Hello Josh, this may sound like a simplistic approach, but short of having some pretty complex and possibly expensive test equipment, I would just change out the bottle and see if I noticed any difference. Arguably, you might end up with the same problem if the other bottle was filled at the same time and from the same batch as the first, yet this might be the easiest and simplist way to tell. A bit or food for thought. If I still had suspicions that the gas wasn't up to snuff, I would request the supplier to provide a new bottle for comparison and be sure to tag the suspect bottle. Best regards, Allan
Hello again Josh, to go along with what OBEWAN said about leaks you should also pay attention to the type of hose that you are using. If you don't have the correct hose you could end up with contamination from the oil that is contained in certain types of hose. Just a bit more to consider. Best regards, Allan
I've had equipment, tooling, and gas supplied problems over the years.
Equipment problems include an old leaky hose cracked near the fitting. It only leaked when it moved into a certain position. Tooling problems include a time I had a leaky air clamp blowing my gas away in a robotic fixture, only in one spot on the part.
Gas supplied problems was a time I was using a tri-mix gas welding stainless. I thought my welder was crazy when he complained about "bad gas." We were using single cylinders. Our supplier explained the filling process. They filled the tank with the desired amounts of the different gasses. Next they lay them on the ground and roll them to mix them. I don't know if it's true or not. We've switched to a bulk system.
My theory is that the probability of filling six containers with two different gasses, exactly the same, is small. The probability of filling six containers with three different gasses is even smaller.
My experience is that 12 packs are better than single cylinders and that a bulk system is better than 12 packs. Every time I receive gas it's slightly different.
Keith
if I remember back to chemistry class, I believe gases always reach a complete mix at standard temperatures and pressures. under this principle the earth's atmosphere doesn't seperate out into areas rich in oxygen or nitrogen. as such you don't need to "mix" gases if they have enough time to reach equilbrium theirselves.
While a single cylinder can get a bad mix or fill of gas, usually when they are emptied too much and atmosphere sucks back in, or moisture; It is fairly rare. I check everything else first then if all else fails swap out another cylinder. I've only ever had a bad cylinder once it was a cylinder of nitrogren for cutting with a cnc plasma machine. We tried everything else then switched out the bottle and it went away. Of the thousands of bottles filled very few of them have enough problems to cause welding problems.
So You learned that *BEFORE* some A-hole made You roll a cylinder around the parking lot to mix up the gas. :-)
When I was doing wireline in the oilfield, we would tell the trainees to roll the X-ray source container (a 180 pound Lead Keg) around uphill in the dirt (yes the more uneven the ground is the better) to "help activate the neutrons" before using it!
Don't forget, It also remixes those spare protons back into the atomic matrix. Well mixed neutrons help you distinguish the 2-T pene hole easier.
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