Oxy-Acetylene welding

[Ritter4.0]

I am thinking about buying an Oxy-Acetylene cutting/welding kit and tanks. My dad has a Lincoln Pro MIG 135, I like it, but I hate the 10% duty cycle. So I am thinking aboit buying my own welding/cutting torch. Much more portable, and can do almost anything. Yes I know about how volatile the gases are.

I wanna hear any pros and cons about getting one of these over a MIG welder.

I am posting here because I cant post in the advanced fab section

 

[tbburg]

You can weld about anything with a torch and the proper tip. If you want to learn to weld with it, don't buy the cheapest regulators you can find. The cheapies work for general cutting, but you need a little more finesse for welding, especially thin metals. A really good source of of information for thin metal gas welding is the EAA. They have a book, Aircraft Welding, which you might want to pick up.
http://shop.eaa.org/html/publications_howto.html?cart_id=
(it's about half way down the page)

Gas welding is pretty versatile, but take a lot of skill (spell practice) The up side is, get good at it and you can also do aluminum with that rig.

 

[WB9YZU]

Gas rigs are very versitile, you can braise with one, heat, bend, cut, weld... Your imagination is the limit.

The down side is that you tend to generate more heat. Again, that is practice. Most home built planes are put together using gas.

Ron

 

[alex22]

I learned to weld using an oxy-acetylene torch. IMO, its the best way to learn how to weld, Once I got the gas welding down MIG and TIG were a breeze. There are downsides to gas welding though, as Zuki said, the parts see more heat than they would with mig or tig and thinner metals will warp easily. The other downside is position welding.

I bought a Smith Touchcut set for 250+bottles and I used it to braze an exhaust hanger back together, straighten lawn mower blades, carburize parts to harden them.... the list goes on and on.

 

[Matthew Currie]

seconds or thirds or whatever. I started with oxy. I'm still a better torch welder than arc. You can weld, braze, cut and heat. You'll find yourself using it for all sorts of little jobs from seized nuts to whatever, too.

It can be difficult to get good penetration with really heavy stuff, and practice is definitely needed. On the other hand, torch welding leaves no slag, so you need not chip stuff off when you weld in layers.

You do need to remember that torch heat spreads, and it's a real challenge to weld sheet metal well without warping, but it can be done. I've known some body men who would use nothing else. You should also remember that cutting uses oxygen at a great rate, so be prepared to run out if you do a lot of that.

Torch welding gives you a great deal of control, and you can see what you're doing, too!

If you can still find a copy, there's a little pocket sized classic called The Oxyacetylene Weldor's Handbook (note the "O" in Weldor), written many years ago, and for many years sold by Sears as well, which is well worth finding. Check the web and see if it's on line somewhere.

 

[90Blue_XJ]

One word VICTOR. You can't go wrong with a set of their regulators.

 

[Ritter4.0]

Thanks, I plan on using it for welding 3/16"-1/4" stuff for armor, so heat shouldnt be a huge problem. If I need to do sheet metal I will use the MIG.

 

[RCP Phx]

Thanks, I plan on using it for welding 3/16"-1/4" stuff for armor, so heat shouldnt be a huge problem. If I need to do sheet metal I will use the MIG.

Your frickin nuts!!!!

 

[MAY POP]

MIG is the way to go for heavy stuff. Take a welding class a your junior college to learn on someone elses equipment.
Gas is not for welding heavy marerial. MIG or stick for 3/16 or 1/4. A 240 volt MIG will get you a longer duty cycle. Gas welding heavy material is slow and expensive, it uses lots of gas.
A torch is important to have to heat rusted bolts, weld exhaust systems,braze ect.

 

[Ritter4.0]

Well that changes things a lot. I figured you could weld just about any thickness material, but it does seem like it would take a lot of gas. I guess I'll just stick with the MIG then.

 

[tbburg]

The problem is heat control. It's slower then mig or tig, and tende to heat the whole part, not just the weld zone. With thicker metal you might have to pre-heat using a rosebud tip to get the metal up to temp, then a huge welding tip(yep, that's two torches running) You can burn through a lot of gas that way.