On 10 Feb 2005 20:58:31 GMT, Ian Stirling wrote:
wrote:
I have been asked to cut open an old liquid oxygen tank with my plasma
cutter. The intention is to use it as a glory hole for glasswork. I
have not actually looked at the tank myself.

Are there any explosion hazards or anything I should watch out for in
terms of safety. Are LO2 tanks double walled, contain a dewar or
contain any hazardous insulating material I should be careful of?

LO2 tanks are almost certainly double walled, with vacuum in the middle,
and probably layers of foil or something.

Could be mylar sheeting (think "space blanket"), or Perlite also.

There is a very small chance that a fault would cause this to be
pressurised.
I'd drill a 10mm hole, to start, before starting the plasma.

I'm not sure it'll fit the desired purpose very well, either.
Just because it's good at keeping very cold things very cold,
doesn't mean that the materials used for such will be good for
high temperature insulation as well.

Actually, I lie, I'd say "Cool a LO2 tank", and start investigating
how to get it filled.

I've got a cryogen tank for liquid nitrogen (2 liter dewer flask) that
I got for a similar "hey cool, I want this" reason. It has, to
date, never been used. Based on the materials in that one, I wouldn't
consider getting it anywhere near something hot enough to melt glass.

Dave Hinz