Regulators & Flowmeters

Regulators and flowmeters for shielding gas and oxy-fuel. The regulator is a safety device before it is a convenience, and the CGA fitting on it is not a suggestion.

Regulator, flowmeter, or both

• Flowmeter regulators combine cylinder pressure reduction with a calibrated flow tube, reading directly in cubic feet per hour. The standard for MIG and TIG shielding gas.
• Two-stage regulators hold delivery pressure steady as cylinder pressure falls. Worth the cost on long runs and precision TIG, where a drifting flow rate shows up in the weld.
• Oxy-fuel regulators are specific to the gas and are not interchangeable between oxygen and fuel gas under any circumstances.

The fitting is the safety system

CGA connections are deliberately different between gases so that a fuel-gas regulator physically cannot be fitted to an oxygen cylinder, and vice versa. Adapting between them defeats a safety design that exists because the failure mode is a fire. If a regulator will not fit the cylinder, the answer is the correct regulator.

Fuel gas fittings are left-hand threaded and usually notched for this reason. Oxygen fittings must be kept free of oil and grease - oxygen and hydrocarbons at pressure is a genuine ignition hazard, not a theoretical one.

Flow rate is not a dial to guess at

Too little shielding gas gives porosity. Too much creates turbulence at the nozzle, which draws air into the shielding envelope and gives you the same porosity you were trying to avoid, while costing more. Set it to the process and the nozzle size, then leave it.

Check them, replace them

A regulator that creeps - delivery pressure climbing with the torch closed - has a failing seat and must come out of service. A gauge that no longer returns to zero is no longer telling you anything.

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