Disclaimer - Yes, I know that the gas used for welding is measured in CFH.
We have Argon from a large tank plumbed through the building where I work. It's used for various industrial processes. In our engineering machine shop, we have a couple of welders, with normal argon tanks. What I'm wondering is, can we plumb the house argon to the welders? The house argon pressure is roughly 50 psi. My gut feeling is that this is plenty to get the flow needed for welding, but I'm not sure.
Should be plenty, you will just need the regulator on it to drop it for the machines.
I agree, as long as whatever plumbing you use is big enough, the flow will be there for the flow regulator to regulate.
...And when you only finish 1/2 the bottle of red wine - displace the air inside w/ argon and cork it. It'll keep nicely a few days. Better than a Vac-u-vin.
more than enough pressure - you just need a good covering flow (unless it's windy - then you need a little more flow & pressure)
Depending how critical the welding is that's being done, it means you don't have control over gas flow. In the middle of a critical weld, it may suddenly become contaminated because someone shut off the gas while the replace the spent tanks.
Depends on the length of the pipe and its diameter. 50 psi at the gun, when flowing, is more than enough. 50 psi at the head of the manifold, several hundred feet away, running through a convoluted mess of 1/4 pipe will not be enough.
My Hobart MIG says 15 - 20 psi.
Dan
The tanks don't get replaced. They are the size of a schoolbus. They get refilled and never run empty.
The head that we'd be tapping is 1/2" black iron. If it is coming off of a well designed distribution pipe (I don't know, but can assume given the way everything else in this place is overbuilt) then it sounds like we'd be good.
I'd be just a bit concerned about the black iron pipe if you're planning on doing any high purity work. When I was welding(orbital and tig) at a micro chip plant even our argon had to be certified. That may be a problem. At the very least, I'd consider some filtering before going to your flow meter.
You'll need to log in to post.
