I copied this from another forum about using pure argon:-
Pure Argon is intended for aluminium welding rather than for steel, but I had a bottle so it's included for completeness.

The arc was slightly less even than the Argon/CO2 mixes, and tended to stray. It was tricky to control exactly where the arc struck the steel especially on thin metal.

The weld build up was much higher than with any of the other shielding gasses (bad), and there was an odd roughness around the edge of the weld - possibly due to stray arcing. The difference was enough for me to trade in a half full bottle of Argon for a new bottle of Argoshield now that my aluminium welding is finished.

So you may get away with using it.

Peter

Hi Russell.

Which Clarke model do you have thats shit.
just interested as all the Clarkes as far as I know will also take big bottles.

Peter

It's a 240v 150a model, the pathetic regulator it comes with is for the disposable bottles and all it has to carry a bottle is a jubilee clip on the back of it. There's nowhere to mount a proper bottle of gas. It just has the feel of a cheap toy, the wheels fell off it within weeks of me buying it, the torch is only about a metre or so long meaning the welder is constantly too far away from the work which would be fine if I was sitting at a bench all day but for weldIng a car it's a nightmare. For the money I paid for it (about £220) I could have bought a decent used machine from a reputable manufacturer. I use a 170A Transarc machine at work that was £1200 new and they now sell for around £300 used and are a decent quality tool. Those Clarke migs are just a con, I can imagine they'll last any time at all if you used them day in, day out.

bear in mind that anything industrial and over 150A may come with a 16a plug and trip out domestic RCB protected fuse box.

PeterJ
for a DIYer the clarke would be an ideal little welder now that Russ has shaken all the loose bits off it, make him an offer

Understand you well Russ. Decent tool is a must working as a professional however my little gasless Italian made Telwin is still going after 12 years except the handle has fallen apart. The yellow Swedish beast just didn't perform right, gas flow OK but current on max not OK + wirefeed wrong. Therefore in for service in Paris. Can't wait for its return so I'm ordering on line today, to get me out of trouble. If I had more time, I would certainly follow your advice getting a good solid used machine but Spanner is leaving next week so a small maybe gasless will see me chipping away on cars until the Swedish beast are back.
Thanks all for your inputs

get the Spannermeister to pop in to Russ on the way down - job jobbed?
( and get Jon to set it up and use it for a bit as gas mig is much more sensitive to torch angles, direction of weld and distance than the gassless that you are used to - from what ive seen Jon is as good as any with the mig)

Good idea, over to you Russ and Jon. Is it a go'er? Let me know before noon so I don't have to order on line.
Cheers

My wanky little Clarke is in my parents garage somewhere, I cant organise getting it before spanners comes down, although if I could you'd have been welcome to it. It's probably knackered anyway as its been in a damp garage for 3 years since I had to suffer its hideousness when I did that red 2cv. God I hate that welder. Hate it hate it hate it.

Viking, are you replacing your Swedish welder when it's back from repair? I'd like a decent one for my new garage/workshop/man cave if you're thinking of selling it. It'd be a great excuse for me to spend a sunny weekend in France Looking at all the pretty girls...

Buy nice, or buy twice!

Depends on the verdict from the repair shop. If not too expensive I may keep it but need to somehow get another bottle next time mixed gas. Don't know what to do with the pure argon? Can anybody use it in the UK.

A mighty thanks to JAlanK who just dropped in his welder to get me out of trouble. Yet again the 2cv folks comes to the rescure when you really need them. Unbelieveable.
Cheers mate