Tig consumables question

So I got my first TIG last weekend. It came with a few consumables, but I needed a few more. I started looking online and I was absolutely floored at the prices! I ended up ordering a consumables kit from River-Weld (thanks for the tip Everlastsupport!), but I typically try to avoid buying from China. Do you guys shell out the big bucks for USA made consumables? How "consumable" are they exactly? Are the Chinese cheapo's going to be any better/worse than their US made counterparts?

I also ordered a bunch of filler rods based on the recommendations at weldingtipsandtricks.com, those aren't cheap either! Any supplier recommendations or is it pretty much just shop around and try to find the lowest price?

Here is my take on the River-Weld consumables. You will go through tunstens and cups, but everything else should last years and years.

http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...5395#post35395

I've had good experience with WeldingCity.com; I'll check country of origin when I get to the house. Everlast also sells consumables, but I don't know what is the originating country.

I'm shopping for filler rod too, and saw what looked like good prices at WeldingSupply.com, but shipping becomes noticeable because of the weight involved. WeldingCity has filler too, but not steel, for whatever reason.

I like weldingcity.com also, it's the cheapest place to buy 2% lanthanated tungsten that I've seen.

I bought my filler from these guys on eBay. http://stores.ebay.com/arczoneweldingsupplies/ It seemed like the cheapest way to go. I think I bought my tungsten from weldingcity. I didn't see it on riverweld or I'd probably have ordered it from there. I got one of their 53 piece kits and a set of gas lenses, so I should have enough to last me awhile. I ordered 2 new 3m speedglas helmets, one for me and the other for my wife.

Good review Rambo, I've been really nervous about having bought the Chinese stuff. I know some things are ok, but I've also seen spectacular failures. I just couldn't believe how much the comparable American stuff was. The cheapest I could find the WC stuff seemed like $130 and it didn't have nearly the variety/amount of the parts riverweld's did.

Anyone got advice on a regulator with a flow meter? The regulator on my machine just has an open/closed knob and a pressure gauge. I don't want to waste a lot of gas because it's expensive.

Weldingcity.com is a great place to shop online if you want a good deal on quality products! I spent around $50 in the past month there (shipping included) and ended up with a nylon zippered jacket for my torch leads, 2# of stainless 309L filler rod, and 17 or 18 ceramic cups for my gas lens setup (a few long nose versions included) with misc insulators thrown in for backups. Shipping was fast and inexpensive too. I also like arc-zone.com, but I have only ordered from them once and it wasn't a welding item, per se, but rather a Ron Covell DVD on metal working.

I only have one high quality American made kit of consumables (I think they're from Miller), but I have no idea where I got them from and I have never used them with my tig torch. I suspect they were purchased by me when I was using the Miller tig welder at work (years back) and I didn't have the correct supplies to weld the aluminum project I was doing. My (what I assume are) Chinese made consumables from weldingcity.com don't appear to be inferior in any way though. Keep in mind that many of the items from the big "name brand" stores are cheap consumables anyways. I even found some that were thrown in with the name brand ones at Airgas.

What you want is a pressure regulator, a needle valve, and a flow meter. Usually these are all combined into one unit. My favorite is the TIGmaster by Profax. Everlast has something similar, but calibrated in LPM instead of CFH. Maybe you just need the flow meter part for your setup, do you have a picture?

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Originally Posted by breakneckmot

Anyone got advice on a regulator with a flow meter? The regulator on my machine just has an open/closed knob and a pressure gauge. I don't want to waste a lot of gas because it's expensive.

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How would the flowmeter that came with your machine waste gas ? Your new machine has a gas solenoid doesn't it ?

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Originally Posted by zoama585

How would the flowmeter that came with your machine waste gas ? Your new machine has a gas solenoid doesn't it ?

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To me it looks like that's been bypassed and it just runs to the torch directly. I can get some pictures later.

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Originally Posted by DaveO

I'll check country of origin when I get to the house.

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No marking for country of origin on my consumables from Welding City.

Can you describe your regulator, or give a part number? It should have a gauge to show cylinder contents, and a glass or plastic vertical tube with a ball in it to show delivery pressure. Is yours different?

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Originally Posted by breakneckmot

To me it looks like that's been bypassed and it just runs to the torch directly. I can get some pictures later.

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From what I can see in your photo, it looks like you might have a twin gauge type setup. That style uses a fixed orifice and an adjustable pressure regulator to measure flow. They work ok with the one gas they are calibrated for. One plus is that they don't have to be level to read correctly like the ball tube type. Makes them nice for portable setups, but the ball tube type are usually more accurate and are often calibrated for more than one gas.
Your Hobart should have a gas solenoid under the door. If it's been bypassed it might be bad, but is pretty easy to replace. Also since you have a Bernard cooler, and won't need water switching, you can often just swap out the water solenoid with the gas one. On many welders they are the same solenoid.

This is the only pic I have that shows the regulator and of course it's facing away...

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5463/9...9f89ce11_c.jpg
Hobart rear by breakneckmoto, on Flickr

I'll look at it tonight and see if I was right or wrong about it being bypassed. Post and pre-flow both work so I guess it has to route into the machine.

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Originally Posted by breakneckmot

This is the only pic I have that shows the regulator and of course it's facing away...


I'll look at it tonight and see if I was right or wrong about it being bypassed. Post and pre-flow both work so I guess it has to route into the machine.

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Sorry for the confusion, I thought you had a new Everlast machine.

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Originally Posted by zoama585

Sorry for the confusion, I thought you had a new Everlast machine.

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Not yet, soon I hope. If someone buys the Hobart then I'll get a new Everlast machine. Otherwise I'm stuck saving my pennies for one.

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Originally Posted by breakneckmot

I'll look at it tonight

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Did you work this out? I wonder if you can get a user manual for the machine. Your regulator probably shows delivery pressure on the left guage, most likely graduated in CFH.

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Originally Posted by DaveO

Did you work this out? I wonder if you can get a user manual for the machine. Your regulator probably shows delivery pressure on the left guage, most likely graduated in CFH.

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Ended up working an extra shift yesterday so I didn't get home until really late. I'm hoping to check it out tonight.

I've been ordering from WeldingCity for a while. Tig electrodes at 1/4 to 1/3 the price of my local supplier for the same product?! No brainier. Quality is as good. One guy at my supplier admitted that more and more consumables etc. comes from overseas anyway.

Just wanted to put a plug in for Diamond Ground Products tungstens here. Reasonable prices (need to purchase 10-pack sizes though), lots of selection (I like the 2% lanthanated) and FREE SAMPLES!!

Also gotta plug HTP for if you want to just buy a small amount of tungstens (of various types and diameters). Good flow meters too. (Everlast just started carrying one that looks similar and is likely also good).

I use CK gas lenses, wedge collets, and cups. For tungsten, I use Diamond Ground. The wedge collets are super durable and I'm still on my first after a year. I got a run of bad gas lenses off of eBay. I went crazy trying to find the source of the contamination. So now, for five bucks each, I just stick with CK gas lenses. It's worth it to me. I use 3/32" for pretty much everything down to 0.024" wall, so that saves me a bit. I get the CK parts from Weld Fabulous and the tungsten off of DGP's eBay store.

Here is a list of tungsten suppliers world wide] ,,,as you will notice there are only 3 makers in the list that are US made,,,,China 369, Korea 14, US 3, Hong Kong 3, Malasyia 2, Bulgaria 1, Taiwan 1,,,,,,,makes a guy wonder what he is buying and where it came from..