johnboyairey
New Member
hi, i hope i'm posting this info in the correct section.
if you have a land rover, then you will need to weld it one day, and anyone that has a MIG welder or oxy acetylene kit will know that you have to have an account with a firm like BOC to use their cylinders. Trouble is, when yuo have got your MOT, you would like to keep the cylinder and its gas for another day, but you have to return it to save the yearly rental price. typically £70 per year mig gas and 2x £70 for oxygen acetylene etc. -much more for giant sized cylinders. For the DIY man this is too much money. However, as some people are aware of friends that have accounts they often 'come by' a spare cylinder and change them on friends accounts. or they use two bottles on one rental price. this is known as the 2 bottle shuffle.
What people should know, is that if you had already got an empty bottle of any size for that type of gas you require,
YOU CAN TAKE IT TO HSS HIRE (LARGE DEPOTS) AND EXCHANGE A BOC CYLINDER THERE WITHOUT A BOC ACCOUNT! yes, you could buy from an auction site, an old tiny oxygen BOC cylinder -though the well know auction site forbids these cylinders being sold. but they do come up every now and then. So, anyway, take you odd sized bottles, that are WAY out of date, and -ring up HSS hire and enquire about availability of your required cylinder size, (only larger gas holding depots) if they dont have it, that will get it! and drop in and change it for a full one. this is because they hire out gas/mig/tig equipment and customers, they use up the gas etc. i did exactly this, WITHOUT any equipment hire, or even any account or hiring history. i swapped two tiny bottles for two super sized (W+F, 5ft and fat 4ft tall) oxy acetylene bottles. and did an 'argoshield light' X for a Y. (fat 3ft) although the narrow X cylinder I gave in was an old nitrogen bottle with a grey body, (they do nitrogen too) and i got a Y sized argoshield light. and you dont pay the usual BOC transaction charge either! -let me say that this works, and is not confined to a lucky branch. i found this out on a welding forum, and used this VERY useful tip.
It should be noted, that you will never own a BOC cylinder, it is the property of BOC as stamped on the neck. But you might look after it for a price, for as long as you like. please observe all safety precautions handling and using any welding bottles etc.
oxygen w sized £20 (smaller ones, are only about £2 less!)
acetylene f sized, (about £50) though only 5% vat!
argoshield light Y sized, £45ish -all from memory (in 2011)
if you have a land rover, then you will need to weld it one day, and anyone that has a MIG welder or oxy acetylene kit will know that you have to have an account with a firm like BOC to use their cylinders. Trouble is, when yuo have got your MOT, you would like to keep the cylinder and its gas for another day, but you have to return it to save the yearly rental price. typically £70 per year mig gas and 2x £70 for oxygen acetylene etc. -much more for giant sized cylinders. For the DIY man this is too much money. However, as some people are aware of friends that have accounts they often 'come by' a spare cylinder and change them on friends accounts. or they use two bottles on one rental price. this is known as the 2 bottle shuffle.
What people should know, is that if you had already got an empty bottle of any size for that type of gas you require,
YOU CAN TAKE IT TO HSS HIRE (LARGE DEPOTS) AND EXCHANGE A BOC CYLINDER THERE WITHOUT A BOC ACCOUNT! yes, you could buy from an auction site, an old tiny oxygen BOC cylinder -though the well know auction site forbids these cylinders being sold. but they do come up every now and then. So, anyway, take you odd sized bottles, that are WAY out of date, and -ring up HSS hire and enquire about availability of your required cylinder size, (only larger gas holding depots) if they dont have it, that will get it! and drop in and change it for a full one. this is because they hire out gas/mig/tig equipment and customers, they use up the gas etc. i did exactly this, WITHOUT any equipment hire, or even any account or hiring history. i swapped two tiny bottles for two super sized (W+F, 5ft and fat 4ft tall) oxy acetylene bottles. and did an 'argoshield light' X for a Y. (fat 3ft) although the narrow X cylinder I gave in was an old nitrogen bottle with a grey body, (they do nitrogen too) and i got a Y sized argoshield light. and you dont pay the usual BOC transaction charge either! -let me say that this works, and is not confined to a lucky branch. i found this out on a welding forum, and used this VERY useful tip.
It should be noted, that you will never own a BOC cylinder, it is the property of BOC as stamped on the neck. But you might look after it for a price, for as long as you like. please observe all safety precautions handling and using any welding bottles etc.
oxygen w sized £20 (smaller ones, are only about £2 less!)
acetylene f sized, (about £50) though only 5% vat!
argoshield light Y sized, £45ish -all from memory (in 2011)
