Thread: Cheap oxy acetylene?

$400 per year seems high, you must be with boc, why don't you enquire at airliquide, after being used to mig welding with argon I hate gas less, arc welding is better in my opinion.

no you can't use Propane & compressed air, but LP & Oxy works quite well , you will only be up for the oxy bottle & use BBQ gas, no problems at all.

I have seen propane or LPG used with oxygen for cheap cutting but I don't know about using compressed air.

I had a set of large bottles I acquired years ago and used to be able to swap them over at Albert Batty scrap dealers in Geelong for very cheap gas refills but BOC closed that little operation down a couple of years ago. A lot of very annoyed people lost their cheap gas lurk in that one.

Not enough competition with gas bottle rental and refills perhaps.

LPG and Oxy is fine for cutting; not as good for heating - it takes longer and the flame is not as precise; useless for brazing; and it won't work for fusion welding.

In addition you will need to buy an LPG regulator and LPG heating and cutting tips. Use a very low gas pressure on LPG; about 5kpa from memory.

I found the whole set-up most unsatisfactory and the only application I can recommend from experience is oxy-cutting, which would save considerably on acetylene and rental costs,

Cheers Charlie

Originally Posted by pdd1098

I already pay $400ish per year for Argoshield (MIG gas)....going to use gasless next year.

I have a WIA gasless MIG. It certainly isn't as good as a friend's gas MIG. I'd like to convert mine to gas.

Do you do a lot of MIG work or could you get by with the disposable bottles? I could.

I gave up using my oxy-acetylene years ago as I just didn't use it enough to warrant the annual costs. It wasn't so bad 20+ years ago when one could get a 10-year bottle lease at a reasonable cost.

Gasless MIGs take a lot of practice to get right. They are perfect for outdoor conditions, in particularly when it is quite windy. With practice you can get some really great welds, although at the end of the day it isn't as good as using gas.

Lastly - don't use a gasless MIG indoors unless you have some good ventilation.


Cheers
Chris

Originally Posted by p38arover

It wasn't so bad 20+ years ago when one could get a 10-year bottle lease at a reasonable cost.

Now that brings back memories,it was also good before Boc/Cig brought in the bar codes on the bottles,you could have 10 bottles but only pay rental on two,just keep swapping em over

The rentals are way to expensive,as are most things today.

They need some good competition.

Thanks for all the replies
I thought it was a too good to be true idea

BOC is all that is available around here...I think $180ish rent and about $150 per exchange, I use about 1 1/2 per year, so the disposable ones would probably cost me more.
I know gasless is not as good but I will try a small roll of wire and give it a go.
As for the oxy acetelene set up I will forget it and just use Mapp gas to coax rusty bolts off
Thanks
Dave

Like almost everybody who rents bottles I resent it and the high charges. Like Ron I returned my oxy and acetylene bottles years ago as I would go months on end without using them. I still have an Argoshield bottle for my MIG which costs me $180 per year.

BOC/Cig many years ago (1960?) managed to get privately owned bottles banned. My father was over the top furious about this. Prior to this amendment to the Gas Acts(Qld.) one could own bottles and have them tested and certified by the Govt. Gas Examiner every seven years. CIG didn't like this and came up with the ruse of insisting on your bottles being tested by themselves at every refill for "safety" and charged for this. Eventually they got in some politician's ear or pocket and had the Act amended.