Thread: Argon for MIG / TIG

I think a full sized bottle is only $77 from BOC and rent is $10 a month as well.

How does a bottle club work?

Hi Craig,

Thanks.

The idea of the bottle club is just a thought at this stage. The idea was that maybe it was possible to get 3 or 4 blokes together and share bottle rental, as most people aren't using the thing every day anyway. I'm not sure how it would work in detail, any thoughts?

No easy way really. Problem would be someone wanting 100% argon, someone else wanting ArgoShield Light, someone heavy etc etc. Then the grief of having to go and pick up the bottle when all you want is a 5 second job. I wear the cost of the bottle as a cost of ownership of the MIG - as my wife describes it - the hot metal glue gun.
I couldn't handle not being able to do the quick weld jobs when I want even though I am not a heavy user (1 bottle fill in 6 months).

If everyone lived close together I guess it could work.

G'day All.
I tend to agree with Craig.
It is worth the pain of rental costs just to have it on hand.

Being able to slip out to the shed and fire up the Mig just to put a 10mm bead along the handlebar basket of the grand daughter's bike is just so convienient.

I have 2 rentals. Liquid air for the Migshield for steel and BOC for the Argon for Ali.

Fair enough. Just a thought.

Hi Beerbotboffin & Hux,

I was on the phone this morning to SupaGas & BOC to enquire about hiring a bottle either size D or E.

SupaGas for a size E would charge me $10 per month to hire and $70 for refilling. Where as BOC would charge $10 per month and $60.

Either way it appears us Victorians are having to subsidise you Queenslanders .

Cheers
MH

Hey guys

There is a great way you can save on cylinder rental through Supagas which you can't do with any other gas suppliers. If you return the cylinder before the end of the month, you don't pay for rental. So you can use the gas during the month and then return it before the end of the month. They only charge you for the amount of cylinders you hold at the end of the month.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by Metal Head

Either way it appears us Victorians are having to subsidise you Queenslanders .

I reckon I'm subsidising the rest of you:
Air Liquide e size Blueshield 23 - $160 a year rental and $102 a refill. I'm handing my bottle back and going to CO2 (buy, not rental). If I need to do thin stuff (i.e. panel work) I might consider a months rental, or may borrow a bottle.

Air Liquide are doing a recall on their older E cylinders.
They are offering a free swap between now & the end of July.

if its all so hard, learn to arc weld, better yet, give forge welding a go.

As a matter of interest, how much are guys paying for E size Argon? In Sydney a bottle is costing me $114 and rental is $47 per quarter.

Pete

Originally Posted by Pete F

As a matter of interest, how much are guys paying for E size Argon? In Sydney a bottle is costing me $114 and rental is $47 per quarter.

Pete

Pete, have a look at this one https://www.woodworkforums.com/f160/e...ricing-136797/. I realised I was paying too much. It seems that you should be able to do even better if you are in Sydney. Cheers - Mick

There really is a lot of effort here being put into saving a dollar.
Are rentals really so unreasonable?
Let me put it this way. If any one of us had an item worth $500, (cylinders are worth a lot more anyway), and an individual wished to hire that $500 item from us for a month. What price would we agree on?
Ok mate, give us a slab when your done. There's $40-$45.
Chuck us a six pack mate. There's $12-$15.
We pay more for mobile phone access or pay television and accept it.
The reality is that welding equipment has never been cheaper. When I bought my first mig in 1992, $2000 was where you were looking for a single phase 220A integral wire feeder machine. Now what would you pay for the same machine? As I posted earlier, gas cylinder rental is just part of the cost of Mig/Tig welding. If you don't like it or can't justify it you can either outsource your welding jobs, use a stick welder, which will do most of the handyman's work if used correctly or use gasless wire.

Originally Posted by Karl Robbers

If any one of us had an item worth $500, (cylinders are worth a lot more anyway), and an individual wished to hire that $500 item from us for a month. What price would we agree on?

How much does it cost to buy an Argon bottle then Karl?