Oxy/acetylene oxy/propane questions

[Lhorn]

I want to get into this and bought a Lincoln oxy/acetylene set up from HD on sale a few years ago but never used it. No bottles yet because I ws nervous about getting into this having no guidance

Having watched some YouTube videos, the basics does look too bad. My initial interestest is cutting and heating metal for brazing. Not so much welding for now.


Is this something you would feel comfortable taking up without 1:1 instruction, or with enough reading and videos would you try this out on your own?


I understand oxy/propane is a cheaper way to heat, cut. Do you need extra equipment to use propane or do you just switch the acetylene bottle for a propane tank?

If you are heating and want a small flame is that done by using different tips or do you just turn your gas flow down? What's a good fine tip for more delicate heating?


Clearly I have a lot to learn so please don't think I'm gonna jump into this without a lot more education. At worst I can learn from my dad who used to gas weld cast iron for Kohler but he lives a long way away and he might not be visiting for a while.

Unrelated welding question- I've got a millermatic set up for welding mild steel. If I want to use a different gas (for stainless or aluminum-with spool gun of course), can you use the same gas regulator for argon or a different regulator (gas pressure is gas pressure right)?

Thanks

 

[Johnny chaos]

youtube is a great place to start and continue learning....I've learned more about oxy from youtube, than anywhere else.

In the shop it usually goes something like this "turn these two knobs on and go to town" and "Hey, don't forget to turn them off when your done cause the last guy did and we ran out over the weekend"

 

[jumbojak]

DO NOT USE PROPANE WITH AN ACETELYNE RIG!!!!!! There are conversion torches available but my understanding is that they don't work very well. You will need different hoses too as propane will damage your hoses in short order.

Also keep in mind that what works well with acetelyne for your setup won't work as well when cutting with propane. Propane is likely a better choice as a fuel if you don't plan on torch welding because of the higher BTU output. Harris has some excellent instructional videos about their torches.

 

[bimmer1980]

I learned back in high school...... It was helpful to have some hands on and classroom instructions......

A few things to note and then I'll let the experts chime in....

Learn the proper start up and shut down procedures of the torch setup. I'm meaning specifically how to bleed the hoses and regulators down and back out the valves on the regulators. Our instructor emphasized this.....

Then learn how to set up a flame. Oxidizing, neutral or carbonizing....

Once you start welding or brazing, it is all about heat control and a steady hand.

I found it to be quite enjoyable running weld beads and getting better at it. By the end of high school I was pretty decent at running weld beads. I haven't used it much since, but every now and again it is handy.

I would recommend learning to fuse some steel pieced together before you jump into brazing. You have to be really careful on the brazing not to get it too hot or the brazing will flow everywhere......

You may want to stop by the local community college and see if you can take a couple of classes.

It's not all that hard, but a little one on one instruction would save a lot of frustration and worrying.....

p.s. I recently bought a torch set up for my garage and I'm getting antsy to set it up and try my hand at torch welding again.......

 

[G-ManBart]

I want to get into this and bought a Lincoln oxy/acetylene set up from HD on sale a few years ago but never used it. No bottles yet because I ws nervous about getting into this having no guidance

Having watched some YouTube videos, the basics does look too bad. My initial interestest is cutting and heating metal for brazing. Not so much welding for now.


Is this something you would feel comfortable taking up without 1:1 instruction, or with enough reading and videos would you try this out on your own?


I understand oxy/propane is a cheaper way to heat, cut. Do you need extra equipment to use propane or do you just switch the acetylene bottle for a propane tank?

If you are heating and want a small flame is that done by using different tips or do you just turn your gas flow down? What's a good fine tip for more delicate heating?

For the weekend warrior, I think it's just easier to stick to oxy/acetylene rather than propane. For high-volume users propane makes sense, but I doubt you'll save enough money to cover the cost of conversion parts.

You adjust the amount of heat/size of flame with different tips on your torch. A set will include 3-5 different tip sizes and won't cost much, so there's really no need to only have one or two.

There are lots of good YouTube videos that show the safe way to get things set up, burning, flame adjusted, and shut down.

I watched a bunch of videos, then had my neighbor who's been cutting/welding for years come over and give me a 30min lesson. I think the videos were enough, but it didn't hurt to have him watch what I was doing for a few minutes.

 

[sberry]

Only difference for propane is a tip for cutting. Look clist for bottles, get as big as you can. Most new hose is dual rated but I got them on it 30 plus years.
Torch can be precision.

 

[Greyhorse]

I have a T rated hose for propane (only use it for propane) and a couple propane tips for my torches. Other than that everything else is the same, I have several other hoses that aren't rated for propane so I use them when using acetylene. You will use a little more oxygen cutting with propane and I can't get as clean a cut on propane.

When searching on Craigslist you may want to search for " a settlin' tank" or different variations of that.

 

[sberry]

Prop lasts a long time. Had a bud used it 30 yrs in auto. I used it before plasma, had 2 100 ft hoses, one with each gas. Often used it as a bottle was cheap and still have it on my pickup.

 

[kazlx]

Don't bother with propane like most have said. Just go O/A and a nice torch setup. If you buy a used setup, just buy new hoses and be fine with it. I use my setup pretty much just for heating.

 

[sberry]

I have acetylene on my big truck but don't use much.

 

[matt_i]

+1 to those who suggested keep oxyacet. From what I see for sale, used, its probably 90 o-a setups to every 10 oxy propane setups.

I recall my Uncle (who is a farmer) giving me a hard time about how expensive oxyacet is for "the same thing". However, he basically just used it as a raw mega BTU source for heating big bolts and rusted frozen stuff up red hot to free them and get them working again. I think he had some propane heat on the farm also, so it was easy to get from a delivery truck.

Whereas my use is more of a general purpose metal fabrication use. I do use it for rusted bolts but they aren't 3/4-10s and above...Sometimes I need more concentrated heat. I don't really flame cut very much, saws have multiplied and it leaves cleaner edges for what I want to do.

56% silver solder (some people get antsy and call it silver-brazing as opposed to the flux coated bronze-brazing rods) is a very useful thing, its nearly as strong as steel and is perfect for finer stuff that can't really be welded.

As far as your question about gas regulators, as long as it fits in the "inert shielding gas" category and has the same tank fitting, you should be just fine. There are many common blends from pure argon to 75/25 CO2 blend to tri-mix which has some helium in it and those will all use the same gas regulator.

 

[MoonRise]

Short answer : RTFM.

Longer answer : RTFM, and read up on oxy-fuel at some of the 'big name' torch company web sites.

Like Victor (which is now under ESAB, which also 'has' Tweco and Thermal Dynamics and Stoody and TurboTorch) , or Harris (which is a Lincoln subsidiary), or Smith (now under Miller).

Try here:

http://www.esabna.com/us/en/support/documentation/downloads.cfm?directoryIn=Victor Safety Information&path=/Victor Technologies Products/Victor/Victor Safety Information

and get the "Cutting Heating Welding Guide" PDF.

Most 'modern' oxy-fuel torches can be used with oxy-acetylene or oxy-propane or oxy-whatever. If you use the appropriate tip for the fuel and task.

You can NOT use an oxy-acetylene welding tip with oxy-propane.

You can NOT use the 'standard' acetylene hose (Grade R) with petroleum fuels (like propane). You need to get Grade T hose, and then you can use that hose with propane or acetylene (or any 'common' fuel gas).

Oxy-propane can work just fine for oxy-fuel cutting (of mild steel, like any oxy-fuel cutting) or for brazing. It does not really work for welding (wrong flame temp/heat gradient for welding steel).

Each size tip has a 'heat' output range that makes it suitable for working with a certain thickness or material. You can adjust the heat output of a specific tip a little bit, but you can not just turn a big tip way down and use it on a 'little' job and you can not just turn a little tip way up and use it on a 'big' job. Again, RTFM for picking the right sized tip for the job at hand.

And with acetylene, you have to not withdraw the acetylene from the cylinder at a rate greater than 1:7 of the capacity of the cylinder. RTFM to figure that part out. Summary though: check the flow rate of the sized tip you want to use and make sure your acetylene cylinder size is at least 7x that flow rate. Or take your acetylene cylinder size (in cubic feet) and do not use a tip with a flow rate bigger than 1/7 of the cylinder size.

example: 75 cubic foot acetylene cylinder means do not use a tip with a flow rate greater than 10 cubic feet per hour. A tip with a flow rate of 14 - 40 cubic feet per hour (example: a Victor #6 MFA heating tip, aka 'rosebud') would need a cylinder size (or a bunch of manifolded cylinders) of 98 - 280 cubic feet in order to flow enough acetylene to properly 'feed' that heating tip.

 

[gearhead1]

I use propane for the fact that it is far easier for me to get than acetylene. I have to take time off work to get acetylene, whereas propane is easy to get.

All I changed was the tip. Yes the hoses are supposed to be changed but I didn't and have been using the acetylene hoses for about 15 years now.

 

[sberry]

I got some over 30 on it.

 

[rharman]

Check your local community college for classes....