Posted by Gene Olson on October 15, 1997 at 17:00:34:

In Reply to: Re: Oxyacetylene Set-up posted by Valerie on October 14, 1997 at 12:50:39:

Val and all two things.

one from the Smith safety rep and the other a tip from Ivan Bailey's presentation at our fall conference.

: : Which raises another question: another book also tells me to "crack" the oxygen valve, open the fuel valve a little more, and light it like that.

This according to Bailey is a real good trick if you need to do work on site in somebody's nicely appointed house. The reason, it eliminates the ghostly soot wisps, which could easily make a several hundred dollar mess on expensive wallpaper or the like.

It makes setting the flame a little harder so I probably wouldn't do it in the shop.

: Open acetylene a bit, light and then adjust for a not-smoky flame.

Here the Smith safety man said that the above is the actually too low for optimal performance and safety. It is the _very_minimum_ fuel gas volume to be used. That the actual optimal output of the torch tip occurs closer to the point that the flame jumps off the tip. I would check with Smith, the guy was pretty emphatic about this. If you need less heat, invest in a smaller tip.

Gene

:Then open oxygen slowly until the outer envelope or blueish flame just disappears into the inner "cone". Any more than that and it becomes oxidizing and will burn the metal.

: If this flame is too hot, you can turn down the acetylene at the torch and then still adjust for a neutral flame (described above). There is a range which each tip can work within. Most of us go with the sound of the torch to help indicate the amount of heat (BTU) even though the temperature is the same.

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