Oxy-Acetylene fo the Diy enthusiast

[MeltedEVERYTHING]

Hello again all.
Got such geat help on the old weld helmet question I had, thought I'd ask about something I've always wanted to get into but know nothing about.
I did a Motocycle maintenance education thing a while back. One bit was welding (oxyAcetylene) and IT WAS ASWESOME.
But all weld stuff these days seems to be tig mig and ac... is oxy actylene out of fashion? POssible? Outlawed? Only done by ninjas now?

Anyone?

THanks as always, happy melting

 

[Amplidyne]

Not AFAIK, and it's possible to buy a set of small bottles from various outlets. What the position would be in a domestic setting about insurance I don't know.
I've thought about it, or possibly oxy propane, if only for heating and brazing. I believe oxy propane won't weld properly though.

 

[Sideways]

Not common at home I'd say.
Cost / availability / impact on your home insurance.

Big cylinders are not rented to domestic customers even if you could afford them, and small portapac or disposible cylinders are very costly to run.

If you only want v small, there are solutions for jewellers.

No, you can't weld with oxy propane. It doesn't get intense enough. You can braze, but you can braze using a tig set, and most tig sets will also do stick with a suitable lead so that takes care of the need for heavy welds and outdoor, though not the need for portability away from mains or a big generator.

 

[deema]

Acetylene and domestic insurance are like oil and water. For most stuff apart from welding oxy propane is a better bet.
I’d say acetylene for welding has been superseded by MIG or TIG. TIG is more versatile but harder to learn. MIG is far easier and can weld aluminium as well as steel. If it were me, I’d go TIG.

 

[Spectric]

It all depends upon what you are welding, if you have mastered oxyacetylene then TIG is much easier to master as you already have filler rod control and TIG gives a very precise heat source. If I could have just one welder it would be my TIG plant but I learnt oxy and stick welding first. oxyacetylene has a few big advantages, if repairing something a little rusty like an old car then it gives the heat to shape and bend the metal as well as weld it in place, TIG needs clean material and enviroment but with the right plant can do Ali, Stainless or steel wih ease. You can also use oxy Hydrogen for welding and cutting but not oxy propane which is only for cutting or gouging. With the oxy acetylene you have to know the safety issues and rules about the cylinders, always safer to use flashback arrestors and keep oil and grease well away from the oxygen. With TIG the pure Argon is not cheap and if welding a lot of aluminium then you want a water cooled torch and I found the foot control very handy.

 

[Dabop]

In Australia, oxy acetylene has practically disappeared- mostly due to the cost...
I still have a set- although I haven't used them in years- well a couple of decades- I got the big cylinders (about 2m high,30cm around- they are my own personal bottles) and the cost to refill is staggering- for both bottles, not much change out of half a grand!!! plus both are well and truly out of date, so would need the full inspection before refilling (if they passed) thats another couple of hundred...

I paid less for both the Mig welder and the plasma cutter combined...

I 'could' rent a couple of bottles (then inspections etc are the companies problem) but thats about a hundred a year just to rent the bottles, add in refills etc, and the limited use for oxy (the mig and plasma do everything the oxy does at least for me lol) and they simply don't make any sense to use...

Insurance doesn't care less here about having an oxy torch in the shed, simply a non issue...

 

[johnb80]

I had a BOC Portapack (1/3 sized bottles) for many years. I did inform my insurers that they were in my workshop and they just noted it, no increase in premium. About 10 years ago I sold it and went on to MIg & TIG, never looked back.

 

[ChaiLatte]

As above, it is normally cost-prohibitive for a hobby use.

It needs very specialised facilities to induce acetylene to enter a cylinder and sit there quietly without trying to escape at high velocity. As such, there are rather fewer bottling plants in the UK than there are branches of Tesco.

The traditional mode of obtaining a cylinder is through one of the two companies: BOC or Air Products. You do not own the cylinder, only rent it from them. The annual rental is costly; the refill is costly; the delivery charge is costly. You can obtain these costs from the respective websites.

There is now a second model, called 'rent-free'. It is offered by HobbyWeld an Albee. In that, you pay a (large) amount as a deposit on the cylinder and then only pay for refills. When you want to stop ownership, your original deposit will be refunded. The volumetric charge for their refills is higher thsn BOC.

You have to do the maths yourself based on anticipated usage - work on a one, two and five year basis and see the implications. Remember to do the same for the oxygen bottle.

A third alternative is oxy-mapp, which is hotter than oxy-propane and cooler than oxy-acetylene. These sets are normally sold with disposable bottles and cost per litre would be extremely high.

 

[MeltedEVERYTHING]

OCK AND OLL - soy the lette between q and s in the alphabet is knackeed on my keyboad as you can tell.
Thanks fo hte feedback though guys. I wanted to do moe with OXY acetylene and find out abotu it cos the pecise is insanely contollable and a lot easie to see than the mig o tig fo me... i just danced the backl of weld aound whee i needed it to go. Just found it eally easy, pecise and satisfying but only did it a couple of times and neve saw o head any moe. when i looked into welding oiginally I neve saw any options so it kind of faded but would LOVE to find a small kit to do occasional wok with.

someone mentioned potapacks... is that a common option o vey specific and limited availability? Is bottle filling and soucing a headache o easonably do able?

Thanks again all, minnus the Lette " "