Oxy-Hydrogen Welding & Cutting

[Carbon-Arc]

Is Oxy-Hydrogen comparable to Oxy-Acetylene when it comes to welding and cutting steel? I have seen videos of Oxy-Hydrogen cutting, and it seems just as capable as Oxy-Acetylene, but I have never actually seen O-H welding or cutting done in person.

[smithdoor]

I did look into Oxy-Hydrogen the drawback was getting tank filled and hydrogen leaks in steel tanks.

Dave

Is Oxy-Hydrogen comparable to Oxy-Acetylene when it comes to welding and cutting steel? I have seen videos of Oxy-Hydrogen cutting, and it seems just as capable as Oxy-Acetylene, but I have never actually seen O-H welding or cutting done in person.

[Carbon-Arc]

Called the local welding store this morning, they don't stock hydrogen tanks, but are happy to special order them for me. They even cost less than acetylene.

[smithdoor]

Let's know how works out
Also check out the refill

Dave

Called the local welding store this morning, they don't stock hydrogen tanks, but are happy to special order them for me. They even cost less than acetylene.

[Kelvin]

I didn't watch the videos you posted in the other thread, but is there anything this process does that stick, tig or O/A doesn't do cheaper, easier or more simply without buying additional equipment? It seems like an answer in search of a question. Or are we just going "green"(er)?

[Carbon-Arc]

The other thread is Atomic Hydrogen Welding, totally different from Oxy-Hydrogen or anything else. Oxy-Hydrogen is an Oxy-Fuel process, so my question is how capable it is compared to Oxy-Acetylene.

[SweetMK]

Oxy-Hydrogen is an Oxy-Fuel process, so my question is how capable it is compared to Oxy-Acetylene.

IIRC,, (we used it as a process to assemble instruments) the oxy-hydrogen is a difficult torch to set.
You can hardly see the flame, and you can not tell an oxidizing flame from a reducing flame,, all troch settings make a similar flame.

So, you need to set the torch by "experience" rather than appearance.

That is because hydrogen burns perfectly with any amount of oxygen (between 4% and 95%) . Other fuels need a stochiometric amount of oxygen,,

I thought we used oxy-hydrogen because it produced a lower temp flame.
It was just hot enough to do the job, but, that was probably due to the torch setting,,

[Meltedmetal]

For instruments maybe no possibility of soot production??

[SweetMK]

For instruments maybe no possibility of soot production??

Yea, it was a clean process,, the guy that did the work was a clean freak,, so, who knows which came first,,,,,,,,,,,

[Carbon-Arc]

Based on an old welding textbook, Oxy-Acetylene produces 12,700 btus of heat per s/ft² of cone area, Hydrogen produces 7,500 btus of heat per s/ft² of cone area, and propane, natural gas, and Mapp come in at around 5-5.6k. So it seems if there is another gas suitable for welding, it is Hydrogen.

I wonder if Hydrogen embrittlement is possible with an Oxy-Hydrogen flame?