On Mon, 30 Apr 2018 15:19:37 +0700, John B.
wrote:

My thoughts were not to have to be forever messing with rental tanks.
I get half way through a job and the oxygen runs out or the fuel gas -
I am using LPG recently - expires and one has to run out and get some
more. When we were in Phuket that was nearly an 80 km round trip :-(

Water gas welding isn't going to substitute for bottled gases. What
can you do when the gas pressure is under 2 PSI? You can run a tiny
syringe welding torch or maybe a plastic welder, but that's about it.
Gas welding aluminum is pretty much a lost art these days with the
availability of cheap TIG welding sets. I certified gas welding
aluminum in 1950 and never gas welded aluminum again :-) I seem to
remember that we gas welded aluminum using a flux which I'm not even
sure one can buy these days.

Can you butt weld 0.040 aluminum sheet metal with a TIG welder?

If you don't want to drag around a TIG or MIG shielding gas tank (with
the correct mix), maybe switch to a MIG welder with flux core wire?
The welds aren't as nice as with gas shielding, but good enough.
There's also some slag and more splatter to deal with.

For cutting, a plasma cutter requires on tank of gas. Not a big
improvement over 2 tanks for conventional oxy-acetylene cutting, but
might be worthwhile.



--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558