Well if you're in construction or are a mechanic. .... the Last thing you need is a tip that's plugged or hard to clean. It's seems when you're on a job and have to use a torch that Everyone and their dog have been using. .....for a chipping hammer. ....it's plugged! The smaller the holes are in the tip....... The harder they are to clean or Unplug! If you don't know much about torch tips. ......Buy the tip cleaner First! And make sure the three smallest cleaners in your pack Don't fit your tip!
Propane tips are nice being 2 piece, the only hole is the center ox one. The preheats are grooves cleaned with a wire brush.
I. Love propane and Map Gas !
Always keep a few extra tips and cleaners. I keep a propane tip on the truck as a back up but I don't like it as well as acetylene. I know you have to keep the tip back as the heat is not right at the end
I bought the small tip drill at tractor supply. Works great for cutting out the small holes again.
Always loved it when you picked up the torch and found the tip cleaner broke off in one or more of the holes......
Or like where I worked seems the only tips they had were more suited to cutting 2 inch or more thick steel, real nice when you are trying to cut 1/8 to 1/4 steel!
You need to keep your own torch locked up.....yeah right. One shop I was in had so many abuse problems, they bought all smith stainless steel "guaranteed for lifetime" torches. Having grown up with airco corncob torches, these smiths are just a club.
One of the things back when we had 6 or 8 mechanics working in the shop and maybe 3 full time welders it was always a sore spot that the mechanics had to supply all their own tools up to 1 1/2 or so but welders were supplied torches and only had a small handfull or tools. pay rate for both was equal between the two. I think if they ahd supplied the torches they would have been better cared for. Now I have no problem with company supplying expendables like tips and such.
It's a bit odd to me in that everywhere I have worked anyone considered for top pay had to be able to do both. There were people who primarily did welding but they had to be able to do all the tear down and reassembly in order to do the welding. I know all the dealer shops in my area are still that way. As for the torch tips the best tip I got was from a teacher who showed us to set the pressure when the lever was pushed and when you get the longest center that is the best pressure. It makes that wind noise instead of the whistle as well.
Yair . . . US oxy acetylene equipment (and it's use) must be a little different to here in Oz. I see comments about folks wearing sun-glasses, auto darkening helmets and even no glasses at all and having trouble seeing lines. When cutting say 1/4" plate freehand with wheels a good operator will leave a just discernable scribe line along the edge of the cut . . . make no mistake, with clean plate, a properly adjusted and operated torch (with correct and clean tips) will produce cuts of almost plasma quality. I don't quite understand John C's comment . . . . It is at odds with standard practice here which was always to have a neutral flame and compact well defined heating cones when the cutting oxygen is flowing. Cheers.
Preach it brother! And the tanks are always empty too. . Yes, you are absolutely correct. The problem is there usually isn't much of a selection, if any, of tips for the torches and they are usually at the minimum filthy, and often beat up...you're cutting with whatever tip is on the torch and you don't even have an idea of what size that is most of the time. Honestly I'd love it if the shop just provided tanks and a cart for me so I could have my own dedicated torch set that only I use but that's not happening in the shop environment.
Hi Scrub Puller, we adjusted the heating cones and then pushed in the lever like we were cutting. That center stream was called the lancet and the longer it is that better. Once you got the long center stream you readjusted the heating cones back to neutral and went to work.
Yair . . . Gotcha John C. . . . I didn't properly read your post. Cheers.
Scrub brings up a point I just ran into....due to declining health, I now need dime store glasses, 2x are about best. I find I very hard to wear them under cutting goggles, and have not found cheater lenses for them. I took my auto dark weld helmet, and this one has a shade 5 setting, so I set it there, and proceeded to make my cut....works well.
Doug, the "declining health" phenomenon (made me laugh!) I've been using the darkened face shield (with safety glasses) for a long time, but may give the helmet w/shade 5 setting a go. Regards, Bob
Yair . . . For most of my working life CIG equipment was almost universal in workshops and I always had my own torch and tips if I was doing anything but hacking. Seriously though it seems folks have forgotten just how sweet an oxy rig can cut. Cheers.
I have the Miller digital elite helmet and it has a setting for cutting and that is just right for torch or plasma it cuts out that bright glare that happens when torching so I can still see the line! Is there magnifying lenses that go in helmets? For some reason I thought there was! BTW I really like my Smith torch
Scrub, I think it's like most skills these days, cutting well with an oxy rig requires practice and skill, and it's a bit messy with the gasses and flame. Most younger folks prefer thin cutoff wheels on a grinder and/or plasma. Sort of like the difference between stick welding and wire. There are places I still prefer the stick because when it's done, I know it's done. In the shop for fab work it's all dual shield wire, but then it's all clean virgin select grade metal there.
Ditto, stick for repair work (most of the time) and MIG for fab work (most of the time)...and the "newly acquired" 40+ year old track torch for anything longer than a few inches... if I get the speed right, cut is cleaner than a band saw cut and the grinder can take more time off! Regards, Bob
I have trouble getting a nice cut by hand with a torch but we did have one of the "track torches" where I worked, they called it the turtle. About the only way to get a nicer cut would be to use a sheer. Even I could get a nice cut with that machine!
Yair . . . It is strange (even a little sad) how such basic skills as oxy cutting should be gradually fading away. I do agree though that the super thin cutting disks are the best thing since sliced bread. They are real good in a jobbing shop as they can charged out as another consumable. I always found gas sort of got frittered away through not being accounted for on job sheets and leaks, it can add up when there are up to a dozen sets in play. As mentioned, when cutting sheets for (say) boat construction a halfway decent operator will leave a discernable scribe line to grind to with just a set of basic trainers such as these and really, it doesn't take much skill . . . just some interest to learn and a few hours instruction. I must say that in the illustration it appears the height is set way high . . . the heating cones should be just clear of the plate Cheers.
Yes there are... make a huge difference if you've been persevering without one. Second best thing since sliced bread!
I have been using these for years, I had a argument with the salesman about being propane tips when he showed them to me but he was correct, they do make 2 piece tips do acetylene and they don't cost any more than one piece tips. Here is a link to northern tool, I don buy them there but they are Hobart tips. http://m.northerntool.com/products/...KWUXW57GGORoBL6cAbT1P8ddcWMtx2dOmwaAlXD8P8HAQ
We call the lenses cheaters and I don't know many people over fifty that don't have them now days. They still give me problems because I have one eye worse than the other. They have the Bug O machines for plasma cutting now.
I started useing a cheater lens about a year ago. The first time i fliped my helmet down i saw i had a gap as wide as the grandcanyon to fill but it was no problem because i had a welding rod as big around as a 5gallon bucket to fill it with.
Checked out the "Bug O machines" website....I did not know of them, but I see they have a very impressive product line-up. Regards, Bob
Back when Bill Cosby was on records, he did a hilarious piece about bifocals... having to get down on his knees to step off the curb...
If you pick up someone's torch for the first time and one of the knobs is real tight or hard to turn on it's been dropped on the knob or fell off some scaffolding and landed on the knob.
Here is some parts I have burned with a machine..... Over the years I have owned (and operated). 1. An electric eye tracer 2. A magnetic spindle tracer 3. A track burner (still have it) 4.. a homebrew C.N.C. machine. Pix #1 is from 1/4" diamond plate (the corner cut-out for a bent box) I was repairing a neighbors torchmate "x" series plasma machine. Note here, Hypertherm recommended (IIRC) 45 ipm travel, I slowed it down to 20-22 ipm, and got a much more accurate part. I want accuracy over speed. Pix #2 is from my homebrew CNC table running a oxy/propane torch scavenged from a bug-o. It's 1/2" thick plate and I was dialing in a 2" sq. hole. Pix #3 & 4 are a bug-o set-up I made for splitting I-beams (track sits alongside on it's own beam)
Doug, Some nice looking cuts, like the neat square hole in 1/2 inch. The set up splitting the beam looks like a newer version of the one they have at the quarry where I worked. Some of the guys who knwe how to work it could do some nice cuts. Even I was able to do a decent job when they had me cutting some 1/4 plates for a new chute they were building. The right tip for the thickness and the right speed works wonders.
If you notice, all the close up cuts have (1) thing in common....the cut lines (or drag) are almost vertical. You can run faster, but this get's me a more accurate part. The 1/2" oxy/propane I use a water table (actually just a tray I welded up) with the water up to the materials top, it works well, keeps the part distortion down.
I have used one of these for over 40 years and it still will make a plugged tip crackle once it is dressed.
Bone head with a Gas Axe. ...another one today. ....i just got done cleaning the tip.... what does he do. .....no green gooles...one handed.....not doing the mean lean.....cause he was scearted... Trying to wash off a nut with a washer. ...tip in the slag and he is ' a Mechanic. ...been stuck on stupid so long there's no learning him. And I'm right there! Shaking my head. ....i could have made a better mess than that.
I would like to build some kind of setup to do flameouts. I build with alot of used steel and its not easy or fast to hand cut alot of stuff. I cut out some plates out of 1/2" and had to drill and tap holes to build a box that bolted together. I was out of square about a 1/16 on one and a 1/8 on another it seemed like a foot off when i put it together. digger doug I remember Bill Crosby talking about his new glasses he was a very guy.
Here you go....get something like this.
This looks nice too....: http://www.precisionplasmallc.com/My_Homepage_Files/Page9.html
What is it called? Looks handy.
If you're using a torch and the knobs are real loose. . .. when you bump them it comes out of adjustment it means the Packing nut under the knob needs tightening
It is called a tip cutter. It has a flat surface that is sharpened to cut and true the tip's face. The tube is tapered to hold the cutting tool level with the tip. After the tip is trued, just use the regular tip cleaning rods to clear out the holes. Once done the tip will crackle like new.
Digger did you build that from scratch? What softwere are your running.
Some folks may not know that cleaning a tip when it doesn't require it wears it ourm think of it like cleaning a soft' gun barrel and wearing out the rifling. Also a hand held torch is so sensitive it will even pick up your pulse.
I picked up some cutting rod a while back and have found myself using it in place of the torch for some situations. Best part is the tip is never clogged and the tanks never empty. Works well for some of the crude farm type welding projects I end up doing.
I bought it from a guy that bought it from an estate, the original builder was killed. It runs mach3, gecko drives (stepper motors), and sheetcam.
6011 with the welder cranked to the max works good enough for severing scrap, lol. Scrap iron guy used to collect the welding rod that got old or wet from the shipyards in my home town.