[TheForge] oxy-propane after all

[Jerry Frost]

The only safety issues of using propane instead of acet 
are:

#1. Propane will degrade rubber hoses not rated for 
propane so eventually (and I don't know how long it 
takes) propane will start leaking from acet rated hose. 
You can safely use acet in propane rated hoses. This 
may also be a factor if you have an old regulator but I 
don't know for sure.

#2. Propane is heavier than air and will settle in low 
spots making for fire and explosion hazard. Do NOT use 
propane in your basement eh?

Other than that it's all about efficiency. Like I said 
the initial price was a bite but it paid for itself 
about 3 times over before I used up the first 20lb. 
bottle of propane.

There're also the performance differences to consider. 
Propane may have nearly a 1,000f lower absolute temp 
than oxy acet but in a head to head comparison it beats 
oxy acet by a large margin.

I run a "0" tip in the cutting torch and can cut 20ga. 
without warping it, then crank up the oxy pressure and 
pierce several inches of steel with the same tip. The 
book says it'll pierce 5" without overpressuring but 
the thickest I've tried is around 4 1/4". As soon as 
the pierced hole cools you can chase it with a HS drill 
bit, or cut a piece of round stock and chuck it in your 
lathe and use HS cutters; propane doesn't inject carbon 
like acet does.

I can cut RR rail cleanly without moving the torch 
simply by rotating the head. This works for anything up 
to about 10" across, thick, etc. You start the cut and 
just rotate the torch. It makes for very clean and fast 
cuts. This is really sweet for cutting wide flange, 
channel, pipe, etc.

The #5 heater tip (rosebud) can be covered with my 
middle finger and will melt 1 cu/in of steel in less 
than 13 seconds. In the head to head I did at work, the 
oxy acet rosebud had barely started to run the colors 
in the same time.

An All-States rep will be happy to give you a demo. 
Just remember to stand back when (s)he demos the weld 
eraser. <grin>

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: "Ben Barrett" <stircrazyben at gmail.com>


> Wow, thanks for that link, the FAQ there answered all 
> my questions:
> http://www.allstatesdistributing.com/id56.html
> (yeah, this is propane, not propylene; the thread 
> forked)
>
> Summary:  I wouldn't likely die trying, but it is 
> inefficient, using
> up too much Oxy since it just doesn't mix right in a 
> torch made for
> oxy/acet (according to allstates).  Makes sense -- if 
> anyone's mileage
> has varied from that, please let us know...
>
> ben
>