Big propane tank

For one - no Has-mat or FBI wondering security on the Acetylene. Propane is a universal gas used in barbecues and trailer homes heat/cook. That is what my brother found out - background check with the sheriff.

Mart> >>

Its $3.20 here in California. And the cheapest place Ive found in my travels is $2.95. That was at the local bulk plant.

Gunner

One could not be a successful Leftwinger without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of Leftwingers, a goodly number of Leftwingers are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid. Gunner Asch

Are you saying that they place people who buy Acetylene, on some kind of watchlist???

Acetylene is one of the gasses that is watched. It is a powerful gas. Used in terror bombs in the past.

Transporting it is a large part. Just moving it around - one must let it settle and get under control in the bottle.

I fill 6 propane bottles at a time without a second look or thought. (Oh - I put the small bottles into old plastic milk crates. Easy to transport.

If you went out and filled 3 tall bottles of Acetylene - there might be questions.

Mart> >> For one - no Has-mat or FBI wondering security on the Acetylene.

The smallest is the expensive fork-lift bottles that bolt on. I went to the next size up - standard white not SS - about an F bottle height - about 3x that of small bottles. The OPD - outside thread - and internal flow restriction / shutoff if tipped... never delivered the flow needed for my furnace. The big bottle did. The old little ones did before made obsolete.

Mart> Snag wrote:

It was once a junk gas - but now sold by thermal energy. So it is close to that of premium gasoline price. Sucks.

Mart> >

The 5 foot tall tanks (about a foot in diameter, maybe bigger than that) are typically 100 pound tanks, used for cooking gas at peoples homes. Depending where you live, if you're in cold country. Might be good, to have some propane on hand, and put in a vented wall heater. So you can have some heat when the utilities are off.

I've also seen people use a portable infared heater. They sell em in camping supply places to atach to a 20 pound gas grill bottle. But, the heater can also atach to a 100 pounder.

As to filling it. I'd call RV camp ground, and U-Haul, and any where else you can find in the phone book under propane.

I think you did good.

Until recently it was sold at a Winn-Dixie near you, but not lately.

My experience exactly, but to add, I fried three tips, and that's something I never did with acet. Maybe had to file one and redrill it or clean it out, but man, those propane suckers flat out melt. And fast, too. And they are spendy. Lots of old Victor acet tips laying around still. Preheating takes forever, and really heats the tips up.

Steve

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A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

There's lots of good uses for propane. I like it for weed burning. It's just not my favorite for cutting metal, although I did give it a good trial. Enough to go back to acet.

Steve

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A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

Did you ever get a mfr. date on them, and were they still in hydro?

Steve

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A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

I've had a chance to use an Allstates oxy/propane torch for cutting. It was easier for me that oxy/acet.

Todd

Some guys will swear by a SawZall. It's just whatever YOU like, and whatever is right for that job. If a guy had twelve different ways to cut available to him, a sensible metal worker would choose the optimal method for each case. One size does not fit all, and each cutting job would come out better by the use of one cutting method over the other.

Steve

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I pick the one that is easiest to get to most of the time :)

Nah, I'll walk right past the hacksaw and the cold chisel to get to the h/v bandsaw or minigrinder just about every time. I use cut-off disks so much in the grinder I can't remember the last time I had a regular grinding wheel on it... --Glenn Lyford

Though now that I think of it, there is this fun little trick you can do with 16ga or so, which is to put your cutline right at the top of your vise jaws, then hit it with a cold chisel at about 45 degrees to the stock, with one of the bevels of the cutting edge flat on the vise jaw. You get a nice shearing action, and can work it right along the jaw, and it goes surprisingly fast. For longer cuts, reposition the workpiece and keep going. If possible, you want the "keeper" piece in the vise since the top piece will get distorted.

Then, of course, there's a beverly shear... --Glenn Lyford

Hey..thats a nice trick! Thanks!!

One could not be a successful Leftwinger without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of Leftwingers, a goodly number of Leftwingers are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid. Gunner Asch

I have a friend that had a 4' diameter tank cut in such that a round end was the cooking end and half of a side up the back side - with spaces for horizontal racks for hanging meat. The unit was so heavy that he enlisted my help. I used my plasma torch and cut through the back - making a bowl with rack.

I think a marked line and a cutoff wheel would do a good job.

Once all gas is for certain burnt off or gone by water.

Mart>>> If a guy had twelve different ways to cut available to