Regulator settings ?

[john pen]

What do you guys set your oxy accet regulators at...and what would you recomend ? Probably pretty general question..Im mostly heating and welding/brazing...cutting occasionaly..

[Brainfarth]

Check out my site: http://www.brainfarth.com/bone.html for the victor welding and cutting charts.

[rusted]

Hey Brainfarth, on the gas pressure columns, what does the 1/2 or 8/18 mean?

Is that 1-2 or 8-18?

[Brainfarth]

You know, I never looked at it that way before. It's supposed to mean 1 to 2 or 8 to 18 for the pressures.

[7018]

I set mine @ 5 and 20 should do the job for most of ur cutting!!5 being accet and 20 the ox!

[hankj]

Kinda depends on your torch. I cut 3/8" with my Victor J100 at 3# acetelyne and 20# O2 with good travel speed and little or no slag on the underside.

I've found that my cuts are cleaner using the least amount of fuel gas that will get the steel hot enough to burn. It's kinda trial and error, dontcha think?

Be well.

hankj

[dob]

for welding tips the correct ratio is 1:1.1 . meaning if you are running a number 3 you should have 3 psi of acet. and 3.3 of 02- knowing how to balance a torch properly is probably the most important thing you should learn in this trade.

[john pen]

Thanks for all the replys...

[MAC702]

Originally posted by dob
for welding tips the correct ratio is 1:1.1 . meaning if you are running a number 3 you should have 3 psi of acet. and 3.3 of 02- knowing how to balance a torch properly is probably the most important thing you should learn in this trade.

Hmmm, then where should I set my 000? Seriously...

You know, my dad always taught me that the O2 is supposed to be about 4x the C2H2 because of the combustion formula. And in doing the stoichiometry, it does give a ratio of 2:5 if I remember right.

But I see a lot of "experts" and technical manuals that say you should have the pressures the same or, like Dob's formula would give, have the O2 just SLIGHTLY higher than C2H2. And my Victor chart agrees with that. (And yes, it gives me acceptable values for my 000, which I recently welded some 24-ga. with.)

So, yes, getting your torch balanced is the sign of being a professional. But then again, professionals will differ on the definition of "balanced," as in pressure or moles of gas.

[fatfrank]

Hey guys, along this same line. If you are using a cutting tip to heat metal for bending do you use the same pressures as you would for cutting that thickness of metal but stay off the cutting lever?

The other day I had a bow in a sheet of 1/4 plate and was trying to heat it and bend it back, and this question came up.