Is a tip drill what I need?

I have rarely found it worth the effort to get one of those ports cleaned out. One trick that did work for me was to use a piece of spring steel music wire from a hobby shop. Cut a length 1/8" longer than the distance to the blockage and tap it with a small steel bar. That way the majority of the wire is supported. If the blockage moves, cut a slightly longer wire and continue.

I, personally, haven't had much luck getting anything unstuck in there, either. I just take a tip cleaner and push it in, and it either comes clean or bends. Or breaks. I just was wondering if there was something I was missing, or if someone had a secret method.

In the oilfield, tips were abused something terrible, and a guy would toss anything that was giving any problem at all, and break out a new one. We went through wire brushes, stringer brushes on grinders, grinder wheels like crazy. They were hardly ever used until time to throw out, but rather until they had a little wear, then grab a new one.

I'll try the music wire thing.

Thanks

Steve

Heart surgery pending?

Honestly I can't figure out why anybody is still using acetylene in an industrial setting anymore. Propane and the hotter LP gas mixes are so much cheaper and more efficient than acetylene could ever be. The only thing you NEED acetylene for is gas welding. For everything else Propane, Propylene, Flamal, or Chemtane are far superior. The added benefit is how easy it is to clean an LP cutting tip. Pull the tip and remove the brass core from the copper shell. Wire brush and reassemble.

BTW with calcium carbide plant explosion in Kentucky, look to a sharp rise in acetylene prices.

My tank of acetylene was about $80.

Guys who use propane ....................

What am I missing? I bought a propane hose, and tips. I used it for a while, and can go back to it in a heartbeat. It seemed difficult to start, get it set, and it took a lot longer to get things heated up. What am I missing? Do you know of any GOOD videos that can show me how it's done right? I've heard a lot of people say how good it is, and how it's used for this and that and does a better job than acet. I am going to be cutting quite a bit of thin stuff here soon, and the way it behaved, I didn't think that it would be good for thin. I need to pick up a #100 Victor torch, but I imagine they have tips for that, too. I managed to smoke two propane tips, and it seems that outer case is somewhat flimsy.

Advice appreciated?

I too had this problem when I met oxy-propane 3yrs ago for a couple of months. It seemed hopeless, compared to oxy-acet cutting. Yet there's folks who say it's really good. I too suspect there's a body of knowledge and experience out there based on the behaviour of oxy-propane. For certain I don't disbelieve you that oxy-propane can be the business. However, it would be nice to be included.

Oxy-acet seems so precise. You know exactly how to set it up, how to manipulate the torch, it quickly starts a cut, that cut is incredibly accurate, with sharp edges, smooth face, etc. A saw cut struggles to compete, in fact (saw-cut smoother, but oxy-acet cut along the chalk-mark squarer (saw usually has some cant due to long piece + short vice)). Always good.

Oxy-propane - you never felt it was clear what you should do with it. How to set the flame, how far off the plate to hold the torch, ... Any number of things didn't seem to suggest themselves to you by any clear behaviour. Always got rounded edges, parts of plate glowing red hot, ...

There's things like - you see "ghost" of nozzle orifice pattern on plate - then you later hear that yes you do and that's somewhere near where you need to be - rather than it being undesirable and the plate somehow not heating right.

I identify with SteveB's message. Any good guidelines on oxy-propane available yet?

Richard S

The most common mistake is not cranking the flame up high enough. For 1/2" steel cutting, 5 psi on the gas, 50 psi on the oxygen, crack the valves on both gasses 1/8 of a turn, rest the tip on the steel plate at a 45 deg angle to the side, ignite the flame, now adjust the flame up until your gas is maxxed out, and the flame is REALLY LOUD and the inner cones are pale blue. It should look like an oxydizing flame on acetylene.

If you set the flame to look like an oxy/acetylene flame it just won't work worth a damn. Tip should float about 3/4" from the surface of the steel.

Which is the hottest, and which is the cheapest?

Ive cut with propane..and hated it....

Gunner

Whenever a Liberal utters the term "Common Sense approach"....grab your wallet, your ass, and your guns because the sombitch is about to do something damned nasty to all three of them.

MAPP was the hottest LP mix gas, but is almost extinct. I like Chemtane a lot, but Flamal is pretty close.