For the one person who might want to know about SolidOx

[old jupiter]

I ran across a guy, non-welder on a bike-riders' and bike-builders' site, who had seen an ancient SolidOx torch kit on Ebay and wondered about it. Here's a short article about it, and there's some info and images if you google "solidox torch":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SolidOx_(welding)

In looking around a little, I saw that there are a few guys like him, with nobody having given very good answers. So in the event that someone comes to this site and does a search about it, here's what I told the bike guy:


(QUOTE myself) "My dad bought one of these maybe forty five years ago from a Sears surplus outlet. I am and was then a welder, so I had to try out his little gimmick on some small brazing projects. It did the job, though the oxygen generator was slightly erratic, and not very long lasting. As the thing got older over the years, I tried it a couple of more times, but the oxygen feed got worse. I think the pellets slowly oxidize just sitting in the can. A couple of decades of this oxidation and you can throw the pellets in a campfire and they don't even burn, where you would expect the fire to really flare up. So I would not buy any of the pellets offered over the internet. I don't recall them having been vacuum-packed, and you don't know if the owner has taken the lid off the can, just to take a look.

FWIW, my dad, an airline pilot, told me he thought that the emergency oxygen generators on the airplanes worked on a similar chemical reaction.

If you buy a SolidOx kit, figure that you are only getting it for the torch, the two tips, and the propane tank valve, plus maybe the hoses, if they are still good. You can still hook it to a propane bottle. And small bottles of oxygen are available in a range of sizes. You'll have to get an oxygen regulator, new or used or rebuilt. If you want to run the torch off of a propane bottle larger than the little male-threaded hardware store bottles, you'll also need a propane regulator. The idea is that with a little creative adapting of used parts, you can use that torch, which you ought to be able to get for nothing or next-to-nothing at a yard sale or on Craigslist. Regardless of what the seller says, tell him the oxygen pellets add no value, and I'd think fifteen bucks would be fair for the torch/tips/propane valve. Oxy-Propane is a nice clean flame, moreso than oxy-acetylene (and cheaper), and plenty hot for brazing light sections." (END QUOTE)

[rlitman]

IIRC, the pellets were a mix of potassium chlorate and sodium perchlorate. They do not oxidize, as they start out as an oxidizer. Rather, they reduce by liberating oxygen and turning into potassium and sodium chloride. Much like hydrogen peroxide turns into water.

As much as compressed oxygen has hidden dangers, I'd feel safer storing that than fresh solidox pellets. That stuff was bad news in a can.

[FlaJoe]

There was a lot of discussion about the aircraft oxygen generators after the aircraft crash in the Everglades some years ago. IIRC they said that they use a mix of iron powder and as excessive amount Potassium Perchlorate. Oxidation of the iron produces no gasses product so only gaseous oxygen is produced by the reaction. I SEEM to recall that the SolidOx Oxygen generator had sawdust in the chemical mix in it. Unlike aircraft emergency kits, I guess it wouldn't need to produce pure oxygen.

I just bought a old NIB Sears torch set with a small MAP gas cylinder and a small oxygen cylinder at a garage sale. Can you still buy oxygen cylinders this size?

[rlitman]

... I just bought a old NIB Sears torch set with a small MAP gas cylinder and a small oxygen cylinder at a garage sale. Can you still buy oxygen cylinders this size?

Are you talking about the oxygen cylinders that are the same size as the 14oz propane cylinders. Yeah, but they're a HUGE ripoff.

[old jupiter]

IIRC, the pellets were a mix of potassium chlorate and sodium perchlorate. They do not oxidize, as they start out as an oxidizer. Rather, they reduce by liberating oxygen and turning into potassium and sodium chloride. Much like hydrogen peroxide turns into water.

Okay, I don't know the chemical specifics. I dimly recall that one had to light the pellet rather as you would light a highway flare. And something must degrade with time and exposure, because when the pellets were old (decades, in my dad's dry, heated basement) they did not light or do anything even if thrown in a fire.

There are a couple of sizes of quite small oxygen high pressure bottles, bigger than the ones FlaJoe recalls but still small and light, which take an ordinary oxygen regulator.

[Sandy]

I bought one from sears back in the early 70's. Right out of the package the pellets would light and burn. The older they got the less likely that was to happen. If you managed to get it lit, there was a good chance it would go out before there was a complete burn.

[DSW]

I remember Dad having one of those solidox Sears torches back in the early 80's when I started to get interested in welding. I never did get the chance to use the one he had, and I wonder if he had ever used it before I saw it. It may have been bought for some specialty project like a hard to solder pipe and once used for that, he never had another use for it. Thanks for the memory.

[FlaJoe]

I remember Dad having one of those solidox Sears torches back in the early 80's when I started to get interested in welding. I never did get the chance to use the one he had, and I wonder if he had ever used it before I saw it. It may have been bought for some specialty project like a hard to solder pipe and once used for that, he never had another use for it. Thanks for the memory.

That was one of the problems with them. The oxygen generator wasn't cheap and once you ignited it, it burned up completely no matter how little of the fuel/oxygen that you actually used.

[old jupiter]

Well, let's start a little trend. All you guys get your dads' old SolidOx torches (I believe there were only two tips), and adapt them for new uses. For one, I'm thinking it would be a way to carry a light welding/brazing/heating capability in the toolbox of an RV or camper. You already have a big supply of propane aboard. The whole kit would take little space, and you might find yourself the hero-welder at some campsite or rally. I was yapping on some other thread about having odd and old show 'n tells in my shop (oh, we were talking about old-fashioned power hacksaws), so at minimum I will get my dad's little torch out of the drawer and start adapting it for occasional show-off use in the shop. (Let's see, do I have a small O2 regulator squirreled away somewhere . . . ??).

I shouldn't have said that, because somebody will insist on photos. I don't know how to do photos online. You have to be young or have brains to learn to do photos. I'm OLD, and can just barely manage to do THIS . . . whine, whine

[tadawson]

Okay, I don't know the chemical specifics. I dimly recall that one had to light the pellet rather as you would light a highway flare. And something must degrade with time and exposure, because when the pellets were old (decades, in my dad's dry, heated basement) they did not light or do anything even if thrown in a fire.

There are a couple of sizes of quite small oxygen high pressure bottles, bigger than the ones FlaJoe recalls but still small and light, which take an ordinary oxygen regulator.

We had one new when I was a kit, and I recall getting the pellets lit to be a major PITA at any time. As time wore on, apparently the pellets put out O2 as well as something stupid corrosive - the head of the generator pretty much clogged and ate itself, and attempts to use it resulted in the head getting popped back off the pellet cylinder, since the passages were plugged.

Having said that, I did a couple small brazing jobs with it, and it worked OK when it actually worked . . .

- Tim

[old jupiter]

For anybody who wants to know what we're talking about:

https://www.google.com/search?q=soli...=solidox+torch

[JimboTN]

I bought one of those. It was great while new...used it all up on brazing projects then set it aside and bought a Sears small welding kit with what would now be called "burglar bottles" that I used for decades afterward, sometimes with large rented tanks...
The SolidOx was neat for its time but that time has long gone...
It would be cool for someone to "repurpose" them if it could be done safely and responsibly...and cheaply...for fun.

[Equilibrium]

I wouldn't mind playing with a SolidOx if I ever stumbled across one at a garage sale. Looks like fun!!!
--
"I shouldn't have said that, because somebody will insist on photos. I don't know how to do photos online. . . . whine, whine" Get a neighborhood kid to show you how to do photos.... they seem to all come out of the womb with gadgets in hand. Until then, whine no more.
--

[old jupiter]

For anyone who likes this goofy-but-cheap weld-tech, besides carrying the modified SolidOx torch in your RV toolbox, you might go for one of those DC stick welding set-ups that uses an oversize (110A or even bigger) replacement alternator. Picked this off Google at random just now:

http://www.opensourcemachinetools.or...TIG-Welder.pdf

[Aturok87]

I have a different version of the solid ox and I def want to convert it to the oxygen tank. I use 1lb propane tanks on it works really well for a lighter. This is the one I have http://imgur.com/a/uWyLxjW