Oxy/Acet torch question

Looking for some recommendations from the group. I am looking for a torch head for my oxy-acet set-up that will produce a large soft flame. Something like a weedburner propane torch... but I would rather use the oxy-acet, just cause I don't have a spare propane tank. Is anything available? Should I just get a propane tank and weedburner set-up? Thanks, Ryan

Reply to
Ryan
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Here's the propane torch I bought recently. I bought it just for the regulator and 30 foot propane hose, but man this torch ROCKS! When I light it it has a nice soft flame like a weed-burner. Then you pull the trigger and WOW!

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Considering the price of propane vs. acetylene, I think it's a no-brainer. I vote for a propane torch every time. By the way, Harbor Freight makes a knockoff of the Magnum torch. It's real cheap. I looked at one in person, knowing what mine looks like, and it sure looks cheaper, plus it doesn't come with a nice regulator either. But my torch retails for big bucks and the HF one is cheap.

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Grant Erw> Looking for some recommendations from the group. I am looking for a torch

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Come to think of it, I don't see why you couldn't build a burner like a propane one and run it off acetylene. I imagine you'd want to run it lower in pressure (below 15PSI, as opposed to up to 45PSI) so a larger design will be necessary for as much power.. but you get an incredible amount of heat with just around 10PSI anyway so I don't think it'll be a worry.

Tim

Reply to
Tim Williams

Rosebud would be the OA type for big flame - soft is just a matter of a nice carburizing flame adjustment; I've done a lot of fiddly soldering jobs with a welding tip and a very long, soft, carburising flame.

I haven't had a gas rig for a few years (used to use the ones at work, don't have any at current work, have not had sufficient need to justify the expense), but given that people bother to rig cutting torches for oxy-propane due to lower gas cost, I suspect that propane would probably be enough cheaper to run that it would make sense if you'll be doing much of whatever it is you're doing with this.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

You probably want a "Rosebud" torch. See your dealer and at least have him demonstrate one for you. They aren't cheap, but they run on oxygen and acetylene (or propane) and, depending on size, make a lot of heat. I use one a lot for heating metals. The flame is "soft", but not BIG like a weedburner. If I am heating a piece of 1" square bar for 4 inches, I don't want or need a flame that is 3" in diameter and a foot long.

The propane weedburners only get to about 2400 degrees F. An oxy-propane rose bud can get to over 4000 degrees and, of course, the oxy-acetylene rosebud goes even higher.

The weed burners that run on propane use propane and air. You can also buy "prestolite" torches that run on acetylene and air, but I don't know that they come in sizes as big as the 500,000 btu weedburner.

You can probably buy a propane weedburner and a 20# propane tank for less than you would pay for a rosebud, either oxy-propane or oxy-acetylene.

Whatever you do, remember that acetylene is illegal to have at over 15 psi outside the tank!!!!!

Pete Stanaitis

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Ryan wrote:

Reply to
Pete & sheri

Wouldn't that be similar to the oxy/acet rosebud burner?

Reply to
Bob Swinney

Hey Ryan,

Drop into the welding supply retail store and ask to see a "rosebud" tip. Ask your question there too.

Take care.

Brian Laws>Looking for some recommendations from the group. I am looking for a torch

Reply to
Brian Lawson

My understanding of that is that it's just like any torch but has like 6 jets in it. My idea is to basically take a naturally-aspirated (air, not oxy) propane burner and feed it acetylene instead.

Tim

-- "That's for the courts to decide." - Homer Simpson Website @

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Reply to
Tim Williams

I have one of these (or something very similar, from Northern Tools). It's sold for melting roofing tar. It's also dubious to use it commercially, as it connects directly to the cylinder without a regulator (UK fire officers throw a fit when they see it).

Handy for weeds and bitumen, but not much else. Big flame, low temperature. Is your Magnum torch any hotter ?

BTW - What's a "rosebud" torch ? (not a word we use in the UK) I thought I knew, but it's not anything like the Magnum torch in that eBay ad.

-- Smert' spamionam

Reply to
Andy Dingley

My Magnum torch *looks* like it throws a lot of heat. I haven't used it that much yet. I've spent a lot of time around torches, though. I used to be a shipfitter and spent 8 years where my primary tool was a torch.

I think "rosebud" may be a Yankism. To me it means a torch with a head on it about as big as your fist, which throws a gigantic amount of heat.

Grant Erwin

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Probably does - not very hot though. That's the problem with mine.

Ah. I thought it meant an oxy-acetylene blowpipe, where there was a small interchangeable tip on a fixed neck, instead of the swaged pipe where the neck and nozzle swap as one unit.

-- Smert' spamionam

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Brian Lawson wrote: Drop into the welding supply retail store and ask to see a "rosebud" tip ^^^^^^^^^^ A "rosebud" tip is designed primarily for, rather than welding. It has multiple flames, arranged in a circle, so the heat is spread out more than from a welding tip. If you use a cutting tip without the cutting oxygen, you have the equivalent of a "rosebud."

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Rosebud

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I have used 2 rosebuds together to heat a 1,400 lb coupling half that was about 4 feet diameter, around 14 inches thick at the hub, with a 12 inch bore to shrink-fit it onto a shaft that was .024 larger than the ID. They suck up a lot of fuel if you are using a large one, but they will put out some serious HEAT. I have even been known on occasion to "preheat" my shop a little with mine till the furnace got going good.

RJ

Reply to
Backlash

I run propane from a 100 pounder tank in my torch rig in my home shop, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I had to fill the tank, using the standard cutting/brazing torch. The big rosebud, however, will "suck the bottom out of a tank", as they say.

RJ

Reply to
Backlash

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