Which GAS to get ?

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NEW to welding, just bought my wife a MIG this weekend and will be getting gas for it tomorrow (Monday 8/22)My question is, we will be welding steel and aluminum both.  Is there one gas mixture I can get that I can use on both steel and aluminum ?Or should I just get gas for Aluminum and us flux core for the steel ?J
Reply:No, aluminum need pure argon. steel uses co2 or co2 , argon blends 75/25 the most common. Aluminum does not feed well through a miggun. Must have short gun, Teflon liner and over size tip. U groove drive rolls. The gun has to be kept almost straight.Some small mig units have low cost spool guns that connect to them and weld Aluminum very good. what welder did you buy? we might be able to help better if we knew.You will not want to run steel and aluminum through the same liner in the mig gun. You will be swapping liners a lot. This is one reason why the miggun and spoolgun work great. swap whole guns and start welding.
Reply:If you only want to get one type of gas, get a bottle of 100% Argon. You need argon for aluminum and it can also be used for welding steel as well.Last edited by Oatsy; 08-21-2011 at 11:04 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by OatsyIf you only want to get one type of gas, get a bottle of 100% Argon. You need argon for aluminum and it can also be used for welding steel as well.
Reply:My buddy must of posted that last night while on here. Usually sticks to the project section to check out the interesting creations. Sorry Last edited by Oatsy; 08-22-2011 at 03:24 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by OatsyMy buddy must of posted that last night while on here. Usually sticks to the project section to check out the interesting creations. Sorry
Reply:I have a buddy like that too. I usually blame my ignorance and poor decisions on him. That bastard.
Reply:I would buy Argon CO2 mig mix   since you will more than likely be welding steel with your mig  Miller Dynasty 350Twenty Six HammersThree Crow BarsBig Rock
Reply:Well I went with 100% Argon for the first tank since I have a LOAD of scrap aluminum to play with.Thanks for all your help.J
Reply:New to welding and you are going to start with alum mig, probably without a spoolgun and most likely with a small 110v mig.... This should be entertaining. Stop by the doc's for some BP meds and some tranq's to get you by. You might also want to get an appointment to have your head examined.  Alum mig is nothing like welding steel. It's tough enough for someone who's familiar with steel mig. Alum wants LOTS of heat. As mentioned you will need at least a 180 amp class mig to do 1/8" alum. You will want to max out the voltage unless it's a bigger machine and crank the wire feed to almost max. If you don't have a spoolgun, you will want the right liner and feed rollers to even have a small chance of getting this to work. Note I said "work", not "work well". Almost everyone I've seen who tried to do alum mig on their own with no experience has made cold welds or blew holes thru the material. Alun mig wants to be run hot and fast. Also note that not all alum is weldable. If you don't know what the alloy of the alum is, it may be tough to tell if your issues are related to you, or the material.Good luck and post lots of picts with your settings when you attempt this..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:I use 87 octane for all my welding.I forgot how to change this.
Reply:Originally Posted by LawsonWeldingLLCI use 87 octane for all my welding.
Reply:[quote=lawsonweldingllc;545832]i use 87 octane for all my welding.[/quote Best reply in the thread! I use 87 octane for half of my welding, the other half I use CO2 or argon.For the OP, just get a bottle of 75/25 argon/Co2, it will work well for short circuit mig. Learn on steel, then start to try and figure out aluminum.Last edited by walker; 08-24-2011 at 11:32 PM.
Reply:How about stainless steel? We run our MIG with C15 85/15. Is this gas mixture suited for stainless steel mig welding? And now that we are asking... Does this mixture have enough argon content for spray transfer welding? Amps are not an issue since we are talking about a 3ph 400v unit.Thanks in advance,Mikel
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWNew to welding and you are going to start with alum mig, probably without a spoolgun and most likely with a small 110v mig.... This should be entertaining.
Reply:i agree ag25 gas for steel forget the aluminum  if you want to weld aluminum get a tig spool guns suck
Reply:Mikel,85/15 will work for spray.If you use it for stainless you won't have a stainless weld......it will pick up to much carbon.5% CO2 is the limit.....if my thinker aint broke.