On Mon, 09 Jan 2006 13:37:36 -0600, spaco
wrote:

You have several choices. Propane, Mapp, Propylene and Acetylene.
You can buy burners for any one and air.
Propane is the UNhottest flame of them all. If you do much copper,
I'm surprised that you find propane hot enough for brazing.

That could depend on what you are doing with it. I find Propane is
"hot enough" for everything, except cutting -- if I am using the right
size of torch for the job.

The original poster is happy with the heat output from a tiny propane
torch attached to a 1 pound canister of propane. He shouldn't have
any problems with the heat output from a real torch attached to a 20#
tank.

I would go
to your local welding supplier and pose your situation to them.
There are a lot of "Prestolite" outfits out there. These use a Tupe
B acetylene cylinder and air. You get the tank, the torch and several
feet of hose. Sounds like a good solution to me. Try running an ad in
your local newspaper for one. The Type B cylinder isn't regulated like
the bigger ones, so they can be refilled anywhere and you don't need
proof of original purchase. Not cheap, but a lot hotter.

Perhaps but, as I've indicated in another forum, in my case, there are
other benefits to using propane:

- light weight, easy to handle
- no more tank rentals
- no more driving 80 miles get welding gas
- no more waiting till they open on Monday for a refill
- runs off a standard 20# propane tank
- refillable at the corner gas station
- propane less expensive than special welding gases
- in a pinch, I borrow the tank off my propane barbeque

I have an O/A torch and don't recall the last time I've used it after
I got my Propane Turbo Torch. This was about 10 years ago and I
haven't look back since then.




Pete Stanaitis
------------------------------

wrote:

I do alot of braze/solder work with copper and steel. Mostly
ornamental. I've always used a fairly cheap torch that attaches
directly to the small bottles of propane or mapp gas. I would like to
start using one of the 20 lbs. bottles of propane instead, so I don't
have to hold the bottle as well as the torch. Does anyone have any
recomendations for a good torch of this type? I don't want to use
oxygen also, just the propane. Thanks.