damn cutting torch settings

Try the 2nd page of this:

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Douglas,

Here's the link to the info on the Victor site, hope this helps.

Acetylene won't change much. For the smallest tips maybe a little under 5 PSI

The very biggest tips may require the acetylene up around 10 psi, but 5 psi works for most cutting.

The Oxygen pressure will vary according to what thickness you are cutting.

A #000 tip would only need about 5 psi, but a #8 would be up around 100 psi.

Most cutting can be handled with 45 psi for steel 1" - 3".

I have pattern cut 6" plate witha #8 tip running at 100 psi oxygen. It drains a full oxygen tank in about 35 minutes.

You set your oxygen by looking at your cut. Too little pressure and your cut is not straight through, and wanders a bit or blasts back up. Too much and you over-melt the steel, and the cut flows back together behind the tip.

If you get the pre-heat flame size, the oxygen pressure, stand-off distance and the travel speed just right, there should be very little slag. Good cutting just takes lots of practice on a variety of thickness, shapes and surface condidtions.

Pressures are not as critical as one would think. Many shops run forty pounds on their oxy all the time and never change it. That practice however is wasteful. If you are using such a small tip you must be cutting light gauge material. don't forget to angle the torch in the direction of travel. For sixteen gauge steel I would be running 15 to 20 max on oxy and 3 to 5 on acetylene. The torch would be set so that the corner of the tip almost rests on the plate. ( around 30 degrees) Once you have added cutting oxy you travel like mad. I don't raise my oxy pressure beyond 20 psi until I am cutting half inch material. I just increase tip size. Randy

Thanks for the great advice Ernie. Also thanks to the others that have replied. What I really want to know now is what the hell were you cutting the 6 in plate for! I work in a manufacturing plant that stocks and cuts all types of plate up to about 2.5 in. I have never seen a plate 6 in thick. Kinda of curious as to what industies use such a thick piece of steel.

Thanks Douglas

I have an ocassional hobby of carving anvils from solid plate steel. It requires a block of steel, and then removing all the bits that aren't part of the anvil.

I have a 700 lb anvil in progress at school. Someday I may finish hardfacing it.

We use really thick plate (up to 12" or so) for padeyes, link plates, and such on marine equipment and derricks.

Also used on big bridges.