor Supply wants $28. I just need to stop by and pick one up.

Ok, garage is now clean and equipped with a 210 amp mig welder with a 125 cu ft bottle of Carbon/Argon mix. So much for buying an 80 cu ft. Oddly, a 125 is 6.6" in diameter (my cart is for 7" and under) and weighs 75 lbs (which is the max rating on my cart, concidence? I think not...).

I thought 125's were too "large"
(IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/nutkick.gif)

I was thinking of 250's. A 125 is not the size I was thinking. I was thinking of the restaurant sized Helium tanks and thinking those were 125's. Those appear to be 250's and a 125 followed me home.