some oxyacy questions

[Rbeckett]

I am becoming a little concerned about the tenor of this thread by a couple of the membership. There are ways to do things that do not come out of the book or the welding bible by Lincoln. That said, as long as the suggestions are not dangerous I see no problem with the discussion. However two of you are turning this into a "whos is bigger"contest. That will stop, or I will let both of the offenders have a vacation to consider their approach to there fellows. It is fine to disagree, but it is not fine to attack anothers percieved intelegence. So, Final warning, lets get back to the original topic and stop the BS. I mean it!!!!!

MODERATOR
Bob

 

[Richard King]

I saw an article in Popular Mechanics a few years ago where a guy used a car battery and jumper cables to weld a part when he was broke down in the woods. It never seemed possible and I always wondered why he had welding rob and a helmet in his pick-up. Sounds fishy to me....Has anyone ever tried it? Does it work? A Macgyver moment?

 

[Rbeckett]

Richard,
You definately can use a coat hanger and a car battery with a set of jumper cables to fuse something temporarily. It wont be pretty and not very tough, but it might get you 10 miles out of the woods closer to home and the trailer. Bet he didnt have a helment he just looked away and hoped he was on the joint. In hard situations neccessity is the mother of invention, Not recomended for daily use, but has been done before. When I used to go MX Bike camping I carried a whole selection of stuff on the trailer to use in camp. Some of the best times I ever had were sitting around the campfire telling lies and boasting about how fast and smooth I was all day. Dirt bikers have the get it going whatever it takes approach to their enjoyment. And nothing short of a blown up engine will keep us from riding the next day. I sure do miss the bon fires and lies, but I'm too old and too fragile to do it like a kid anymore. This thing they put in my right arm is fragile as glass, so that ended MX and the port ended diving. Have a super great day and hope this helps...
Bob

 

[Ray C]

I'm glad you said that. 12V at around 400 Amps (5KW) is not something to mess with. When I was a mechanic (late 70's) I accidentally dropped a 5/8 wrench and while fumbling to grab it, rammed it across some battery terminals. I don't know how I escaped injury but, the wrench (snap-on no less) got the top 1" melted off along with the positive terminal and most of the plastic case. Completely gone in an instant! The wrench ended-up welded to the metal battery holder. I was very concerned as I had severe blue "flash bulb" spots in my vision for the whole day. Somehow, I only got a very minor burn on my hand. That was a close call...

Ray

YES, it can, the first electric arc welding was done with battery & bare rod.

IF you don't know what you're doing you WILL wear battery parts and Sulphuric Acid.
I have done it. I had a sheet of 3/4 plywood between me and the batteryS, and knew how to regulate the current before I struck the arc.

I do NOT recommend an unknowing person attempting to do it, so I will NOT provide additional information on current regulation. I will state the information on Pirate 4x4 is DEAD WRONG. For your safety and the safety of those around you do not try welding from a vehicle battery.

 

[GK1918]

Ray you are one luckey guy. I remember yrs ago in an attempt to jump a dozer. As I approach to
clamp the batt terminal the other guy at the same instant steps on the starter. Maybe i went into shock
I didnt know if I still had ears my head blown off, my hat was 25 ft away. deaf for an hour. I too luckey
I didnt get that stuff in my eyes. Big dent in the pickups hood.

 

[Rbeckett]

Shorted lead acid storage batteries are no joke. The create hydrogen which is explosive and super unstable. A 24 volt heavy tractor system generally produces around 1000 amps in a surge, so the explosions are spectacular when a battery gasses out and gets a spark. I too do not recomend attempting this but as stated earlier, in a pinch a long way from the trailer you might get it good enough to limp back closer or even all the way back to camp. I have used a tie down to hold a tie rod and a scisssor jack to push a ball joint back on in a pinch, but the high speed day was over and limp mode became the goal to get home. Let's try to get back to the discussion of Oxy/ Acy tips and tricks and discussing the merits of LPG, Propane and Nat gas as a fuel. I'm sure the OP would appreciate an answer to his queeries and it was a good discussion til it veered off course. We can always start a "Jury rig" thread later.

Bob

 

[SE18]

Hi guys, while you might not wish to mess with car batteries (I use car batteries for my R/C charger which it's intended to be hooked up to out in the field), I know you can build a resistance soldering outfit using a car battery charger. I number of folks have done this b/c a good resistance soldering set can cost upwards of $400. It's a someday project for me like so many other backlogged projects:

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips1/solderer.pdf


oops, veered off my own thread (just read below reply). Sorry

Dave

 

[Ray C]

And to bring this back on track, here's a photo of a propane cutting tip. They are two-piece and it looks like some of the gas and Oxy are mixed inside the cone. Also the orifices are set back a tiny bit. I tried using propane with a normal ACY tip and you can't get a flame out of it.

Also, and this is slighly off topic, just want to mention that the harbor freight torch that's show in the photos takes Victor style tips. The tips for propane have a numbering like: nnn-3-GPN. nnn is the tip size like 000, 00, 0, 1, 2 etc... "3" is the size to fit that style torch and the GPN, I think it stands for GasPropaNe -but I'm not sure about that. The HF torch handle shown is equivalent to what some people call the Victor "medium" torch. HF has a bigger torch and I do not know about it's compatability with Victor components. You're on your own to figure that part out.

BTW: I have the HF setup in that black plastic case. Seems to work fine. It's my understanding that different regulators are typically used because, propane can run at higher pressures than Acy. I never come close to the upper limit. Also, the official hoses for Propane have a higher pressure rating -again, I never come close to operating at the higher pressures. -Usually around 3-5PSI on the juice. A couple times I've gone up to 10 but I have rare need for that.

Ray

 

[SE18]

Thx, helpful to know which brands compatible w/victor. Here's my setup. Since I bought it used I don't know where it came from or anything like that.

My 2 tips have stamped on them SKW2 and SKW0 so assuming it's a zero and two

The cutting thing has stuff stamped all over the place:

SKH7A
CFT
D
F
CU
SLCA1260
200PSIG Max
Victor Model 200 ACT0

maybe someone can shed meaning on all the gibberish

 

[Ray C]

In my very non-professional view of these matters, regulators are regulators. They either work well or don't and thus, I don't care if they're Smith or Victor. All regulators have standard sized fittings to fit the bottles and hoses.

I also have no knowledge or preference about the different torch handles but, can tell you that Smith and Victor are the two main ones. They have different nozzle fittings and each company offers several size torches. That is where you must purchase the proper type replacement. If you remove some tips and show pictures of the base and also post a pic of your torch, maybe you can deduce (or someone who knows can chime-in) which type you have.


Ray