On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 19:39:02 +0000 (UTC), Eli the Bearded
wrote:

I haven't tried looking in an actual welding supply store, but I
have been looking in larger hardware stores. I'm curious about
the usefulness of various lower end welding torches. I've had about
six hours experience using an oxy-acetylene torch, but I've
never owned one. My usage would be occasional art projects, nothing
regular. I am hesitant about renting cylinders since if they sit
there for a month without being used, I'll feel like I'm wasting
money.

At the really low end, of course, are the propane ones. Even the
oxygen-propane models I suspect are fairly limited and not going
be able to do much. I've heard they are okay for cutting, and
cheaper than oxy-acetylene for that, though.

In the $250 to $300 range there are several small oxy-acetylene
setups, like this one:

http://store.weldingdepot.com/cgi/we...2GKA50-TC.html

The cylinders are small, but I expect sporatic use. It comes with
just one size each of brazing and cutting tip, but that site sells
a bunch of others with compatible connectors. Is this a good small
set up, or does it have drawbacks I'm not seeing?

The scale of the work I would be doing is probably bigger than a
mouse and smaller than a sheep dog. E.g tire iron candelabra.

Elijah

I would recommend going with a 20 cu ft acetylene and 40 cu ft oxy.
The cost isn't much different and they cost about the same to fill so
your gas cost goes way down and you don't have to get them filled as
often. It doesn't take long to deplete an MC acetylene even with
light torchwork. They're a little heavy to "tote" both at once, but
they're very easy to handle on a small two-wheel dolly.