[TheForge] MAPP gas vs. acetylene

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

Your trickle charger ignition is brilliant Jerry.
We agree that for heavier heating and cutting the Harris/Allstates is great.
The thumb valve is nifty, though a $125 gas saver does most of that.
But even the Harris version is quite expensive. It's a big , heavy, clumsy ,HD device.
It lacks finesse and isn't easy to use for smaller work. It cuts thin stuff fast, but it's a wide, wasteful cut
that is restricted to flat arcs and straight lines. The smallest cutting tip is pretty big.
Speaking of the mock Allstates torch set up. I managed to get a heating tip set, with Bill's patient advice.
But it's a bit different  than yours in that it uses a conventional adjustable propane regulator and i think uses a slightly different mixer.
It takes about 30 seconds to bring a 1" cube to yellow, which is a lot faster than my old heavy rosebud..
That's twice the time you report achieving, but Bill had indicated the results should be equal. Guess not.
Still curious about the actual part numbers on your mixer, heating tip and regulator.

On Sep 21, 2014, at 11:16 PM, jerry Frost wrote:

That's okay Pete reading things twice helps me get it.

I agree with most of what you said though I've never used natural gas except
in high school lab once. I did a little silver soldering to modify a stand.
I don't use my torch that much anymore, I just don't need it much and I have
several electric welders that pretty well cover the spectrum. Still oxy acet
is THE setup for gas welding steel, nothing better.

My Allstates rig cuts light stock, say sheet as fast as you can move the
torch and if you crank the oxy to say 130psi it'll pierce 4-5". Yes, it's an
unpleasant experience, think volcano and you're the landing pad. Still,
that's an #0 cutting tip piercing 5 should be done with a #4 or larger and
then it just blows through like a 3006 through warm butter. 

A major feature that makes the Harris or Allstates rigs so cost effective is
the thumb valve, you adjust the torch once and turn it on and off as needed.
The valve is right under your thumb, it's faster and easier than a gas
saver. I clamp the negative wire from a trickle charger to the torch handle
and the positive to the table or work. Just start brushing the torch on the
table, etc. and open the valve POP it's on and adjusted to work. Another
lighter I haven't tried is a peizo electric sparker like on a BBQ.  I can
not express how much I love this torch, the most serious work horse torch
I've ever used. It just don't weld worth spit. I can live without that.

Harris parts and accessories work on Allstates rigs, in fact they have the
same pt.#s. As soon as I can filter the info from about 40 E-mails between
Clyde, Bill and myself I'll see if I can make a kit list.

Jer
-----Original Message-----
From: TheForge [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Peter
Fels & Phoebe Palmer
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 9:35 PM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] MAPP gas vs. acetylene

Sorry about the partially redundant posting.
Bruce, I use oxy-acet for most things and oxy-propane for heavy rosebud
stuff and heavy cutting.
I even do all my light forging off an oxy acet  flame set up.


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