I've been keeping my eye on surplus oxygen/acetylene gear locally and picking it
up when it's cheap, with an eye on reselling. I now have 3 cutting torch
attachments all of which are high quality and all of which seem to have the same
problem. They pop and go out a lot. I haven't replaced the tips, but I have
cleaned the tips including the seating tapers until they are really as clean as
they'll get, by soaking in vinegar and salt and gently rubbing with 3M pads. I
have also used tip cleaners to try to gently get as much junk out of the preheat
holes as possible. I don't know of a good method to clean the seats themselves,
though. This is the hole in the actual torch head. It would seem to require some
special tool to clean the seating tapers.

I believe the popping is simply from improper seating of the torch tips. Is
there another common cause?

Any of you guys have a good method for doing this job?

By the way, Seattle is blessed with a great torch repair place, Hansen & Miller
in Ballard, but they are expensive and so are new cutting torch tips. That's why
I'm trying to do this by myself.

These are all real nice torches or will be once they are fixed.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

Grant:
My old Meco heads were popping and I replaced the "O" rings. Problem
solved. Any chance these have an O ring?
-Mike

mlcorson wrote:

Grant:
My old Meco heads were popping and I replaced the "O" rings. Problem
solved. Any chance these have an O ring?
-Mike


They do, down below where the torch head attaches to the body. I'll look at that
area as well, thanks.

Grant

In article ,
Grant Erwin wrote:

I've been keeping my eye on surplus oxygen/acetylene gear locally and picking
it
up when it's cheap, with an eye on reselling. I now have 3 cutting torch
attachments all of which are high quality and all of which seem to have the
same
problem. They pop and go out a lot. I haven't replaced the tips, but I have
cleaned the tips including the seating tapers until they are really as clean
as
they'll get, by soaking in vinegar and salt and gently rubbing with 3M pads.
I
have also used tip cleaners to try to gently get as much junk out of the
preheat
holes as possible. I don't know of a good method to clean the seats
themselves,
though. This is the hole in the actual torch head. It would seem to require
some
special tool to clean the seating tapers.

I believe the popping is simply from improper seating of the torch tips. Is
there another common cause?

Any of you guys have a good method for doing this job?

By the way, Seattle is blessed with a great torch repair place, Hansen &
Miller
in Ballard, but they are expensive and so are new cutting torch tips. That's
why
I'm trying to do this by myself.

These are all real nice torches or will be once they are fixed.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

Grant you can just buy the replacement o-rings from Harrold at Hansen
and Miller.

--
"I love deadlines, especially the wooshing sound they make as
they fly by" - Douglas Adams

xray wrote:

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 15:54:40 -0800, Grant Erwin
wrote:


I've been keeping my eye on surplus oxygen/acetylene gear locally and picking it
up when it's cheap, with an eye on reselling. I now have 3 cutting torch
attachments all of which are high quality and all of which seem to have the same
problem. They pop and go out a lot.


Is this while welding or just with the torch lit by itself? I too often
get bangs from my torch while welding, but always assumed it was just my
poor technique overheating the weld and causing sparks that enter the
torch.

Just trying to narrow down the symptoms.


Nothing to do with welding, this is with the cutting attachment installed, and
just in free air, not in use at all.

GWE

"xray" wrote: (clip) I too often get bangs from my torch while welding,
but always assumed it was just my poor technique (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Based on Grant's response, my reply is a little off-topic, but I will
mention anyway: if your torch is in good shape (O-rings OK, etc) then
popping while you are welding probably means you are running too small a
flame for the tip size, allowing the flame to travel back through the
opening.

On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 03:45:45 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
wrote:


"xray" wrote: (clip) I too often get bangs from my torch while welding,
but always assumed it was just my poor technique (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Based on Grant's response, my reply is a little off-topic, but I will
mention anyway: if your torch is in good shape (O-rings OK, etc) then
popping while you are welding probably means you are running too small a
flame for the tip size, allowing the flame to travel back through the
opening.

On mine it was bad "O" rings.

Grant Erwin wrote:

I believe the popping is simply from improper seating of the torch tips. Is
there another common cause?

There are some causes to popping. If everything is well sealed.
* to low gas speed. If the gas is coming out to slow, the flame can burn
back (into the tip), get a lot of volume to burn and thus explode.

* to much heat. Acetylen is quite nasty. To high a temperature (or
pressure), it falls apart with a **bang**

* a quite unexpectable but possible cause: if you lead acetylene through
a copper alloy above 80% (brass is OK) you get whattheheck. Some kind
of explosive that is very sensible. Now if you have cleaned the brass
parts with some chemical that dissolves the tin you have 100% copper on
the surface. And you get the chemical reaction that will produce the
explosive stuff. Best to clean the brass parts mecanical, not chemical.


HTH,
Nick
--
Motor Modelle // Engine Models
http://www.motor-manufaktur.de
DIY-DRO - YADRO - Eigenbau-Digitalanzeige

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 15:54:40 -0800, Grant Erwin
wrote:

3 cutting torch attachments
all of which are high quality and
all of which seem to have the same problem.

Maybe the problem is elsewhere?
What do all three have in common besides the same problem?
What are all three attached to?

Try attaching them to something different and see what happens.

be aware that there are propane cutting torches that are not
interchangable with acety.

In article ,
Grant Erwin wrote:

[...]

Nothing to do with welding, this is with the cutting attachment installed, and
just in free air, not in use at all.

GWE

Try running it in the dark and look for any leaking flame.

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail dot net

On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 13:38:55 GMT, (Speechless)
wrote:

On Wed, 28 Dec 2005 15:54:40 -0800, Grant Erwin
wrote:

3 cutting torch attachments
all of which are high quality and
all of which seem to have the same problem.

Maybe the problem is elsewhere?
What do all three have in common besides the same problem?
What are all three attached to?

Try attaching them to something different and see what happens.

The common thread is they are all "salvaged" - and likely not recently
maintained. If the oxygen from the cutting lance can reach the mixer,
it WILL pop.Deformed/overcompressed/hardened "O" rings are a common
cause of internal leakage.

Grant -

I don't have a rig, but is it a heat issue - pre-ignition. Maybe an air leak
that the gas that flows sucks in air and ignites poorly.

Just guessing - but maybe an idea. O-rings might do this - if high velocity gas
is flowing past.

Martin
Martin Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
NRA LOH & Endowment Member
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder



Grant Erwin wrote:
I've been keeping my eye on surplus oxygen/acetylene gear locally and
picking it up when it's cheap, with an eye on reselling. I now have 3
cutting torch attachments all of which are high quality and all of which
seem to have the same problem. They pop and go out a lot. I haven't
replaced the tips, but I have cleaned the tips including the seating
tapers until they are really as clean as they'll get, by soaking in
vinegar and salt and gently rubbing with 3M pads. I have also used tip
cleaners to try to gently get as much junk out of the preheat holes as
possible. I don't know of a good method to clean the seats themselves,
though. This is the hole in the actual torch head. It would seem to
require some special tool to clean the seating tapers.

I believe the popping is simply from improper seating of the torch tips.
Is there another common cause?

Any of you guys have a good method for doing this job?

By the way, Seattle is blessed with a great torch repair place, Hansen &
Miller in Ballard, but they are expensive and so are new cutting torch
tips. That's why I'm trying to do this by myself.

These are all real nice torches or will be once they are fixed.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

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I took 'em out to the torch repair place today. The owner came out and looked at
them all. One, two, three, same story: bad cutting tips. One had a big ding in
it, another had been dropped and was visibly out of round, another was badly scored.

He also looked at the O-rings and said they were fine.

So I ordered some tips, should be here in about a week, will post a summary.

GWE

Grant Erwin wrote:

I've been keeping my eye on surplus oxygen/acetylene gear locally and
picking it up when it's cheap, with an eye on reselling. I now have 3
cutting torch attachments all of which are high quality and all of which
seem to have the same problem. They pop and go out a lot. I haven't
replaced the tips, but I have cleaned the tips including the seating
tapers until they are really as clean as they'll get, by soaking in
vinegar and salt and gently rubbing with 3M pads. I have also used tip
cleaners to try to gently get as much junk out of the preheat holes as
possible. I don't know of a good method to clean the seats themselves,
though. This is the hole in the actual torch head. It would seem to
require some special tool to clean the seating tapers.

I believe the popping is simply from improper seating of the torch tips.
Is there another common cause?

Any of you guys have a good method for doing this job?

By the way, Seattle is blessed with a great torch repair place, Hansen &
Miller in Ballard, but they are expensive and so are new cutting torch
tips. That's why I'm trying to do this by myself.

These are all real nice torches or will be once they are fixed.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington

Summary: 2 of the 3 were fixed simply by putting in new tips, the other one
needed both a new tip and to have the head reamed. If a cutting torch lights up
fine but when you pull the trigger it pops and goes out, a good place to look is
at the place where the cutting tip seats into the torch. Look closely at the
seating end of the tip. Look for nicks or out-of-roundness. If you find them,
replace the tip. If the tip looks perfect or if the problem persists with a new
tip, then look closely at the seat in the torch head. If it's scored, the head
needs to be reamed by a pro with a factory reamer.

On a side note, I wonder if the torch had been one of the el cheapo sets sold by
HF if the torch repair place I use would have had a reamer for it. I think
cutting/welding torches, like taps and dies, are tools to not cheap out on. I've
owned a bunch, but brands I like are Airco, Victor, Harris and even Marquette.

GWE

Grant Erwin wrote:
I've been keeping my eye on surplus oxygen/acetylene gear locally and
picking it up when it's cheap, with an eye on reselling. I now have 3
cutting torch attachments all of which are high quality and all of which
seem to have the same problem. They pop and go out a lot. I haven't
replaced the tips, but I have cleaned the tips including the seating
tapers until they are really as clean as they'll get, by soaking in
vinegar and salt and gently rubbing with 3M pads. I have also used tip
cleaners to try to gently get as much junk out of the preheat holes as
possible. I don't know of a good method to clean the seats themselves,
though. This is the hole in the actual torch head. It would seem to
require some special tool to clean the seating tapers.

I believe the popping is simply from improper seating of the torch tips.
Is there another common cause?

Any of you guys have a good method for doing this job?

By the way, Seattle is blessed with a great torch repair place, Hansen &
Miller in Ballard, but they are expensive and so are new cutting torch
tips. That's why I'm trying to do this by myself.

These are all real nice torches or will be once they are fixed.

Grant Erwin
Kirkland, Washington