Guy at the union hall told me I was overthinking my purge setup

He saw me fiddling with my argon flow meter on a stainless pipe job at the Marathon refinery in Detroit and just laughed. Said I was wasting gas trying to get perfect 15 CFH every time when 10 works fine on schedule 40. Has anyone else noticed a real difference between those two settings on standard wall pipe?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jason2mo agoMost Upvoted

Tbh I read something from a pipeline inspector a while back who said the same thing. He swore that 12-13 CFH was the sweet spot on standard wall stuff, and that anything above that was just burning through argon with no real benefit. I've been welding for years on schedule 40 stainless and I honestly think he's right. The puddle doesn't behave any different at 15 versus 10, and my tungsten stays cleaner with lower flow. The only time I crank it up is on thin wall tubing where you need that extra shield to keep the backside from sugaring. On heavy wall pipe it's mostly a waste. That union guy probably sees guys overthink their setups every day.

the_patricia2mo ago

People put way too much thought into this stuff. At the end of the day it's just gas coming out of a cup, not rocket science.

paul3461mo ago

Funny enough I used to be the guy cranking it up to 15 thinking I was being careful. Then a old timer at a fab shop showed me the same thing on 6 inch schedule 40 and it clicked. Now I run 10 or 11 on most standard wall stuff and honestly my welds look just as good and my tungsten lasts way longer. The only time I bump it up is on thin wall stuff or tricky vertical positions where the gas wants to roll off. That union guy probably sees ten guys a week overcomplicating the same thing.