Smoke Axe

[buffumjr]

For a long time, I despaired of making good cuts with the torch, then, I read in a training manual about different tips. I now have the right tips. But, now, there's a couple of problems.

I'll be cutting along, just fine, and, all of a sudden, I get a crater, and a blob of slag, and have to restart the cut. What's wrong? 1/4" steel. #0 tip. 5 lbs acet, and 20 of oxy. All the rest of the cut is wonderfully smooth. Just this one place is a blob.

Sometimes, I get a popping noise in the torch, and I'm not cutting or adjusting. It just pops. What causes that? Same settings.

[Aeronca41]

Haven't cut with OA in a number of years but can provide a couple of thoughts. Perhaps someone more current has some other ideas, but here's what I would look at. First, a bad seal between the tip and the cutting torch head might cause popping noises. Is the nut that holds the tip tight? Don't tighten it like a lug nut on your truck, but be sure it's firmly tightened with a wrench, and that there is no dirt on the seating surfaces. Second possibility is you don't have the flame adjusted high enough-try adding a little more heat and see if it helps. Too much will ruin your cut quality but you may be on the hairy edge of just barely enough heat. Might also be that your travel speed is a bit too fast, or that you are unconsciously letting up just a bit on the cutting oxygen handle.

Also, what kind of torch? Imprecise machining at the mechanical interface between the tip and the head could do this. I think I have a vague memory that even a super quality company -I think it may have been Victor -- had this problem 10 years ago or so when they put out some poorly-machined cutting heads. They immediately made it right with their customers, of course. But if your torch is a lower-cost import, that could be the problem. Also, are you using tips made by your torch mfr., or generic tips? Not a place to save a buck-buy tips from the same guys who made the torch. There is also the possibility of overdrawing from a very small acetylene tank but that seems unlikely with a #0 tip. Hope you get this figured out.

[Bls repair]

A piece of dirt ,rust concrete on the plate will cause this

[buffumjr]

Thanx, guys.

Dirt, rust, and seating. Using knock-off tips bot from Amazon for $6.00. Victor style torch by Forney, bought in 1990. Used a wrench, and the popping stopped! Will try cleaning the plate with a grinder prior to cutting. The book recommended this, too.

A side benefit from all this cutting is I'll have lots of plates for stick welding practice! Love my local industrial surplus store. 85¢ per pound for scrap steel of definitely unknown composition.

Lots of structured practice ahead. Wish I had an onsite instructor, but that's a $10K luxury. Didn't have one for MCSE, C, Oracle, or Unix, so I should be able to do this on my own, too. You guys are the next best thing.

The book is "Welding Level 1 Training Guide" by NCCER. Pro level book. You can tell, because half of it is safety stuff, like having a fire watch, using the plant electrician, etc. Geared for industrial level.

Amazing what you can learn if you just try.

[griff01]

Thanx, guys.

Dirt, rust, and seating. Using knock-off tips bot from Amazon for $6.00. Victor style torch by Forney, bought in 1990. Used a wrench, and the popping stopped! Will try cleaning the plate with a grinder prior to cutting. The book recommended this, too.

A side benefit from all this cutting is I'll have lots of plates for stick welding practice! Love my local industrial surplus store. 85¢ per pound for scrap steel of definitely unknown composition.

Lots of structured practice ahead. Wish I had an onsite instructor, but that's a $10K luxury. Didn't have one for MCSE, C, Oracle, or Unix, so I should be able to do this on my own, too. You guys are the next best thing.

The book is "Welding Level 1 Training Guide" by NCCER. Pro level book. You can tell, because half of it is safety stuff, like having a fire watch, using the plant electrician, etc. Geared for industrial level.

Amazing what you can learn if you just try.

Heavy mill scale will do the same thing. Also, several years ago, I had a new Victor torch with Victor tips that would pop even when not cutting. I "seated a couple of tips" with valve grinding compound. Now any tip in this torch is ok.. Must have been a minor imperfection in the torch head tip seat.

HTH
Griff

[Aeronca41]

Thanx, guys.

Dirt, rust, and seating. Using knock-off tips bot from Amazon for $6.00. Victor style torch by Forney, bought in 1990. Used a wrench, and the popping stopped! Will try cleaning the plate with a grinder prior to cutting. The book recommended this, too.

A side benefit from all this cutting is I'll have lots of plates for stick welding practice! Love my local industrial surplus store. 85¢ per pound for scrap steel of definitely unknown composition.

Lots of structured practice ahead. Wish I had an onsite instructor, but that's a $10K luxury. Didn't have one for MCSE, C, Oracle, or Unix, so I should be able to do this on my own, too. You guys are the next best thing.

The book is "Welding Level 1 Training Guide" by NCCER. Pro level book. You can tell, because half of it is safety stuff, like having a fire watch, using the plant electrician, etc. Geared for industrial level.

Amazing what you can learn if you just try.

Outstanding! Glad you got it figured out. Now just practice and practice some more. You sound like a guy who will always figure it out. Where's that industrial surplus store? I love those.

[buffumjr]

Outstanding! Glad you got it figured out. Now just practice and practice some more. You sound like a guy who will always figure it out. Where's that industrial surplus store? I love those.

Sanford, FL. You get off I-4 at the Sanford/17/92 exit. Go straight through the light, and turn right at the Kangaroo station. Go under I-4, and there it is on the right. Acme Industrial Surplus, where Wiley Coyote shops. Part of the fun of shopping there is the steel you buy could be anything. One 3/8 plate I bought had a lot of chrome in it, and was not weldable, though it was called "mild steel". "Ya pays ya money and ya takes ya chance."

Tonight is practice, when the temperature gets below 90°. Lots of grinding, first.

I'm going to try the #0 tip on a piece of 3/8. If it cuts OK, #0 will be my standard tip.

[Aeronca41]

Thanks! Unfortunately way too far from NY to stop by!

[gnforge]

A wile back my LWS went to a training and told me to give the 5 - 50 rule a try. 5lbs Acy and 50lbs Oxy. <br />
I've used torches for 40 years and never set mine quite like that but after a try I liked it.<br />
Also a few years back Acy was very expensive and hard to get for awhile. I switched to propane for my pre heat and heating then switched cutting tips, it took some getting used to but I cut 90% of time now with propane works great and is fraction the cost. <br />
In shop cutting is all plasma unless over 1-1/4"<br />
Then propane. But on road work is mostly torch. <br />
Greg

[Aeronca41]

Interesting -never heard the 5/50 thing. Will give it a try.

[USMCPOP]

An old chart I have says:

1/4" plate, Victor 00, 5/20-25

3/8" plate, Victor 0, 5/25-30

Used to be, Oxy/Acet was used to blast off mill scale, so I can see that it could cause popping. The thermal expansion difference between the scale and the base metal and lower thermal conductivity of the scale is the reason this works I think.

[burninbriar]

They make a seat reamer that works great. The guy where I buy my gasses reamed mine for me. Didn't cost anything' he is a friend of mine. I would assume that if your gas supplier has one it wouldn't cost much to get the seats dressed.

[buffumjr]

5/50 !! WOW! THAT's pressure! No, I'm not going to try that. Seems diminishing returns. Oxygen costs money, too.

20-25 cuts just fine with the right tip. Nice, smooth cuts. Even tried bevel cuts. Success.

I have Goss propane torches for silver soldering and heat treating. Propane there. Get some fire brick. Tractor Supply has it. Make a box. Buy one of the bigger Goss (www.gossonline.com) heads, make a hole for the head, and one for gas exit. Don't aim the torch at the work. You can heat to yellow heat, no problem. Be sure, when buying your Goss heads, to buy all the same mounting style. You can then buy only one handle, and interchange the heads. Saves big $$.

A propane setup for cutting. Excited. I'll ask my supplier about a propane setup, today.

Grinding went a long way to solving the problem, but it still happens. Junk steel? Salt water in cracks? Ah well, industrial surplus.

Now that I'm doing so much grinding, I'm going to have to fabricate a grinding dust collector to attach to my shop vac. Suggestions?

[ryanjones2150]

Grind outside.

[buffumjr]

Grind outside.

(head slap) Now, why didn't I think of that? Gotta move the cars, tho. The iron dust hurts the paint. Had to get a Ford truck's hood repainted because of it. Something in the paint makes the iron dust eat into it.

With the grinding, even junk steel cuts soooo much betta.