Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey,

Has anyone ever taken a valve out of an oxy cylinder? I need a nude cylinder for a project. Was thinking about welding a long bit of steel on the bottom and then giving it the full English (hi noddy) with a stiltsons or something

If it helps, when I remove propane valves I just strap the tank to something vertical so it won't turn.

Large channel or I-beam work excellent.

Mick,
The guys in the cylinder fill plant, when we still had one, would use a 2" tie down strap and put an old truck mud flap in between the cylinder and one of the I-beams in the building and strap it tight, then use an 18" adjustable. They're pipe threads so once loosened they should wind right out.

Len

As previously suggested a ratchet strap to grip it against anything solid will make life easier holding it - if you don't want the valve then any pipe wrench will work - over here many have some sort of sealer / loctite type stuff on the threads - this requires a good force to move it - but once " cracked " will unscrew easily - I find the best may is to get it horizontal have someone stand or put some pressure on the wrench then hit it with a big hammer to shock it - somewhere I had a home made socket that slid over the valve & went on a 1" drive air gun - that sorted them no problem - on the older cylinders you could just saw the top small diameter part of the bottle neck off complete with the valve - sadly the newer higher pressure cylinders have an almost flat top - I found the 4 in 1 bucket on the front of a JCB makes a good pipe vice ! - not sure if that makes me part " redneck " ! - dare we ask the purpose of the said cylinder or are you starting the Australian space program !

Sorry for off-topic but this is what we do with old tanks in the north :mrgreen

http://youtu.be/hG0Rq-FiHBQ

At least it will give people an idea of how much energy stored in a 3000 psi tank...
(Last run was only about 580 psi)

Thanks people,

The project is a Bender (futurama) shaped letter box. I'll see how it goes.

Mick