On 25 Jul 2003 09:07:53 -0700, (Joe) wrote:

Hello everyone, I'm in the market for an oxy-acetylene welding/cutting
set but I have a few questions before I make my purchase. I have done
some stick welding before but never used gas so I'm a little nervous
about the safety aspects. I want the set for making sculptures out of
scrap metal parts and I wanted the most flexible tools I could get. My
questions:

1. What can't I do with oxy-acetylene? Or, is there something of
comparable cost that would be better for me to use?
2. I'm going to have the tanks in my garage at home, which is about 25
feet from my house and my neighbour's. Is this legal, are there any
regulations about residential areas I should know about?
3. What is the best reverse-flow & flashback configuration ( at the
torch or tank or both)?
4. The Smith booklet takes about '4 preheats' on a tip, what does it
mean?
5. My garage is unheated, would this be a problem in winter when
everything freezes?



I have a Uniweld on my service van. The only time I ever had a
problem was when the plastic trigger guard on the fire extinguisher
broke and I didn't notice it, and I picked up the torch tote and
managed to fire off the extinguisher. White powder went _everywhere_.

g

I do know that Uniweld at least has optional back-flow
preventers/flame guards which are fitted to the hoses at the torch
handle. Cheap, and work well.
Cheers,
Fred McClellan
the dash plumber at mindspring dot com