New Welder

[EdK]

My options are pretty limited living out in the boonies. I'll definitely shop around though. I get my MIG gas from a local NAPA. I got the small tank and had to buy it. NAPA is kind of expensive but it's close by.

Ed

[arvidj]

Ed,

As Willie points out it is difficult to buy large cylinders where we live. I own my smaller sized (Q I think) oxygen and acetylene tanks for many, many years. I was able to buy a larger (K) sized MIG cylinder from Toll Gas in Plymouth when I bought the welder 10+ years ago. I also bought a large (T) of MIG gas from AirGas in Prior Lake and a large (T) of Argon for the TIG from Oxygen Supply in St. Paul about 10 years ago.

You may want to see what Toll Gas in Plymouth has to offer ... http://www.tollgas.com/contact-us/locations/ ... They are [according to Google] 50 minutes - 33 miles - from your house and are open Saturday's until noon. They open at 7:30 during the week and I've managed to sneak up there on occasion during morning rush hour before work. Not like the corner store but it's not like you need to stop there every week either. I have no idea what they currently offer ... possibly lease only ... but they are really helpful and do know their stuff!!. If Lauren happens to be there tell him I said 'Hi'. Or you can give them [or him] a call and ask about what they have available.

The three vendors that I have used, Toll, AirGas and Oxygen Supply, moved the bottle to the edge of the dock and considered it "delivered into my hands". What I did with it after that was my business. You may struggle with getting it off the dock into your vehicle as they want absolutely ZERO part of the 'get it into your vehicle' responsibility. I've just laid them down in the back of the truck.

As a side note, given that you will have a fair amount of 2 x ... wood available as you reassemble the mill you may want to make a crude cradle for the tank that fits in the back of the Honda [I think that is what you own]. Its sole purpose in life will be to keep the cylinder from rolling around as you rocket around the country side.

Just some thoughts,
Arvid

[Highpower]

(02-17-2016, 09:03 AM)arvidj Wrote: As a side note, given that you will have a fair amount of 2 x ... wood available as you reassemble the mill you may want to make a crude cradle for the tank that fits in the back of the Honda. Its sole purpose in life will be to keep the cylinder from rolling around as you rocket around the country side.

Just some thoughts,
Arvid

That is some excellent advice right there!  

The last cylinder I picked up (last year) was a 50lb (NET weight) liquid CO2 tank. I layed it down in the back of my Honda wagon and secured it with ratchet straps. The wagon has D-rings in the back for tying down cargo.  

Like Arvid says, they rolled it out to the edge of the dock, and it's all on you after that. They walk away so they don't "witness" anything.  

It's a big tank, but just to give you an idea of the cost involved HERE - I got it on a 5-year lease that was $250.
IIRC, I think the 20-year lease on my big Argon tank was only $300.

[f350ca]

Thats a deal Willie, here its $100 per year.
TSC handles Praxair here, you sort of buy the bottle, pay up front but you can return it and get your money back, I have a Q of oxygen, argon , and argon CO2. But rent the big one for the mig, only way I can get the tri mix.

[Roadracer_Al]

When I lived in Maryland, I bought my bottles from my LWS, and was quite worried about how my new Oakland LWS would handle branded bottles from the East Coast. I ought not have worried, they swapped them out, happy for the business.

IMHO, it's worthwhile to check Craig's List for used bottles. They come up occasionally, and usually at about 1/2 the price the LWS wants for a bottle.

I've always thought that leasing bottles was throwing money away. When I bought mine, the purchase price was equal to 2 years lease. The only downside is that the bottles have a date of static over-pressure testing stamped into them - you're responsible for having the bottles "static'd" and I have no idea how much that will cost, or how long the certification is good for.

IIRC, I pay $45 to refill a #4 bottle.

Last piece of advice: if you have two or more bottles, you need a system to label them when they get empty. I've got nothing but empty bottles in my shop right now because I forgot the "first" bottle was empty. I think I may build a "necklace" with the word "EMPTY" on it that I can hang on the bottle when I use it up.

[EdK]

Thanks for all of the advise guys. I think I'll give Toll Gas a call and see what they say. I think I'll also call the place in St. Cloud that supplies the NAPA stores with gas even though it's a longer drive. I've found sourcing my steel stock in St. Cloud versus the Twin Cities, I save about 40% so it's worth the occasional drive up there.

Ed

EDIT: Toll Gas has a statement on their web site: Please Note: We can fill most customer-owned cylinders.

[arvidj]

(02-17-2016, 05:39 PM)EdK Wrote: EDIT: Toll Gas has a statement on their web site: Please Note: We can fill most customer-owned cylinders.

The good news is the will fill customer owned cylinders. 

The bad news is that the will most like fill you customer owned cylinder rather than exchange it.

Assuming you lease from them you bring the empty one in and leave almost immediatly [about as long as it takes to swipe a credit card] with a full one.

Owned they may [not sure what Toll does now and it may be different with a different LWS] want you to leave it, plus they may require it to be hydrotested if it has expired, then they fill it and you really do get your cylinder back. Depending on the location this could possibly take several days. I do know the Plymouth location is the main Toll office and is where the fill all of their bottles so even owned tanks should turn around quickly, but it s something to consider.

[EdK]

Yikes, this makes my brain hurt.

Ed

[Vinny]

I had a brand new CO2 tank I used for beer. I forgot to shut off the tank a number of times and it ran out, so I took it to the local welding gas shop. The replaced it with a full old beat up tank. I asked them what happened to my new tank and they said "don't worry about it. We'll keep replacing the tanks you bought in." Then they closed, but since they had a number of other stores I just went to another one. After about 3-4 years I brought one in and they told me it was outta hydro and it'd cost me extra. So I went thru the whole story about how I started with a new tank, ... , and the guy marked the replacement tank and told me to only bring it back there and I'd never have to worry about hydro.

Now they've been bought out by airgas but I still have alot of gas in that last tank (it's on the mig right now). Another tank I have here (old co2 tank, well outta hydro) they told me I could bring it in, pay $75 and get the next size larger (10#) filled with the Argon/CO2 mix. Sounds fair to me, but I haven't done it yet. Something else always comes up reaching for my extra cash instead.

[Highpower]

Yes, you definitely need to bring your "A" game when dealing with these places. I bought the wife a brand new 10 lb. CO2 tank (Amazon) for her soda-making set up, and took it in to the LWS to get it filled. Right away the guy behind the counter wanted to just exchange it for a filled (used) tank. "No way Hoss.... I just bought this tank new and it's got a fresh hydro date on it, so I want THIS one filled.

Oh well then, you'll have to leave it for a few days. "No problem.... see you again in a couple of days."

Welding supply places come and go around here too - OFTEN. I've dealt with some nice ones and I've had to deal with some real doozies. After awhile you know what they are going to say BEFORE they say it. Know their policies and be ready for them.