Welding Tips and Tricks

Great video, however, I would have liked to seen more on oxy/fuel cutting as I work primarily with steel and use fuel other than acetylene. Thanks.

Agreed - bit more on cutting would be nice - especially if it were possible to get one of those oxy / gasoline cutters on demo & if they still make the HHO / Browns gas welder / cutter ( H2O 2000 I think was one ) plus for people where acetylene is to be phased out what is this new mystery gas propylene like ( other than expensive ! )

I have not yet worked with propylene, and still know little about these gasoline-fueled torches, but as for cutting with alternative fuels, oxy/natural gas (methane or methane/butane) cuts wonderfully. Doesn't take a special torch, but does take specific tips with a different preheat-flame pattern. I've even used them in pipe bevelers. The only complaint I have is a slightly longer preheat, resulting in a slightly larger initial hole.

It's also tricky to light... You have to have a good mixture before you strike up, and you can't take long doing it, or you'll singe your eyebrows when the free gas burns...

Steve S

I'd always been told that, other than this new gas, gasses other than acetylene weren't as efficient at combustion or cutting, and you'd usually spend more on O2 as a result. but that other gasses were possible if acetylene wasn't available or common in your area, like propane on a farm per se. So if people think they are saving by not buying acetylene it would cost more or break even with the O2 prices/consumption.

That may be true. My NG/Ox experience was at a steel mill in IA, where NG is plentiful and cheap, and the plant was fueled by it anyway, so it was economical for them to pipe it everywhere for maintenance access.

It should be stated, this was a remelt facility, recycling steel, rather than "making" steel from raw ore.

Steve S

I would have liked to see more detail in preheat flame adjustment,. IE show proper flame and improper ones and the reason for it.
a lot of scrappers around here use propane to cut.

There have been any number of alternative fuel gases used to cut steel. The key to cutting steel is the oxygen, the gas just gets it hot enough for it to oxidize the ferrite in it. Once the cutting starts you can shut off the gas and keep cutting as long as you can keep moving.

I have cut steel with Mapp Gas, propane, propylene, natural gas, acy, hydrogen, drip gas that comes off natural gas.The tips are different for most liguid fuels in that they are a two part tip that makes the fuel mix at a higher volume. You're depending on the liquid to vaporize into a gas to be burned, so it's harder to get a consistant pressure. All liquids have a different flash point and this creates different pressure at different temperatures.

I once cut 2 feet thick cast iron (That's Right I Said Cast Iron)roll mills with a torch that used 1250 CFM of Oxygen at 250 psi of pressure and we used Mapp Gas as the fuel. The center hole in that tip was almost big enough to put your little finger in it. Myself and another fellow used an average of 2600 gal of liguid oxygen in a single 12 hour shift, Yea Haw. Glad I wasn't buying. It's all about the Oxygen.

Len