Don Foreman wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jan 2006 22:43:32 -0800, Enoch Root
wrote:

Today I bought and dragged home a welding outfit and I want to know if I
done good.

[snip description]

Sounds pretty good. You might want to check to see who will fill
them. Not all places will accept all tanks, though they tend to be
less fussy about the smaller ones like yours.

The guy mentioned I may need to go to one particular welding supply shop
to get them filled... it happens to be the closest.

If your acetylene regulator turns out to need work, it's not horribly
expensive to have them rebuilt -- or buy a rebuilt. The last one I
bought, a Smith I think, was about $35.

Oh that's good to know. This thing seems sketchy... it works but it
definitely freaks out if I turn the gas flow way up.

You shouldn't be getting soot if the torch is getting oxygen, and the
(blue) flame from a rosebud should not be too bright to look at once
it is getting enough oxy. The goggles are really for working with
white-hot metal that is definitely too bright to look at. I never
use goggles when silverbrazing or heating to red for bending.

Two things about that... first, I don't think I was getting soot with
the oxygen turned up--it was happening when I was lighting it. Also,
your description tells me I may not have had enough oxygen while
hardening a (plane) blade I'm making. It took forever to get it hot,
and I eventually had a thick skin of carbon on the metal.

But this brings up a another question. When I tried turning up the
oxygen to clean up the flame, it would extinguish the flame with a loud
pop. Why's that happening, and how can I avoid it? I'm fairly sure
that I'm not getting the hottest flame possible, more so after your
description.

If you don't have flashback suppressors, they are strongly
recommended. Not to be overly dramatic, but they could save your life
and your shop. Most welding stores have dramatic photos.....

Sounds important. Don't know what a flashback is... maybe it's what I
just described? According to the manual there are reverse flow check
valves in the torch handle.

er
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