[TheForge] Oxy/Propane reprise

[Paul N]

Well, I spent a couple hours messing around with oxy propane cutting 
today, probably ran through 40-60 cu ft of O2.

It took me awhile to get the flame balance to where I could cut (Notice 
I didn't say "correct", as I'm not sure that term would be accurate).
I have a "clone" of a Victor r100 torch, and was using a #2 oxy/propane 
cutting tip. I was working outside, so there was some wind to contend 
with. I had the propane at about 6psi, O2 at about 25psi.

I had to "ratchet" up to working settings on the torch. If I just turned 
up the propane at the torch, the flame moved away from the tip, and if I 
added O2 at that point until I got a nice clean cone, it wasn't hot 
enough, nor was there enough O2 flow to cut. So I had to alternate: add 
more propane, add some O2, etc. until I got a decent flame.

I was cutting 3/8" plate (cutting a 30" circle to use for a base of a 
legvise mount I hope to build). It took several tries to get things 
acceptable, along with the tip to work distance. Even then, I got some 
occasional popping in the torch. I thought that would be an indication 
of excessive heat, but adding more O2 made it worse, and adding more 
propane made the flame "noisier", and had me thinking it was too high.

It's obvious I need some more practice, and perhaps play around with the 
gas settings some more, as I had to move pretty slowly to maintain a 
steady cut.

Still, every once in awhile, I'd move the torch in a way that would 
result in losing the cone, but not the flame, and I'd have to back off 
the pressure to re-establish the cone. So maybe I had it turned up too 
high. I'll have to spend a little more time with it to get more familiar 
with using propane. It's obviously different from acetylene.

Next step will be "plunging" cut (not starting at an edge) I'm going to 
assume that there's some difference there too, as with acetylene, I had 
actually started to form a puddle before hitting the cutting O2.

Comments and further advice is welcome.

Thanks again everyone.
**Paul N.