Welding Tips and Tricks

I bought all of the gear except the tanks for learning OxyAcetelyne cutting. I got a great deal for everything for $50. A benevolent uncle gave me a quick and dirty tutorial and I cut some stuff and ruined some sweatpants. I love it. I already weld with MIG but wanted to be able to cut bigger stuff.

I would love to hear your tips and suggestions when learning to cut with this method. Do I need to worry about charts for tip sizes, things to look for or things to avoid.

I'll go hunting for some tutorial videos, but you guys always know so much and share so many great tidbits

We were just talking O-A in another thread in general. I like to refer to charts because I don't keep that stuff on the tip of my tongue. I use "Victory" type handle (300 series, heavy duty line) with welding/cutting/heating attachments, but there are many different types out there. So, what kind do you have? That is probably the single most important thing so you can look up charts to have a general idea of what you're working with.

Looks like the used kit I bought has Victor Brand torchs. I have a 100, 315 and what looks like a ST1600C (Big ass torch). Will there be a seprate chart for each one? My teacher/uncle said I should be fine with the smallest 100 gun since I'm doing mostly home projects and DIY stuff.

Rusty Steel cuts heaps better than brand new mill scale. The rust is the starting point of the cutting process.

I collected some PDFs from the internet into a Google folder, if you want to check them out.

Oxy-Acetylene Charts

You should be ok with the smaller 100 series, but they usually take the "3" series cutting tips, vs the "1" series of the heavy duty torches, so they may not interchange.

On the social media side, I'd recommend listening to the podcast for ICWeld's interviews. He is the master of the gas axe. #torchnorris

I'd also recommend following his Instagram @ICWeld and his YT channel. He does a bit of explaining, but for visual learners, his form is impeccable and so subtle you may miss key points until you've watched the videos a dozen times. I'd say try to watch it on a big TV rather than a phone so you can really see the details.

That's great. Youtube has so much. Just gotta know who is good and who to avoid.

I’ve used Victor, Smith and Airco torches cutting from light to very heavy materials. Both manual hand cutting and mechanized track machine cutting methods.
In my opinion, the most important thing (esp when learning) is learning how to properly set a neutral flame.
You don’t need to have a big roaring acetylene flame. Just nice and casual then neutralize with oxygen.

Yup, gotta get those cones matched up!

snoeproe wrote:I’ve used Victor, Smith and Airco torches cutting from light to very heavy materials. Both manual hand cutting and mechanized track machine cutting methods.
In my opinion, the most important thing (esp when learning) is learning how to properly set a neutral flame.
You don’t need to have a big roaring acetylene flame. Just nice and casual then neutralize with oxygen.

I'm going to assume this makes sense as I watch more and learn more. It sounds super important, but flame terms like neutral, acetylene and oxygen flames are lost on me right now. Thanks for the input

Josh, take a look at this short video

He’s welding/brazing.
That requires different pressures on your regulators versus cutting with the torch.

True, cutting is a little bit different, but it's a great video to learn how to set up neutral-flames.

This one is also really good

-uPAjIOkLVA

In case I haven't linked it before, here is my Google Folder that has some charts you can print out as guides.

Oxy Acetylene Google Folder

Oscar wrote:True, cutting is a little bit different, but it's a great video to learn how to set up neutral-flames.

This one is also really good

-uPAjIOkLVA

In case I haven't linked it before, here is my Google Folder that has some charts you can print out as guides.

Oxy Acetylene Google Folder

Thanks for the links. Those are awesome!! And the videos too.