Welding tank

that's kind of a personal question, isn't it?!? lol




I think mine are either 250 or 330- can't remember off hand...

I believe mine is a 40 cuft tank, about 2' tall over all.

I was hoping those wouldn't be the answers I'd get,......40 - 330.

How much Mustang welding to you do and how long do you tanks last?
I'd imagine 330 is a lifetime?!

Dan Babb said:

They come in different sizes. I think mine is an 125 or 150cf tank. For an occasional welder/hobbyist, it lasts me a long time and fits in my welding cart.

Here's a helpful chart I found online.

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Cool chart, what's a long time and is this mustang work only?

What cart will hold the machine and a tank that size?

My Mig is set up for 100% CO2, and I took my tank to the local Red Ball store and ended up with a CO2 tank that is supposed to go in a Coke vending machine. When I asked about it, he said it wasn't a problem, just when I needed it refilled, to be sure I brought it back to him. That's not a problem because he is the only supplier in about 75 miles.

Mine is the big one- 330cf. I do a couple cars a year and the tank seems to go about 12-18 months or so I'd guess. I've got a bunch of friends/pals/mooches that will drop broken stuff off at my shop. I'll come home, find it lying there, weld it back up, and it disappears a few days later. Nice thing is that the shop policy applies- the fridge gets filled!!

weekend welder here, using an 80, lasts me nearly 6 mos. You don't state your intentions, weekend work or shop work?

I have a 40 cf tank. As I am working on one car and only get a few nights a week and the occasional Sat to work on it, it usually lasts me several months. At my most intensive, when I replaced firewall, cowl and cowl panels, I ran through a tank in about a month. My current tank is almost empty but I have been running on it for 6 months now.
Sometimes I wish I had bought larger but this one is easy to load/unload in back of my truck and set back into place.

groho said:

weekend welder here, using an 80, lasts me nearly 6 mos. You don't state your intentions, weekend work or shop work?

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Strictly hobbiest Mustang, weekend.

Biggest use will probably be the initial cart. With a 180 Lincoln the cheap HF carts don't leave much weight allowance for a tank.

My cousin has a Lincoln 125 flux, and I was surprised at how sturdy that cheap HF cart is tightened up and loaded down with the welder.

I have the second to the largest tank pictured. Its enough that I don't feel like I am constantly filling it.

With my first tank full, I did a little big of welding on a 52 Dodge Truck project and most of the welding on my mustang so far (maybe 200-300 plug welds and welding up the shock towers and frame rails). I also did a ton of practice welding.

I'll get you a picture of my welder cart later today and will post it up. My cart came from Northern Tool.

Dan Babb said:

With my first tank full, I did a little big of welding on a 52 Dodge Truck project and most of the welding on my mustang so far (maybe 200-300 plug welds and welding up the shock towers and frame rails). I also did a ton of practice welding.

I'll get you a picture of my welder cart later today and will post it up. My cart came from Northern Tool.

Click to expand...

That 125 looks pretty interesting, large, but still within the skinny 7" size.

My 40 has lasted a long time because I really haven't been welding much lately. It's just been very small stuff, a couple brackets here and there and the collectors on my exhaust. I'm about out of gas now. I guess the big question is how portable you want your set up to be?

I have the 150cf tank of 75% Argon / 25% Co2, a Harbor Freight Mig Cart, and a Harbor Freight Chicago 220v 35-110Amp Mig solid/flux welder (no longer sold). I learned with this setup and though I did not use it to put all the sheetmetal on my car, I have been doing a lot of fixing what he messed up stuff with it for the past year and doubt I have used even 1/2 of the tank. I think I'm on my 3rd roll of 2lb welding wire.

69GT350H said:

I have the 150cf tank of 75% Argon / 25% Co2, a Harbor Freight Mig Cart, and a Harbor Freight Chicago 220v 35-110Amp Mig solid/flux welder (no longer sold). I learned with this setup and though I did not use it to put all the sheetmetal on my car, I have been doing a lot of fixing what he messed up stuff with it for the past year and doubt I have used even 1/2 of the tank. I think I'm on my 3rd roll of 2lb welding wire.

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Capacity is only rated at 100 lbs.

Israel said:

Strictly hobbiest Mustang, weekend.

Biggest use will probably be the initial cart. With a 180 Lincoln the cheap HF carts don't leave much weight allowance for a tank.

My cousin has a Lincoln 125 flux, and I was surprised at how sturdy that cheap HF cart is tightened up and loaded down with the welder.

Click to expand...

I have an 80 and also have the cheap HF cart and it is just fine. I have a slight leak somewhere so I make sure I turn off the valve every time I stop welding for more then a couple minutes. My father-in-law figured that out after I told him I went through my first tank in a few months. I am on the 2nd tank now and have used it quite a bit on the '67, (2 floor pans, some front-end work, dog bones, torque box, some rear fender work) and still have a 75% full bottle I think.

Israel said:

Capacity is only rated at 100 lbs.

Click to expand...

I'm sure I have no more than 125lbs on it and I have no problem, but then I do treat it like I own it. :wink:

The 281 tank I have fits on my welding cart. Its only 7 or 8 inches diameter.