Oxy acetylene rig recommendation

[Rgillard]

I agree with using propane. Unless you plan on using the setup for welding stay away from acetelene. Its one of the most toxic gases. Propane is much cleaner, easier to cut with, easier to obtain. Propane is a little bit slower if you are cutting really thick plate but I started off with Acetelene and changed..Much better setup now...

 

[Bedlam]

Maybe these links will help, or open a new froum for you to check.

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Penton’s Welding Magazine

 

[sandman2234]

Back in 1987 I worked my way into a deal doing some contractor work for a major welding supply company. One of the benefits, was free gas. I had to supply the bottles, but refills were free. I got to be such a regular customer, they quite checking to see if I was still on the free list. Until they sold the store I used, I continued to get free gas. I kept adding to my stock of bottles, till I realized I owned more than 40 bottles.
The free gas lasted 18 years, and I am approaching the time when I will have to purchase my first bottle of gas. Guess everyone needs a new experience every now and then.
I prefer to cut with acytlene, weld with Argon or Helium on my tig, but things like that may change now that I have to pay for it.
David from jax

 

[gclark94560]

I bought a new set o Smith last year and use propane through them. You are right gclark propane is a better heat. they told me ya can't gas weld with it . Have youtried to gas weld with it ? I haven't tried it yet but have been meaning to. I think any gas that will melt metal can be used to weld 2 pieces of metal together.think of it this way the old time blacksmith forged metal together with a fire of wood in a fire pit. So give me one good reason a man can't weld with propane.

Hi Ken S!

I have brazed and silver soldered with the propane. Works great. I have not tried fusion welding with it as I have 2 electric welders.

I have a 100 amp MIG and a 225 arc box.

I agree, if it will cut something it should weld it. But then I can cut railroad track with it and would never try to weld the stiff with gas!

Greg

 

[BHD]

the propane oxidizes the metal or something, and the heat is different, yes you can melt it but it is not a good weld even if you can stick it together, I really don't know why it doesn't work but it does not work well,

it works great for brazing or soldering, and cutting.

all our torches are on propane, I like smith cutting torches,

I like the smith equipment in that it has three tubes and mixes in the head of the torch, helping eliminate a dangerous flash back in to the handle,

we usly just use a 20lb grill bottle for the torch, and of course a oxygen bottle,
eliminating the cost of rent or lease or buying of a acetylene tank, and the expensive refills, (i usly fill my propane my self out of the bulk tank),

when you go for the oxygen tank, see if the company will let you up grade or exchange for a larger tank at a later date if you want to, for the cost difference of the lease difference, and if you do decide to get out of the tanks if they will buy your lease back, or what they do for you,

I had 150 cu ft, tanks for years, and then asked one day what the 244 cu ft, tanks would cost, to refill, they exchanged the lease for the larger with the cost difference of the two different sizes based on current lease price, so I payed $75 to up grade to the larger tanks, the cost of refilling (exchanging tanks) was $24 for the 150 cu ft, S tanks and $26 for the 244 cu ft K tanks, all most double the oxygen for $2.

Oxygen cuts the metal not the heat of the torch, if you keep it cutting you could shut off the preheat tip, and it would still cut, the preheat on the tip just brings the metal up to oxidation temperature,

Oxy-fuel welding and cutting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cutting
For cutting, the set-up is a little different. A cutting torch has a 60 or 90-degree angled head with six orifices placed around a central jet. The six outer jets are for oxygen and acetylene (oxy-propane devices use an array of many jets) and the central jet carries only oxygen.

The flame is not intended to melt the metal, but to bring it to its ignition temperature.

The torch's trigger blows extra oxygen at high pressure down the torch's third tube out of the central jet into the workpiece, causing the metal to burn and blowing the resulting molten oxide through to the other side and off the workpiece completely. The ideal cut is a narrow gap with a sharp edge on either side of the workpiece; overheating the workpiece and thus melting through it causes a rounded edge.



Cutting is initiated by heating the edge of the steel to melting point using the six pre-heat jets only, then using the separate cutting oxygen valve to release the oxygen from the central jet. The steel is instantly oxidized into molten iron oxide, producing the cut. It is worth noting several things at this point:-

The oxygen flowrate is critical — too little will make a slow ragged cut; too much will waste oxygen and produce a wide concave cut. Many torches do not have a separate pressure control for the cutting oxygen, so the cutting oxygen pressure must be controlled using the oxygen regulator. Typically for cutting the oxygen pressure from the regulator will be set higher than for welding.
The oxidation of iron by this method is highly exothermic. Once started, steel can be cut at a surprising rate, far faster than if it was merely melted through. At this point, the pre-heat jets are there purely for assistance. The rise in temperature will be obvious by the intense glare from the ejected material, even through proper goggles (which, typically, should be darker than goggles used for welding). (A thermic lance is a tool which also uses rapid oxidation of iron to cut through almost any material.)
Since the melted metal is blown out of the workpiece, there must be room on the opposite side of the workpiece for the spray to exit. When possible, pieces of metal are cut on a grate that lets the melted metal fall freely to the ground. The same equipment can be used for oxyacetylene blowtorches and welding torches, by exchanging the part of the torch in front of the torch valves.
For a basic oxy-acetylene rig, the cutting speed in light steel section will usually be nearly twice as fast as a petrol-driven cut-off grinder. The advantages when cutting large sections are obvious - an oxy-fuel torch is light, small and quiet and needs very little effort to use, whereas a cut-off grinder is heavy and noisy and needs considerable operator exertion and may vibrate severely, leading to stiff hands and possible long-term repetitive strain injury.

Oxy-propane torches are usually used for cutting up scrap to save money, as LPG is far cheaper joule-for-joule than acetylene,

 

[sugarmaple]

I bought the heavy duty Smith dualguard and am burning propylene. I liked the safety aspects of the Smith, but the ergonomics have proven to be a bit fussy. It is beautifully made neverthless, and it is American made.I find that my gloved right hand bumps the gas valve sooner or later and changes the gas setting and hence the flame inspite of having tightened the nut for the valve packing. This is annoying because the adjustments are so fine and any variation sends you into a less than optimum flame, or else just flames out. The Victors with the angled gizmos ahead of the valves seem ideal to me and the size of the HD Smith makes it hard to maneuver in tight spots. Having said that, it sure cuts nice, makes bending easy. I am hoping that familiarity will help me master the tool eventually. I think if I had it to do over again, I would go with a midsize Victor or Smith for easier maneuvering. In terms of capacity, very few will ever use the capacity of the larger torches and with the right tips, the smaller units will do fine. The size of the tank from the standpoint of its capacity to vaporize adequate amounts of fuel is probably more of an issue.