small cylinders are OK for cutting, but the gas is expensive and you will be refilling quite often. You may be better off finding a used torch and bottle set on e-bay. its not uncommon to find used torch sets with larger bottles for that price range. If you buy a good American name brand (Victor, Harris, Smith, Purox, Oxweld) and not a Chicom knock off ("Victor type", Harris type") then you should be good to go. You do have to do a bit of homework on the bottles to be sure you can refill them. Go to your LWS and ask them which bottle sizes they will treat as owned by user and not automatically treat as a leased bottle. Also there are some good youtube videos on how to buy used bottles/tanks. The oxygen bottle is the one that the LWS will give you the most grief about. Seems like they will treat acetylene tanks as an exchange pretty easily in most cases.

 

I believe the Lincoln kit is made by Harris.

Is the torch alone worth the money?

I don't have the space for large cylinders. It's a one car garage.

 

If you want to use the acetylene reg with any other size cylinder, you'll need to get an adapter. To me the adapters are a bit of a pain. Those tiny cylinders don't last at all. If you need to cut or heat one bolt or just something small maybe they are worth it. To me they really aren't. You exceed the 1/7 rule with any cutting tip so cutting needs to be really short.

I paid $5 more to have my "B" sized 40 cf cylinder of Acetylene filled vs getting my 10 cf MC cylinder like is in that kit filled. It would have been only a few dollars more to have had my 75 cf acetylene filled, but that's a pain to move with my little plumbers torch for soldering pipes. You'll recoup the larger cylinder costs pretty quick if you use any decent amount of gas.

 

Like all tools they have there use, have a small set like that and mostly use it for copper AC line soldering. Also have a larger set but does not see much use. If the need to cut metal a 4" grinder with thin zip wheel is first choice, then port a band, next chop saw and last cutting torch. The cutting torch produces too much heat.

 

is something like this with gas cylinders purchased separate more along the lines of what I would want?

http://www.amazon.com/Thermadyne-03...03G44RTM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1396819501&sr=8-2&keywords=victor+welding+torch

 

That would be a better choice for the money than the little torch with the little bottles.

 

I have a set that i got at Lowes, It is a harris if i remember right, It is a large cutter that does use up the gas and oxygen perty fast, but it will do heavy steel.
The local welding store said they can trade up to larger bottles, but the smaler ones are easy to tote around. And learning to cut you will use more gas that a
pro. you tube has some good instructions that help me a lot, have fun . sam.

 

Have you gone over to Clinton welding supply on Jericho turnpike and asked if they had anything used? Good guys there.

IMHO, you should source a used setup on CL. They come up all the time by us.

Go for an OXY-Propane setup. Safer, easier and cheaper to refill. You can keep the O2 tank in your garage and the propane tank in the shed till you need it. Just can't weld with it, but you have your Mig.

With the small bottles you'll be spending more time refilling them than actually cutting.

 

I agree with Drf255 about the oxy/prop setup. The propane tanks are easier to purchase and trade out on a weekend and you can also run your bbq off of it.

It is a little harder to adjust an o/p torch but it is overall safer and cheaper than acetylene. I have a Victor performer set that is fine for most work and just bought a Victor straight torch only because it takes the larger tips for use with my cutting guides. Even having an 80a plasma I find myself using the small torch more often because of having to drag out power and air lines and listening to the compressor. Just make sure to get cutting tips and a rosebud for propane. They say to use a T grade hose but I'm not stepping into that territory.