#WeldingTips #WeldingGas #KevinCaronArt From - Artist Kevin Caron shows why you need to use the correct gas for TIG welding and MIG welding ....
A new TIG welder asked Kevin Caron, "Why do I need a different gas for different kinds of welders? Why can't I just use 1 bottle?"
Kevin Caron shows his Everlast PowerMTS 221STi multiprocess welder on a big cart with 2 gas bottles on the back of it. One bottle has gas for MIG welding and the other has gas for TIG welding, which is handy because this is a MIG, TIG and stick (arc) welder.
One bottle has mix gas, which is 75% argon and 25% CO2, for MIG welding. The other bottle is straight argon for the TIG.
To make it easy to use either welding gas, Kevin Caron has installed a splitter so he can use either the argon or the mix gas while running it through a single hose. He found the splitter at his local welding supply store where the argon and aceteleyne paraphernalia is.
It's time to make some sparks!
Kevin Caron turns on the splitter to 100% argon gas and opens the bottle. He puts on his safety equipment, sets his Everlast PowerMTS 211STi to TIG and 130 amps. After he welds with the argon, he'll switch the gas over to mix and, boy, you're going to love this!
First Kevin Caron welds a piece of steel with the straight argon gas. He gets a puddle going and dabs the filler wire into the puddle. The weld is nice and clean and smooth. There're no sparks, no smoke, no nothing. It just a good weld.
Next he switches to the mix gas. "Good Lord, look at that mess!" Kevin Caron says, as the weld pops and spits.
Kevin Caron shows the 2 welds. You can see how the TIG weld done with argon has a decent stack of dimes, while the TIG weld done with the mix gas, which he'd usually use with a MIG welder, is a blobby mess.
That shows why you need the right kind of gas for the right kind of welding process.
The type of metal you're working on can affect which kind of gas you use, too. If you're TIG welding steel, for instance, you definitely need straight argon. If you're MIG welding steel, you run mix gas.
There are other types of gases, other mixes, too, including tri mix gases and dual mix gases. Sometimes a little helium is added - it gets really confusing. Straight argon and mix are the 2 most common welding gases, though, and the ones he uses the most.
Kevin Caron hopes that answers the question about whether you can get away using a single bottle of welding gas with different welding processes.
Kevin Caron urges readers to come to where you can see more free how-to videos and his amazing sculpture. Thanks for watching!
Before you go, though, see Kevin Caron muse about using a different type of gas ....
"Inspired sculpture for public & private places."
Artist Kevin Caron has been sculpting full time since 2006. See - and hear - his amazing metal and large format 3D-printed sculptures, which are found in public and private places coast-to-coast and online at
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