Clarke Tig Welding Gas Bottle/Regulator

I've been pulling my hair out trying to tig weld some stainless steel with my new tig welder I've used the welder successfully stick weld and this is the first time I've tried using Tig. I've coupled up with a flow meter and checked there is no leeks in the connector. I've screwed the regulator into the bottle opened the valve and the flow meter and there is no gas flowing the instruction on the bottle says " If the gas does not flow when the regulator is opened unscrew the regulator and screw down again until the gas flows. I've trued this countless times I've even bought a new bottle and this is the same.

I've checked the regulator and the flow meter and they are working correctly so the fault must be from the bottle.

What am I doing wrong or is there a fault with the bottle has any one else experienced this problem

Stew

I hardly dare to suggest this, but ... Have you checked the gross weight of the bottles ?

It sounds suspiciously like you may have been sold a couple of empty ones !

MichaelG.

.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/argon-gas-cylinder-2/

Edit: __ Just found this, which might help:

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/disposable-cylinder-weight-when-full.72141/

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 15/05/2021 15:04:36

It'd be nice to think Michael's theory of the empty bottle was wrong......

My first thought was that the fault is with the regulator opening the valve on the top of the bottle. Here's a picture of the interface between the bottle and the reg'

You can see there is a small peg poking out of the middle of the female thread, this lifts a corresponding peg in the centre of the male thread on the top of the bottle. Without both pegs the valve will stay shut.

That peg sticks out maybe 3 mm beyond the O ring mating surface. It's fixed in place - it's the one in the top of the bottle that moves.

You can tell if the bottle has got anything in it by pressing the valve stem - the centre portion about 4 mm dia - with a suitable prodder. Onn the bottle I've just tried I had to push really hard to move the valve stem.

HTH Simon

Edited for a couple of silly typo's

PS I assume you've realised you need to turn the dial on top  of the regulator to something other that zero?

Edited By Simon Williams 3 on 15/05/2021 15:27:35

Edited By Simon Williams 3 on 15/05/2021 15:30:31

Is there a pressure gauge on the regulator? Normally there would be two gauges, one showing the bottle pressure and the other for the set pressure. As soon as you open the bottle valve, you should get a reading on one of the gauges.

EDIT: I  noticed its a disposable bottle - not sure how the regulator on that works.

Edited By ChrisB on 15/05/2021 15:26:39

The regulator should give the bottle pressure, you need to confirm this before looking for other problems.

The regulator should give the bottle pressure, you need to confirm this before looking for other problems.

The simple regulators supplied with this type of welder don't have gauges & are not adjustable - the knob is just an on-off valve.

Nigel B..

.

It would indeed !!

MichaelG.

How did you check the regulator worked?

I would bin the lot and get a proper cylinder, regulator and couple in your flow meter. Apart from being more reliable it will be cheaper for gas.

Paul.

👍+1 learning to tig weld with disposable bottles will be costly, refillable bottles are also better for the environment.

Just found this video: **LINK**

https://youtu.be/WhB5WoyzkQc

... from which it seems that the Clarke regulator might be best avoided.

MichaelG.

Here in NZ, both from the same supplier, I can get either a disposable bottle with 242 litres of gas for NZ$98, or a refill of 1000 litres on a refillable bottle for NZ$80. Obviously UK prices are likely to differ, but I suspect the savings will be of the same order, eg 4 times as much gas for much the same price.With the deal here, you do have to buy the bottle, which is then swapped every time you need to fill it. This does mean that you don't have to worry about testing the bottle eventually. The refillable bottle, which comes full, costs NZ$300, which means that it is cheaper than the disposable even if you bought a new one each time, eg the gas equal to 4 disposables for the price of three. But then when you swap it, you get the equivalent of four disposables for less than the price of one.

I did start out with a disposable bottle, the only good thing about that is that once it was empty I was able to weld on some feet, ears, tail, and snout to turn it into a piggy bank.

The only time the disposable would make good sense is when you need to cart the gear into some awkward to reach place, a long way from your vehicle or up a tower. With a small inverter welder you could have quite a portable kit. Of course that place would need power available too.

As to the original problem, I suspect that the bit on the regulator is not poking in far enough to open the valve on the bottle. If that is the case it should be possible to get a refund on the grounds of not fit for purpose.

John

Thanks for all your help and advice chaps.

Dave:- I checked it with compressed air but read on.

The bottles are full checked them by compressing the valve with a nail.

Just screwed on the regulator without the pipe connection and it worked screwed the pipe connector on and it didn't repeated the checked and it worked/failed each time. The pipe connector is one of those where you push the plastic pipe in and it self locks checked connector with compressed air and it was ok. The only thing I can think that is happening is that the hole in the connector is too small (Less than 1mm) so the back pressure is stopping the regulator doing its job.

From all the comments these regulator are a source of trouble so I've just ordered another type of regulator.

Thanks for all you help

Stew

Stewart, I second everything said here about 'expensive small bottles. Worse, they always run out when you need to use them. It didn't take me kind to convert to one of these from a localish supplier...

https://www.classic-oils.net/Hobbyweld-Argon-ULTRA?VariantID=34393&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI49qY7tXN8AIVg4jVCh0iBwJDEAQYASABEgLjGvD_BwE

Cheers, Colin

+1 to get a proper bottle and decent regulator, there are suppliers local to me that you buy the bottle and just pay for the refill when you need it, no rental.

I think the pure argon I use is about £50 for the gas, lasts ages.

They even deliver them the same day!

Did start with 2 disposable bottles, lasted about 20 mins each, very expensive way to do it.