OT: Finally got an OA welding set!

tryppyr

tryppyr

Joined
Feb 5, 2010
Messages
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I'd put it off long enough. So many times I've taken another path rather than doing things the proper way... now I hope to be able to do things as they should be done.

Of course, my wife is conviced I'll burn the house down. Let's hope she's wrong.

- Greg
 
Ha!!!! What does SHE know?!?!?!? You'll probably burn down the GARAGE, and then you'll have the last laugh! More toys! If there's no picture it doesn't exist.

- Paul Meske
 
There is a book on welding I read recently that was pretty good. The author did a lot of work with just an O/A welding set. He welded mild and low alloy steel, and said if he could only have one welding source in his shop, it would be an O/A rig.
 
An OA rig is a very versatile tool. You can weld a lot of different metals, including aluminium with the right flux, braze, solder, cut steel...

I make my students buy The Welder's Handbook by Richard Finch. It's a good basic book, lots of safety tips, and has some good charts for OA welding gas pressure vs tip size. it also covers MIG, TIG, and stick.
 
Congrats,if I were you, I would go with propane,safer and unless you do a lot of brazing you won't need the act.Plus the propane lasts a heck of a lot longer - you only need to change the tip-A shop really needs to have a welder, torch, an air compressor,of course one tool begats another, and you turn into a tool whore:-) oh yes propane is cheaper and you can rob the bbq grill--
 
I've used propane for cutting and brazing with- I hated it. It won't weld, either. I only resort to that if my ace tank is out. Of course, I may be doing different things than you commonly do. I do any soldering with a propane plumbing type torch, though.

In my early days of knifemaking mania, my shop was off the grid and one of the biggest things I needed was an O/A torch. It was the first thing I put real money into, bought BIG used tanks and a new Victor Journeyman rig. Some of the best money I ever spent, I now have three O/A rigs but that first one gets used the most. I gas welded a lot before ever trying arc...

Why do I have three? Because I don't know when to stop acquiring tools... and one is a porta-torch. Those can be really handy.

What are you going to do with your new imagination station? I remember in Davide Boye's book, he said something along the lines of "if you have an oxy-acetylene torch, you have the means to create your dreams in steel."
 
Hi Salem,yes if you rely on your oxy-ace for all your cutting brazing etc. of course ,but being the tool whore I am,I also have a plasma cutter- 2 migs..I only use the torch for edge quenching,occasional cutting,heating-but I agree it is a very handy tool for a lot of different jobs---Regards Butch
 
You can use your wife's fears to your advantage. Teach her what acetylene smells like and show her how to turn off your bottles. At night if you can't remember shutting off the bottles, just sniff the air a little and ask her if she smells acetylene? She will automatically check your bottles for you every night and could save you money from loosing acetylene from a small leak should you fail to turn them off yourself. She should know how anyway. (smile)

Congratulations on your new acquisition!
 
An O/A set is an extremely valuable tool to have around any kind of metal work shop. I'm not into the heat your blade with a torch and quench thing, but I use my torch set-up all the time. They are better suited for welding thin/small-ish stuff, but they did use them to weld some incredibly large structural stuff back in the day. When I got my welding degree, we had to spend an entire quarter on O/A welding, and most guys were pissed off about it since it's not used much at all in shops... but I really enjoyed it. It also made the transition into TIG pretty easy for me.

Things happen a lot slower with O/A welding, so IMHO it's a great place to start learning... you can really see the weld puddle and learn how to control your welds. I struggled at first because I kept trying to make perfect beads that looked like they were done with TIG (even though I had never TIG welded in my life)... but I'm glad I did because it forced me to learn how to control my rhythm, body positioning, travel, etc... and that will help with all forms of welding.

Have fun with it. :)
 
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