Welding gas

[abunaitoo]

Has anyone tried using C02, instead of Argon, when TIG welding????

[rancher1913]

it will work just not as good, you can get a mixture of argon/co2 that gives you the argon shield that works good but does not cost as much as 100% argon.

[justashooter]

75/25 or 85/15 mix is sometimes called stargon, and is good for GTAW with low carbon steels. the CO2 is a de-oxidizer. aluminum requires argon or argon helium mix. it all depends on what alloy you are welding, and what electrode wire you are using.

[Chainsaw.]

Yup. Ibwas gonna say 75/25 is a great less expensive option. But it really depends on what you want to do.

[bob208]

we always used 25-75 for steel mig. for tig I always used argon but then I did not weld much steel with tig. mostly al. and stainless steel.

[jmorris]

CO2 isn’t an inert gas (it’s an active gas), it’s no good for TIG welding. You need argon or helium.

It’s the “O” part of CO2 that is the problem.

MIG= Metal Inert Gas (Argon etc)
MAG=Metal Active Gas (CO2)
TIG=Tungsten Inert Gas(Argon)

[fast ronnie]

I use co2 for wire welding and argon for tig. Wire can use any of the three. but tig is only argon or argon/helium.
Co2 for wire is a lot cheaper with a little more spatter than 75/25, but works great. I been doing it that way for years.

[mac60]

I'm not a welder, but I work at a cylinder fill plant. We have a product we call "Alumamix" - it's an Argon/Helium mix specifically intended for welding aluminum. Can't recall the concentrations. Argon/CO2 comes in several different concentrations.

[oldred]

75/25 or 85/15 mix is sometimes called stargon,


Well not exactly, Stargon comes in 2 flavors (Stargon CS and Stargon SS), it is a trade name and it is nether a simple 75/25 nor 85/15 CO/2 Argon mix but is in fact what is called a tri-mix that actually contains a small amount of Oxygen in the CS (Carbon Steel version) and is a mix of CO/2-Ar and Nitrogen in the SS (Stainless Steel) version. Stargon is marketed as a "universal" shielding gas for either of it's Carbon steel or it's Stainless steel mixes.

Just a bit of fun fact, almost all of us refer to all gas shielded wire welding as "MIG" welding and that's true as long as we use inert gases but when we use CO2 or a CO2 mix (75/25 also known as C25 or 85/15 for instance) or any other active gas (such as Stargon), either alone or in a mix, then we are actually using the MAG welding process and yes MAG welding is real welding term. So while we almost always say "MIG" most gas shielded wire feed welding is actually the "MAG" process!

Of course it really matters not in almost all cases because "MIG" is just so common everyone knows what we mean. :smile: