I've been too long without a cutting touch to loosen and cut damaged fasteners. So, I am looking on ebay for a small oxygen/acetylene outfit. $250 gets me 4lt oxygen, 2lt acetylene tanks hose, regulators etc. all in a small tote. Are these a good value or are the tanks too small and will I be refilling too often. I've tried CL for a used set with large tanks and they are expensive for used and abused.
Tanks are pretty small. I had a set of those for years. They work just fine, but you can burn through the gas in a hurry. I got to where I almost never used them because they were always empty. Finally gave them a friend. I can always borrow them back if I need them.
Its expensive equipment, price new stuff sometime. Also note that all the tanks you see will look beat to hell unless the guy happened to get lucky and was given a pretty one when he went to exchange them last.
once you do find a torch setup, get the proper tip and use propane instead of acetylene.. it works almost as well once you get used to it, and you can just grab the tank from the grill when you need to burn metal with fire..
Only thing about oxy propane is you cant weld (ferrous metals) with it, though nobody really does that anymore, so its not a big deal.
An even smaller issue when the price of acetylelne these days comes into play, is it still $90 to swap out a #4 tank? Or has the price gone back down?
the last big acetylene tank i got last summer was something like $35.. i prefer propane, but it wasn't for my own torch and propane tanks don't fit in the cart..
yeh, I'm not going to be welding anything with this setup. In NE ohio a rust buster torch is needed to get just about anything loose thats more than 5 years old. I've just been dumb enough for all these years using a hand held propane torch.
How do you use the propane tank? Do you need different tips than acetylene? Where do you get the thing that attaches to the tank with the regulator for this? Or do you just take a regular acetylene regulator and change the fitting out so it will connect to the propane tank? In other words, is this off the shelf or do you have to aggie rig this?
I ran a pipe rig for a summer job using propane. After Oxy-Acetylene, Oxy-Propane is horrible. Way less heat, you need to go much slower and have an exceptionally steady hand. Even going slow the cuts are not as clean, so more grinder time. Personally, pay the money for acetylene.
-Trent
Dr. Hess wrote: How do you use the propane tank? Do you need different tips than acetylene? Where do you get the thing that attaches to the tank with the regulator for this? Or do you just take a regular acetylene regulator and change the fitting out so it will connect to the propane tank? In other words, is this off the shelf or do you have to aggie rig this?
the propane tank has the same fitting as the acetylene tank- you just use the finer internal threads on the tank valve instead of the course outer threads.. buy a propane tip, screw around with the pressure on the regulator until it cuts best, and you are set.
TrentO wrote: I ran a pipe rig for a summer job using propane. After Oxy-Acetylene, Oxy-Propane is horrible. Way less heat, you need to go much slower and have an exceptionally steady hand. Even going slow the cuts are not as clean, so more grinder time. Personally, pay the money for acetylene. -Trent
i used propane for about half of a summer of doing scrap iron, and i found that once you get used to the different properties of the gas it works just as good for what i was doing, and it's easier to get propane on a sunday afternoon than it is to get acetylene...
There's complete oxy-acetylene rigs on craigslist all the time, generally w/ bottles. Do that - but make sure the bottles are still good and from whatever gas supplier you'll be nearest to for exchanging.
And while a "rosebud" or cutting torch is useful, you want a "torch" with a variety of tips for heating, brazing, and gas welding.
Gas welding, by the way is a lot of fun to learn, and so few people know how to do it anymore that it's sort of a gearhead parlor trick. Before I had TIG I often gas welded mild steel stuff over MIG.
In reply to motomoron:
In a pinch we used to weld up exhausts using coat hangers for welding rod.
motomoron wrote: Gas welding, by the way is a lot of fun to learn, and so few people know how to do it anymore that it's sort of a gearhead parlor trick. Before I had TIG I often gas welded mild steel stuff over MIG.
I have an old 1940s copy of the Machinery's Handbook that goes into detail on OA welding damn near every metal you can think of. Remember, people did weld aluminum before TIG was invented.
keep on CL. i found a set for $250 with full bigger tanks, old crappy hose, and like new harris regulators and torch. i bought a new hose and was good to go sub $300.
As a safety thingie, and having run a burn unit for a month and seen what happens if you don't, replace the old crappy hoses with new. They're cheap and a whole lot less painful than the consequences of not replacing them.
Gas welding can be a blast, mostly unnecessary these days but not bad if you will take the time to learn it. The torch control/ filler rod technique is prolly the closest you'll find to TIG. For learning practices try gas welding exhaust tubing off the car, like in a bench or pipe vise. Can be used for autobody sheetmetal too w/ advanced practice and primo equipment but w/ MIG why really bother.
fasted58 wrote: Gas welding can be a blast, mostly unnecessary these days but not bad if you will take the time to learn it. The torch control/ filler rod technique is prolly the closest you'll find to TIG. For learning practices try gas welding exhaust tubing off the car, like in a bench or pipe vise. Can be used for autobody sheetmetal too w/ advanced practice and primo equipment but w/ MIG why really bother.
From what I've heard, the advantage is that the weld is less brittle so it is easier to do hammer/dolly or english wheel work. Perhaps Transmaro can enlighten us.....
Don't old tanks have to be inspected/pressure tested at some cost? CL still seems expensive conidering I may have to pay to upgrade pieces/ parts to keep it safe.
/
JoeyM wrote:fasted58 wrote: Gas welding can be a blast, mostly unnecessary these days but not bad if you will take the time to learn it. The torch control/ filler rod technique is prolly the closest you'll find to TIG. For learning practices try gas welding exhaust tubing off the car, like in a bench or pipe vise. Can be used for autobody sheetmetal too w/ advanced practice and primo equipment but w/ MIG why really bother.From what I've heard, the advantage is that the weld is less brittle so it is easier to do hammer/dolly or english wheel work. Perhaps Transmaro can enlighten us.....
You're talking 'hammer welding' there. That is a new chapter, a little more time consuming and dedicated than easy MIG patches. If you have the time and resources for that definitely try it.
rustybugkiller wrote: Don't old tanks have to be inspected/pressure tested at some cost? CL still seems expensive conidering I may have to pay to upgrade pieces/ parts to keep it safe.
That's built into the cost of exchanging the tanks, nobody actually fills them at the user level. They never check the dates when you turn in old ones.
The only thing you really need to be concerned with is creeping acetylene regulators and old hoses.
In reply to Kenny_McCormic:
We got a little off topic. Thanks, Kenny!
In the event you're unaware, the acetylene regulator gauge goes RED/DANGER at 15 psi for a reason, it gets stupid unstable at that pressure and can go explosively decompose in the reg/hose/torch, without any oxygen. If you get one that wont hold a setting you get it rebuilt, yesterday.
Dr. Hess wrote: How do you use the propane tank? Do you need different tips than acetylene? Where do you get the thing that attaches to the tank with the regulator for this? Or do you just take a regular acetylene regulator and change the fitting out so it will connect to the propane tank? In other words, is this off the shelf or do you have to aggie rig this?
I was orginaly sold HPG or High Purity Propaline. The welding shop that sold me the rig told me it burned 600 deg hoter then oxy / ace and needed one size smaller tip. about 4 years latter thet got rid of the hpg tank and filled me with propane. I only use it to cut and have seen no differance. To me propane is the way to go saftey wise and cost. you get more propane in the same size bottle do to it being a stable gas theres no steel matrix in the tank! plus i can get it on sunday if i run out.
Everything is off the shelf parts
My pops worked at the shipyard and they used oxy/propane because acetylene was too expensive.
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