some Qs on possible oxyac purchase

A few years ago, I bought a tank on fleabay. Wound up paying $50 more for a pressure test before they would exchange it for one of their full tanks. Later I bought a Victor torch and gauge set and two good sized tanks for airframe welding from a local welding supply company. It was expensive, but they did not play games. I have not regretted doing that. You WILL run out of gas and/or rods on Saturday night when you have a full Sunday of welding planned. Additional tips are also spendy, so plan accordingly. The better name brand torches will have the anti-blowback feature built in, and its a good thing. I'd suggest going to a welder with OA experience, or a local community college that teaches welding and tell them what you want to weld/cut, and ask for recomendations on gear. OA welding has its dangers, so please consider getting some safety training. Also recommend starting with some thinner scrap - cleaned of paint and rust - before trying to weld a masterpiece in new steel. You'll burn a few holes through the material, and you'll make welds that won't hold, until you have enough practice and have developed some skill. After all that, OA welding is great fun.

Tom
 
For sure on this... Seems the rules and prices are all over the place from one location to the next. Things are locked-up pretty tight where I live. Call all the local supply places and find-out their policies and prices. Some places will only do exchanges, some will fill YOUR bottle and return it... Some require you to rent their bottles... Some are very strict about the periodic test and charge a lot of money while others just do it once in a while and charge 5 bucks extra if anything at all. Right now, I'm renting 4 tanks around 300 and 330 cuft of various gasses (Argon, Co2, Helium) at 3 bucks per month. Refill prices are very reasonable but, I need to drive about 45 mins one county over to get prices I can live with.

Whatever the case may be, having the biggest oxy tank (or multiple smaller ones) you can tote is the way to go. The oxy always seemed to run out first.

Ray



tripletap3 said:
The torch set is the easy part, tanks are the difficult part. I don't know of any place around south east VA that will fill your tanks unless you bought them from their company and all tanks must be hydro tested every 4-5 years. Lots of people buy tanks at HF just to find out that no one will fill them. We have a new Tractor supply in town and it looks like they offer a tank exchange so if you have one close it's worth a look.
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I was surprised to see all the info this morning when I opened my internet. A big thanks. I'm still reading every word, but just wanted to say that about 10 miles from me in Manassas VA there's an AirGas plant that I called yesterday and they said they'd fill both tanks (Home Depot small size) for around $55 bucks and a fellow down the street has those tanks already and he uses them.

The guy down the street who also owns a SB9A lathe, btw, said to be cautious about buying used tanks online b/c many are stolen. If yours are, the airgas will simply keep them and not return them to you (I guess they give them to the police).

He said those little tanks get about an hour of welding or 30 minutes of cutting. He said he'll add bigger bottles soon but the portability factor is good if you go on a scrap hunting expedition.

I am still mulling my options and still reading your replies.

Thank you all so much. Some of the victor stuff looks good but costs a lot more. I have to weigh that too.

Dave
 
I'd encourage you to learn what your local LWS is able to service.
I'm a Smith fan. But, that's likely because that's what I used while in welding classes.
I chose the medium duty because it fit my hands better for the type of work that I do.
The Heavy duty is more cumbersome and more difficult to control. But, will put out more BTUs.
My first torch was an import. Awful thing. I'm not cursing all imports. Merely this set-up. Kept getting flash backs and burning out O-rings. I was terrified it was going to explode. Sold it cheap with a warning.
That's when I purchased my used Medium duty Smith (I could get parts and service if needed). Worked well from the start.

The guys here are right about the bottle purchases. Size of bottle is another consideration.

Acetylene is expensive, if you are welding then it's your only option. If you are cutting consider propane. It's cheap and you can fill anywhere.
However, it will require different cutting tips. So consider selecting the right tips from the start.
 
I've heard that propane is being used with oxy. Can you put propane in acy tank or do you need an even different tank for that?

I guess you're right about expense. By the time you weld an angleplate together (maybe 30 minutes), you could have purchased a ready made angle plate for the price of the gas you just used.

plus, you're at the mercy of the gas dealers. I've tried to factor all that in
 
Acetylene tanks are partially filled with liquid acetone, in which the acetylene is dissolved, so no, propane requires a different bottle/tank.
 
Tony Wells said:
Acetylene tanks are partially filled with liquid acetone, in which the acetylene is dissolved, so no, propane requires a different bottle/tank.
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And, depending on who you ask, different a different fuel regulator, fuel hose and of course tips.

But, if you intend to do alot of cutting the additional parts will pay for themselves.
 
I've been on CL and eBay every day and it looks like my long journey is finally over. I pick up Victor Welding with extra tips and Roberts tanks this evening. I'll be paying $250.

Expect to eventually see pictures and hopefully some projects.

BTW, it was either this or a stick welder. I did buy some 7018 and 6013 for that (which never happened).

So quick question. I know I can fuse-weld with oxyacy, but can you use sticks from arc welders to gas weld with oxyacy? Sorry for the dumb question.

(Obviously, I'm going to read instructions and watch videos before I do any welding at all and observe all safety)

thx

Dave
 
Dave you need to use Brazing rods and a suitable flux. The stick rods will not work and will make a horrendous mess also. Gas welding is an art, so plan to practice a good bit before you have the muscle memory to lay down those pretty beads that you see around. Gas welding is fun, and once you get good at it you can do some serious art with repairs and rebuilds. Good luck and be safe.

Bob
 
You don't have to use brazing rod exclusively. Brazing rod is for brazing. I don't gas weld but I'd assume you use the same bare rods as you do when Tigging. You can also aluminum weld with the gas setup.

You will find the small tanks don't last long and may eventually want bigger tanks. My local place is National Welders and I bought bigger tanks from them. They just exchange them for me. No questions asked. They dont know/care if im bringing in 'owned' tanks. Just save receipts if you move or need them 20 years from now.

Buying saves me long term rental/leasing costs. You will find (hopefully) filling the larger bottles isn't proportionate cost wise to smaller bottles. Bigger is more cost efficient per cu ft of gas. At least it was when I was going through gas weekly/monthly.

Using the cutting torch will suck on the oxygen tank big time. Probably 4 times faster than welding/brazing. I bought a plasma cutter to solve that problem!
 
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