Oxy Fuel

[David R]

Post your Oxy fuel pics, questions and comments. This is temporary unless it takes off.

David

[makoman1860]

Well I guess this is close enough to our own section. So what does everyone weld with their OA setups?

[59halfstep]

I use mine for auto body sheet metal. I have an old Smith Airline I have had for 40 years and I also have a Dillon, Henrob, or Cobra what ever you want to call it. The company has been sold three times and they change the name each time. Same torch though.

[kmaysob]

well i just got my o/a set.its a prostar made by victor. i got the full sized bottles too. i will be posting on here hopefully soon. im having to get a second job to make ends meet.

[Craig in Denver]

My Craftsman (Harris) carried me for years (no 220v available in the house). But since I bought the TIG, I could almost throw away the O/A............. almost.

[Oldiron2]

The first time I operated a torch was when I was in the 8th grade metal shop class; one of the assigned projects was a small hammer made of 1/2" square CRS, cut at an angle so it tapered to a wedge in back and drilled and filed to get a nearly square handle hole. I guess I put more care into mine than the average student and had even polished it nicely before mounting the handle, when the teacher asked if I'd like to harden mine. I, of course did although I had no idea how to; he showed me how to case harden it's ends with the oxy-acetylene flame, which I did for quite a while, afterward quenching it in water. I got it more than file-hard, but it surely took a long time to sand and re-polish the surface again! Anyway, that opened my eyes to OA torches and what they could do; by my college days, I had my own Harrris rig in the dorm room closet for a while.
I still have and use that hammer, mostly for working on firearms and other smaller stuff in my room. The polish isn't quite like new but the head still isn't mushroomed after the extensive use it's gotten.

[Billy]

We use it everyday in my shop, silver soldering mainly brass to stainless, which can be a bit tricky at times.

[tanglediver]

Pictures! I mentioned the rain in another post. Here is what I tacked with the torch. It's already painted though, and sort of a temporary/semi-permanent fix...cart handle. Right on the edges, I want to try some more with the torch, it makes for a nice change in pace compared to mig welding on the time-clock!

[denrep]

Originally Posted by makoman1860

Well I guess this is close enough to our own section. So what does everyone weld with their OA setups?

...Don't often weld anything with Oxy-Fuel, but O-F is indispensable.
For example you could use it to:

Heat stubbornly stuck parts that need separating:


Or braze a handle onto a valve's brass stem:


Maybe heat up a pan of grits - or whatever that was!


Even heavy sections can be cleanly cut with a hand held torch:


And precise shapes can be cut with machine guided torches:

Originally Posted by David R

Post your Oxy fuel pics, questions and comments. This is temporary unless it takes off.

Oxy-Fuel is a versatile process that is very relevant to welding and fab work;
Yet O-F is uniquely different enough from any electric process, that it deserves it's own forum.

Good Luck

[denrep]

[quote=denrep;252128...that it deserves it's own forum.

Good Luck[/QUOTE]

I meant "that it deserves its own forum"

Not "it's"
If you don't mind correcting that and deleting this!

[tapwelder]

Here is a project I did about 8 yrs ago. I was at the clients office and saw the old trailer sitting there. ...bring back not so fond memories fo a couple of crazy hot days made hotter with the torch. I just added all the strap and top angle.

[mn welder]

i found a brand new setup on ebay a smith or victor for 85.00 and that includes everything and i talked to the guy at welder supply store is it easier to lease the tanks or just buy em outright any thoughts? i guess it would depend on how often you would use oxy fuel

[makoman1860]

Well I own all of mine, (2) 150 acetylene (2) 250 Hydrogen (2) 250 Oxygen (2) BBQ propane. Add on to that all the Argon, CO2, and C25 cylinders and im supprized the ATF isnt on my case! Leasing isnt a bad deal for the bigger tanks. For people just getting into welding I usually recomend a set of the "burgular" bottles ( MC acet and 20cf Oxygen ) and a nice little carry-all. Then lease a big set if they have a big project. That way they always have something for a quick job, and arent paying lease on a tanks they arent using. On the same token match the tanks to the torch and work. If its a little aircraft style torch, then small tanks are ok. The big agricultural torches should be fitted to larger tanks, of course always following the withdrawl rules of acetylene cylinders.

[makoman1860]

Thought you guys might get a kick out of some of my "stable" of torches. With the exception of the large oxweld , all are in new or restored condition. The oldest here is the Marquette "P" from about 1921 and the newest is the Harris 19-6 from this year.

[Craig in Denver]

Wow. That photo just made this thread immortal.

[makoman1860]

Naw,
The individuals and companies that designed and made these tools would make it immortal Unfortunately many do not exist anymore, and the art is dying. Smith and Harris are the only companies here in the US that still have burner engineers on staff. Smith actually did a re-design on some of their products in the last couple years, and my hats are off to them. The new valves on the AW1A handle are a vast improvement, and the new regulators are wonderful, with a touch of elegnace in the cast handles. I was sent 2 prototype sets of regulators to test a couple years ago....and your going to have to pry them from my cold dead hands. Unfortunately quality of design really matters when it comes to torch performance, and its lacking in the mainstream tools. I sometimes wonder if this is part of the casue of frustration for people trying to weld, especially materials like aluminum and nickel based alloys. Oh here is a pic of the latest soon-to-be edition to the torch family. A 1913-1915 Oxweld W1, this is about half way through the restoration and overhaul. Valves are all new, soldered joints repaired and tubes straightened and dents removed. Once I machine a new mixer and tips we are all set! Oh and the threads are all metric non-standard.

[Craig in Denver]

Originally Posted by makoman1860

The individuals and companies that designed and made these tools would make it immortal Unfortunately many do not exist anymore,
and the art is dying.

The older I get, the more aggitated I become about not having longer to learn more about welding (doing, not reading). I'm a hands on kinda guy (only Perfect is close enough) and when my electro-mechanical trade went electronic, I was trapped; too many years invested to restart.

Originally Posted by makoman1860

Smith and Harris are the only companies here in the US that still have burner engineers on staff. Smith actually did a re-design on some of their products in the last couple years, and my hats are off to them. The new valves on the AW1A handle are a vast improvement, and the new regulators are wonderful, with a touch of elegnace in the cast handles. I was sent 2 prototype sets of regulators to test a couple years ago....and your going to have to pry them from my cold dead hands. Unfortunately quality of design really matters when it comes to torch performance, and its lacking in the mainstream tools. I sometimes wonder if this is part of the casue of frustration for people trying to weld, especially materials like aluminum and nickel based alloys. Oh here is a pic of the latest soon-to-be edition to the torch family. A 1913-1915 Oxweld W1, this is about half way through the restoration and overhaul. Valves are all new, soldered joints repaired and tubes straightened and dents removed. Once I machine a new mixer and tips we are all set! Oh and the threads are all metric non-standard.

Funny, when I was younger, I didn't give a hoot about history; now it's fascinating. Thanks for the lesson and pics. The metric threads surprised me, not made in America?

[makoman1860]

Originally Posted by Craig in Denver

The older I get, the more aggitated I become about not having longer to learn more about welding (doing, not reading). I'm a hands on kinda guy (only Perfect is close enough) and when my electro-mechanical trade went electronic, I was trapped; too many years invested to restart. Funny, when I was younger, I didn't give a hoot about history; now it's fascinating. Thanks for the lesson and pics. The metric threads surprised me, not made in America?

Yep it was made right here in the USA. But remember durring that time period we had not really adopted the UN thread system. The metric system was already established in europe. Many times you will find threaded parts from the WW1 era that are neither english, metric, whitworth, BSA, BF, or anything. Thats when the fun starts!

[denrep]

Makoman 1860 - That's a nice arsenal!
Thanks for posting it.

I wonder what the combined BTU potential is?!?


Good Luck

[slimneverdies]

Damn Makoman 1860. Thats pretty serious machinery you got there buddy!! Im looking to get a DHC 2000 this weekend. Out of that entire lineup which torch do you like to use on butt welding 18-22 gauge sheetmetal?

[makoman1860]

Hey,
Glad you asked! For the sheet size you mentioned the Meco N Medget, followed by the Victor J40. Especially if your going to get into hot working sheet parts and such its amazing how nice the position of the valves are for quick adjustment, lighting, etc. A word of caution, if you get the Meco, get the tips from Kent at www.tinmantech.com. The factory meco tips went to garbage about a year ago with a cost reduction, so Kent had the original design tooled back up for himself. The Dillon (DHC 2000) has a nice flame, but weighs a ton and has no advantage really as far as welding over a well made traditional style. Its almost impossible to use on some tight tubing clusters due to the design. However the sheet cutting is nice on it, I wil give it that, and I use it on castings with an extension. For work on things like tubing clusters, exhaust parts, etc I love the "aircraft" style torches. These are typically round handle, forward valves, "A" size fittings. Of the currently made ones I find the Smith Aw1A (airline)and Harris 15(aircrafter) at the top. Of the out of production models there is the much sought after Meco Aviator Jet, The ultra rare Meco Aviator, and the Oxweld W-29.
Hope this helps!!
-Aaron

[makoman1860]

Fellow in another forum asked about stainless welding, and on the subject of flame setting. The old books typically say a 1x reducing, and I have found this to usually work the best. Much over 2x and the puddle can get mushy, and anything near oxidizing...well you know. So I made him a quick sample to show the difference. Enjoy!

316 stainless .040
308 filler
Solar B flux
Meco Aviator Jet #2 tip

[Joel_BC]

I use O/A for cutting steel. Also for bending, annealing, and tempering some stock or pieces of certain scales.

Also use it for brazing. And welding steel up to about 5 mm thickness.

Someone already mentioned loosening frozen nuts & bolts, and it can be good for that.

[tapwelder]

A supplier of tips for various torches.

http://www.lencocanada.com/pdf.d/200-04.pdf

[makoman1860]

Originally Posted by tapwelder

A supplier of tips for various torches.

http://www.lencocanada.com/pdf.d/200-04.pdf

Thats a 2004 catalog, some things have been dropped. For the latest go to www.gossonline.com