gas kit

[AZguy]

Hey guys i just bought this from harbor frieght and wondering if anyone has any experience using this setup.

http://www.harborfreight.com/industr...fit-92496.html

I know how some people feel about harbor frieght but i have been looking for a good gas setup for months and cannot afford and victor or something really expensive right now. I also have a Miller welder so it will be mainly used for cutting and bending. Im completely new to using a gas setup so any advice would be great too.

[DSW]

It's like most imports, it should work fine, untill you need to replace something or get more tips. It's actually over priced/ under equiped compared to many I've seen. Looks like it only comes with one tip and the cutting torch, compared to many I've seen that have 2 or 3 tips and a rosebud as well as the cutting torch. Looking at the flyer from my LWS I see they have their med duty import unit with case, 3 tips, rosebud, regs, hose, striker, torch and cutting tip for $139. Their heavy duty model with the same stuff, longer hose, bigger case, runs $199. I'd be more comfortable with their import kit rather than HF's since chances are the parts interchangeability is probably better, and if I have isses, they'd probably take care of the problem.

I've seen a few guys that had no issues with standard Victor tips on these kind of cheap HF kits, but usually they were an exception. Most guys had issues with the standard tips fitting due to tollerance issues on the cheap knock off. Unfortunately theres no real way to tell if other tips will work until it's too late. Treat it as disposable and under lite use it should get you by. Beat the cr@p out of it and you may quickly find that you'll end up spending more money in the long run to have "saved" money when you find you can't get parts that fit right.

[heimbuckwelding]

those are actualy good little torches ive had 2 of them they are victor compatable meaning any replacement parts or tips you can use victor parts which are very easy to come accross when u go get tips just make sure you get the small tips that victor has not the ones used in the journeyman torches round here we call the small victor the victor jr. hope this helps

[heimbuckwelding]

also you can get a HF rosebud that will fit it for about $ 12.00

[Stick-man]

Those kits work, but DSW is correct on parts and in the long run.....

But there are some GREAT deals on ebay now. So great that I would not even consider spending $199 on that.

[AZguy]

i bought it the other day because i had a cupon for $90 off so i figured why not. If it turns out to not hold up ill upgrade to something higher end when i can afford it. I hear of some when it works excellent for them for a long time and some think think their garbage so seems like im taking my chances lol. I need to get an acetylene bottle and ill have what i need to give it a try and see how it does, I did have question about those though i see bottles on craigslist and stuff and i know the issue with getting some filled, but there are bottles with turbo torches that seem pretty cheap, are those bottle and gas for those torches the same as i need for an oxy/ fuel set up?

[heimbuckwelding]

not sure about that but u should be able to go to the local welding supply and rent any size bottle for very cheap i rent my big bottles for 9.00 a month plus tthe cost to fill them

[AZguy]

yea i might have to just do that, renting seems to be a better option if i dont have a bunch of upfront cash to spend on bottles. Also i have a class d oxygen bottle, i know they use oxygen faster, whats a good size to get for the acetylene bottle.

[Stick-man]

Originally Posted by heimbuckwelding

not sure about that but u should be able to go to the local welding supply and rent any size bottle for very cheap i rent my big bottles for 9.00 a month plus tthe cost to fill them

To me, that's not a deal. I keep 3 oxy, 1 C25 and 1 Ar. That works out to be $45.00/month and $540.00/year, before I get any product.

I would try to find to find a mom and pop shop that will switch out tanks. Then pick up some used ones off Clist.

I guess I'm spoiled. A long time ago, I bought a bunch of empty "K" bottles for $20.00 ea. And in my area there are 2 or 3 places to swap or fill them without a lease.

[DSW]

The small (MC and B size) cylinders that are used with the turbo torches use different size fittings than the larger cylinders (and most likely those torches). You can get adapters to convert them, but in reality the are too small for much. The "B" size is the minimum most use, and if you want to do any heating and cutting you run into the 1/7th rule on acet withdrawl pretty quick. For small occasional work they will do, but the next size up (75cf) is a better choice. The 80cf or 100cf is usually the matching O2 cylinder, but if you cut, you'll go thru almost 280cf of O2 mattching that 75cf cylinder. Most just swap the 80/100cf cylinders a couple of times.

As far as used cyl off CL, if you stay with the "smaller", 150cf and less sized cylinders, most places will swap no problems. When you get to bigger sizes, some places get picky and only swap their cylinders and want you to have an account/lease. I've snagged about 8-12 smaller cylinders off CL and several larger ones. The larger ones are tough to get filled now since most of the small suppliers have been bought up and most places will only swap "their" cylinders.

[AZguy]

thanks for the input guys, ive been trying to look on cl for a good deal and there are a few, im thinking that the class d bottle that i have for the 02 might be too small to do much also so maybe ill try to finde a set. Especially because cutting is one of the main things that i want it for. Ill have to just keep an eye out and hope someone decides to sell one for a good price lol. I havent used an oxy/fuel set before so im not sure how fast ill go through gas.

[heimbuckwelding]

Originally Posted by Stick-man

To me, that's not a deal. I keep 3 oxy, 1 C25 and 1 Ar. That works out to be $45.00/month and $540.00/year, before I get any product.

I would try to find to find a mom and pop shop that will switch out tanks. Then pick up some used ones off Clist.

I guess I'm spoiled. A long time ago, I bought a bunch of empty "K" bottles for $20.00 ea. And in my area there are 2 or 3 places to swap or fill them without a lease.

see i only have 3 bottles 1 K/oxy 1- 140 acet and a what they call a 50lb Co2 which is the same size as a K/oky so I pay like 27.00 to buy a bottle here though its like 300.00 a piece and the welding supply stores here are very reluctant to tkae bottle that are not theirs unless you have a butt load of paper work and to get that from someone on Clist well yeah but in the long run if u can afford to buy them it is cheaper but just starting out renting is the way i think plus you just have to figure all of that price in to your rate as for the question what size to get I first had a S/ oxy and a 75/acet and for most things it was great but now that I have grown some I need the bigger ones they last longer and I was always worried about running emty in the feild before but now i dont sweat it

[AZguy]

i dont use any of my welding stuff for anything professional i just use it for hobby projects and small things here and there when people ask me to fix things, just the normal things everyone asks when ur neighbors know u have a welder lol. Its hard to find many welding supply places here in tucson, ill probably make a trip down there today and ask them about it i have my own argon/co bottle that i use for my welder and i have an oxygen bottle already so ill see if it works out cheaper to just rent it or if it would be worth buying. Or i might just rent one till i can find a good deal on one on craigslist.

[farmall]

If you can score a HELIUM cylinder off Craigslist many LWS will swap for other gases. They often go cheap.

The balloon inflators that sellers often include are nice for blowing out OA gear or anything else you want to blow out with inert gas.

[AZguy]

thats a good idea i didnt think of that, what gases do they usually fill them with? with the fill just an inert gas or will they also switch out acetylene or oxygen?

[DSW]

I've swapped O2 for mig gas, acetylene cylinders for argon and so on. I regularly change gasses as needed with no issues. When I first started, I only had 3 cylinders, one 75 cf acet, one 80 cf O2 and one 80cf mig gas. If I had a big project to do I'd often swap the O2 for mig gas so I'd have a "spare" over the weekend. I'd then swap the empty mig gas one back for an O2 durring the week. I don't really pay that much attention to whats in most CL cylinders I get. My guy will swap out for any similar size no problem and if I want to get a larger one, I just pay the difference in the cylinder sizes. In fact I just picked up 2 smaller "B" size acet cyl from CL that I'll probably swap out for O2 or mig gas as soon as I run them out, just so I have a smaller "portable" set again.

[AZguy]

ok well i got an acetylene bottle, i just bought from one of the local places when i took my oxygen and argon/co bottle to get filled. I set everything up and checked everything really carefully and started everything and just made 2 simple cuts through some 1/4" plate that i had sitting around to make sure everything was working. I gotta say after reading everything on this site and watching videos and i looked up some safety videos that i wanted to watch before i testing it out i was pretty nervous for almost no reason lol, just like it was going to explode in my face, but all went well. Thanks for the help guys.