Helium question

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Hi all...   i am expecting my tig machine any day and I will be learning to tig aluminium and steel sheet....   I have been reading and see that Argon or   Helium is used.my problem is...and it is going to seem stupid,  but my lady and I are both in Real Estate sales...   when we hold open houses ( most sundays)  we put out a lot of helium filled balloons to draw attention .  We go to the office and get and blow up the balloons and proceed to our open house... the office is a half hour away  and a half hour back to the homes and it is a bit inconvenient to do that.My question if I get a bottle of helium  , for the balloons , can i use it for tig welding ?   is it a lot more dificult to use helium ( I know it rises)   for tig welding .  Would I be better off  getting argon for the welder and helium for the baloons ?   I am a newbie at welding and most of my welding will be just " Practice, practice,practice".   any serious  cost difference will be of interest to me,  but I can write off the helium cost Sorry I am so long windedthanks......joeLast edited by joebiplane; 09-23-2008 at 07:26 AM.Longevity LS 160 P tig/Plasma comboLincoln AC/DC 225 TombstoneMiller 170 Mig (shared with neighbor)"Life is like Ice cream...Enjoy it or it melts away" joebiplane
Reply:Balloon helium contains air (at least in the UK) and so is no good for welding. Welding grade He is a lot more expensive and flow rates are considerably higher than for argon. Arc starts are more difficult than with Ar and once lit the arc is 'hotter'Get yourself some argon
Reply:Balloon helium has an appreciable percentagle of air/oxygen in it, to minimize the suffocation danger from people inhaling the helium to make their voices sound like chipmunks.You can NOT use 'balloon' helium to weld with.Welding-grade helium is helium and that's it.  You can weld with it, and you can fill balloons with it (note above about suffocation hazard).Also note that using plain helium to weld with is not the usual practice.  Most of the time, the welding gas with helium is a mix of argon and helium for TIG (GTAW) welding.  But unless you have a specific need for an argon-helium gas mix (like some really thick pieces where you need the extra energy and heat that a helium mix gives you), the all-around general-purpose pretty-much-weld-anything-with-it gas for TIG/GTAW welding is plain welding-grade argon.  The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:thanks guysLooks like the dual use is going to be expensive a not efficient  so different tanks it will beThanks for the quick replies and direct and understandable answersjoeLongevity LS 160 P tig/Plasma comboLincoln AC/DC 225 TombstoneMiller 170 Mig (shared with neighbor)"Life is like Ice cream...Enjoy it or it melts away" joebiplane
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Reply:Lincoln says to use pure argon under 400 amps.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:Maybe instead of using your balloon air for welding, you can fill your balloons with extra heavy argon.What, no one likes "sinkers"?
Reply:I now wonder how fast the ballon would drop with 100% Ar
Reply:FAST .  Argon is about 10 times denser than helium.[SIZE="5"Yardbird"
Reply:Moonrise covered this very well.I wanted to add that Helium is used as a mix and used when sections being welded are very thick. Over 1/4".The regulator with the glass with the little plastic colored balls diffrentiate the gases by weight.Just use argon.AWS certified welding inspectorAWS certified welder