My 2c, just having spent an accumulated fortune on tank rentals:
1. Buy Smith equipment, or the other big name, which escapes me. Never
Sears, never import. Sumpn to do w/ extruded vs. machined bodies.
2. *Buy* an acetylene "B" tank, 60 cu ft oxy, in fact, mebbe two of each,
so you never run dry. Don't rent the big tanks, unless you find yourself
filling up about once a month. Do the math, ito yearly rental fee vs. the
differential of filling big tanks (less per cu ft of gas) and that of small
tanks.

I actually have both big rental tanks and several small tanks, to make sure
I'm never dry. But now I'm returning my big tanks *today*. Just don't burn
enough to justify them.
----------------------------
Mr. P.V.'d
formerly Droll Troll
"Eli the Bearded" wrote in message
...
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
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needs better wiring before an arc welder is an option