Ivan Vegvary wrote:

I sometimes to get an occasional pop while I am welding. BUT, what is it
when I get rapid machine gun fire pops that continue until I pull my torch
away. Using Victor gauges, Victor torch & tip (#3). Gauges are set to 7pis
acetylene and 10 phi oxygen. Note: I am trying to heat (so I can bend) and
not weld.
BTW, same thing happens when trying to use a Rosebud tip, except much worse.
I do use higher settings with the Rosebud.

Clues of what I am doing wrong appreciated.

I think your acetylene pressure is too high. Magic numbers are 3 and 10 psi at
South Seattle Community College. Even though your tip is a little bigger than
theirs, I'd try cutting it back some.

Also, remove your torch tip, take a magnifying glass, and look very closely at
the O-rings.

Here are the first few lines from the Victor welding tip chart. Make sure you
are reading these in non-proportional font (i.e. Courier or equivalent):

Victor Welding Tip Size And Application Data

TIP DRILL LENGTH OF OXYGEN ACETYLENE ACETYLENE METAL
SIZE SIZE AVERAGE PSI PSI CFM THICKNESS
INNER
FLAME CONE MIN MAX MIN MAX MIN MAX
-------------------------------------------------------------------
000 75 7/32" 1/2 2 1/2 2 1/2 3 UP TO 1/32"
00 70 7/32" 1 2 1 2 1 4 1/64"-3/64"
0 65 3/8" 1 3 1 3 2 6 1/32"-5/64"
1 60 3/8" 1 4 1 4 4 8 3/64"-3/32"
2 56 3/8" 2 5 2 5 7 13 1/16"-1/8"
3 53 3/8" 3 7 3 7 8 36 1/8"-3/16"
4 49 5/8" 4 10 4 10 10 41 3/16"-1/4"
5 43 1" 5 12 5 15 15 59 1/4"-1/2"

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington