oxygen and acetalene tanks

[Tractor Seabee]

There used to be a steel cutting system that used gasoline for fuel. It was in a tank that you manually pressurized, The economics looked really good. I watched a demonstration and could not believe it. Cuts were as clean as today's Plasma torches, there was no slag just black powder, and no dingle berries on the underside. The lady helping the demonstrator held her hand 18" under the cut and not flesh burns. By standers tried and attested to that. They showed cutting a 6" steel shaft with no starting nick. It had all the approval for using on ships and in buildings including NFPA. I heard it did not catch on due to insurance companies not believing the safety. The Coast Guard even approved for ship board work. The system was fairly expensive to buy (no volume production) but was cheap to operate.

Ron

 

[Tractor Seabee]

As has been stated before the need for acetylene is diminishing rapidly. Today the large tanks we used to need even for intermittent use are slowly dying in our type market. That is why the personal owned versus leased is the small tank market. The only viable reason to have Acetylene is for gas welding steel. I was always a better gas welder than arc even though I was ASME pressure piping/vessel certified for both. Everything has its place. Today for personal use I have the 40 CF tanks. Haven't filled the Acetylene for several years. O2, often. I have propane/nat gas tips for my cutting torch. Welding tips work fine on any fuel. Somebody mentioned Mapp gas; that is long gone here in the NW. Cannot even buy those small containers the big box stores had. Propane has a higher BTU value than propane I believe. I heard once it came out to compete with Acetylene; it contains acetylene but is safe to compress and does not need the absorbent in the tank Acetylene is expensive to produce and is in high demand for other chemical processes which compete for it. Most is now generated from Natural gas feed stock.

Acetylene 101, Ron

 

[ultrarunner]

Several of my cars have gas lights... a couple have the small MC acetylene tank and two have the gas generator.

It has been very hard to buy for the generator... something about homeland security where previous any number of vendors carried it.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Several of my cars have gas lights... a couple have the small MC acetylene tank and two have the gas generator.

It has been very hard to buy for the generator... something about homeland security where previous any number of vendors carried it.

One Reason: Calcium Carbide is no longer a consumer product like it used to be. There are a lot of industrial processes that use carbide as a feed stock and is in high demand. A lare amount of CC is now produced in China where wages are cheap and safety is not an issue. There may be something to the DHS interest as a little carbide and water and you can have a huge explosion. It could be a terrorist explosive of choice. There are a lot of ways I can think of to make into a neat timed or command detonation after the acetylene has built up in a enclosed space from water slowly dripping onto carbide like your auto lamps. When I was a kid we used to blow up large gopher complexes using carbide and water. I would go to jail today for some of the antics of my youth.

Ron

 

[bigdeano]

It looks like Calcium Carbide is available on Ebay, not cheap though.

 

[ultrarunner]

Must be the Hazmat shipping...

Back in 2008 the local Model T parts house stopped selling it citing new regs and I have not tried since.

I remember going into mines in Nevada with carbide lamps... guess with LED and Lithium batteries carbide lamps are obsolete.

 

[Catoosa]

All the fun stuff that we could blow ourselves up with as kids has been outlawed by do gooders. I remember having a chemistry set that had sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate in little bottles, carbide could bought at any hardware or drug store and if you were old enough you could buy dynamite. If you weren't old enough you made due with cherry bombs that actually would blow your arm off.

I'm glad to have lived most of my life when we really were a free society and everyone was responsible for themselves.

 

[Stimw]

I fill my little O2 tanks from my big tank...

We go through about 10 cylinders a week so no rental charges.

My buddy set me up with the line for filling and he was plant Super Intendant of an industrial gas plant.

It takes longer to fill my Acetylene because I have to wait for turn around to fill my customer owned tank.

For anyone who tries to transfer O2 make sure you have very clean equipment!
A spot of grease or oil pressurized with O2 can explode. Think Diesel engine.

 

[BeezFun]

There used to be a steel cutting system that used gasoline for fuel.

When I took welding at the local community college a few years ago, they had a cutting torch that used gasoline. It had a pressurized tank of gas that reminded me of the gas tanks on boats that use outboard motors. The gas and oxygen bottle connected to a special torch and it worked great. We practiced cutting 3" steel and it went through it like butter. Instructor said it's way cheaper than using acetylene, and safer because acetylene is so explosive.

 

[Tomtint]

I bought a set of tanks, used but refurbished torch and gauges with various tips,new hose and a cart from my local welding supply company down the street this past winter. All said and done was 800.00 out the door. For the few times a year I will use it, I think it will be a few years before I need a refill, but they will do that as well.