Spouse has received an advance invoice for five years supply of acetylene and oxygen. It's about £700. He might not even be using it in five years but the longer hire time is far better value than the one and three year times. The price of gas is in addition of course.
He doesn't do welding on our cars any more and has no major projects in mind which would need the equipment, it would now only be used for small, occasional tasks.
So he's seriously considering alternatives. He has a MIG welder already but would like to be able to heat steel enough to weld it. He's seen a portable farriers' kiln which uses propane - does anyone know about this?
Or can anyone suggest a cheaper source of oxy-acetylene cylinder hire - or any other suitable process?
By the way, did you mean to say, " ......like to be able to heat steel enough to BEND it....? If you really mean some kind of pre-heating equipment for brazing etc. there was quite a long discussion in the NG some time ago on the subject of hearths heated by domestic gas which might be of interest.
No, I meant welding, although of course he needs to bend steel. He has the equipment for brazing and silver soldering. Copper alloy work is no problem.
I seem to remember that, what's more I think I kept it. Thanks again! It's all grist to the mill.
Five years up front! They're avin a larph. As I am selling up my little engineering works at the moment I'll let you have the full kit for £300. Full oxy, full acetyline (biggest bottles) set of nearly new two stage guages A1 condition hoses and gas welding torch with selection of nozzles ( no 1. 3. 5 and 7) throw in another £25 and you can have an ANM sapphire cutting torch. and another £25.00 a heavy duty bottle trolley to move them around in...........................Oh blow it 320.00 the lot. Steve
BOC - go down to the smaller cylinders. A Porta-pak is ridiculously small, but the same trolley will take taller cylinders too (M & X sizes). They'll fit in a car (not even an estate) and the rental is a good saving over full size. They're rubbish for cutting, but plenty big enough for welding.
If you're looking for heating and most cutting, but not welding, then switch to oxy-propane. This obviously halves your cylinder rental. You'l need a propane regulator and _must_ fix up the torches for the different gases. Cutting needs a new nozzle in the old torch, heating needs a new mixer and nozzle, if you have a bigger Saffire torch body. Maybe a new torch, if you've only got a Machine Mart cheapie. You should swap the fuel hose too, but this is cheap. My main oxy-propane torch is a Saffire 5 body with either a H-1 nozzle (the others are too big for most purposes) or a _huge_ 6" wide line burner, intended for cleaning barnacles off oil tankers. A scary brute to use (I wear ear defenders), but it certainly works.
This also gives you fuel for low temperature propane/air torches, or for a forge burner.
If you go for a propane forge, then it needs to be a big box with ceramic insulation inside. Otherwise you can't keep the heat up.
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"Ducks nest" gas forges are rubbish, and chip forges are even worse. What you want is a Ron Reill injector burner (follow the links above) which you can either make from plumbing parts and web plans, or you can buy for a reasonable price from a bloke in the USA (same link).
Or you could go for a coke forge. Much more traditional, and better in many ways - so long as you have the space.
There are alternatives to BOC, usually cheaper, but they run a dreadful cartel between themselves and they're all a bunch of thieving bastards. In comparison, look at prices in the USA.
eBay is a good source for acetylene / propane accessories (new or used), but avoid spammers.
Right, he had a look at your post just now and ws indignant (with me, not you) because the Air Products 'deal' hs already has is the smaller cylinder. He says that AP is cheaper than BOC - it was when he first got it. Things might have changed, he finds that difficult to accept in any sphere of life :-)
We've looked at the last charge, it's almost half of the present demand. As I type he's querying it.
Thank you for that, he's interested.
star to Dingley!).
Thanks again, Andy, you've made him think, something I'm usually unable to do :-)
Well I'd suggest you save your money and not wildly gamble on uncertainties. Who mentioned BOC? or is that the only supplier of bottled gases that you're familiar with? Why include extraneous comment in a thread when you clearly haven't a clue what your talking about.
Of course not - they're just workshop shorthand for "The evil multinational who rips us off on bottle rental", whether it's BOC, Linde or Air Products.
But you _don't_ own these bottles, do you. They're either rented or knock-offs, and you're offering to sell them as if they're your own property.
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