been reading up on gas lense's, and also the gas saver lens.. if any of you are using them, are they worth it? i'm reading they can save up to 50% of argon use, this alone would make them worth it i would think... i've seen alot using them on stainless and titanium, i might weld some stainless but i probably wont ever weld any titanium... i see there are regular gas lenses and also the gas saver lens. the regular gas lens' are petty cheap,then the gas saver lens can get kind of expensive for what they are $50-$75 depending.. what you guys think?
From what i know they're really useful for letting the tungsten hang out for better coverage of the weld pool. The lens alters the gas flow to form a column rather than a cloud. I'm skeptical as to the proposed 50% gas savings though as you still need to run approx the same pressure. With Ti welding you need a larger coverage of argon to protect the weld pool and the gas helps to control the HAZ but is asinine if you can't flood the back of the weld with argon too. Ti i finicky and gas coverage is the difference between a good weld and one that will crack and be contaminated. For regular mild and stainless steel i would say get a kit for the torch you use, and the full pyrex cup kit it will allow you to see the arc a lot better. And in the hard to reach spots help you hang that tungsten out. The reasoning for the massive cups is for critical welds in food and aerospace industry to the point where even minor imperfections will cause the part to be rejected. That's at least that i can make of it. Is it worth it? sure why not for $50 being able to see what you're doing is an automatic win especially when you're in strange positions, then you can see if the gas savings is truly accurate.
Here is a great thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=313952&highlight=gas+lens Also look at the incredible welds thread. Or type this into the search with quotes "gas lens". I found many good threads discussing them.
thanks guys, and thanks for the link o the other thread. i did a search for gas lens, it turned up about everything with gas and lens in the thread but didnt use the quotes, i'll try that and see what i come up with also..
Two ways to search use the quote or type it in the search window like this gas+lens Sometimes I try it both ways.
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