Thread: "Cheaper" oxy-acetylene

Originally Posted by p38arover

My regulators are CIG Monitor 2 units like this:

Ron, Oxy-propane have been around for decades, all the profile cutters at Cockatoo island used Oxy-Propane, that was back in the 70's, uses a bit more pressure than Acetylene, used to cut all thicknesses, even a foot thick, regards Frank.

Scouse,
Unfortunately it appears neither option is available up here in QLD, yet.
Gasweld have no stores up here, bunnings dont do oxygen up here either, bunnings lite anyone?

Just a word Cutting with Oxy set.

It is the oxygen that does the cutting! The fuel gas oxy mix just heats the metal to the point where the higher pressure oxygen lance can burn/oxidize the metal. Once started the "heat" section of the torch is irrelevant unless one goes to fast for the lance. Thickness to be cut is a function of the centre lance pressure.

Must go check with bunnings. Have my current acetylene cyl rent bill in front of me

Cheers

RF

Originally Posted by scarry

Those regs were great,we found they were very rarely damaged.The later ones with the guages sticking out are easily damaged.You can get protection covers for the later ones but the guages still seem to get damaged doing service work.

As others have said,be careful with them as they are very old,the rubber components may be perished..Someone also told me you are not actually allowed to use them anymore,but i can't remember who or why(seniors disease)

I think CIG increased the oxy bottle pressure, which meant that EVERYONE had to buy new oxy regs. Guess what- CIG sell regs.
Cost my employer at that time around $600k.
Terry

Originally Posted by rover-56

I think CIG increased the oxy bottle pressure, which meant that EVERYONE had to buy new oxy regs. Guess what- CIG sell regs.
Cost my employer at that time around $600k.
Terry

Volume of gas in a cylinder is a function of cylinder pressure... which in real world terms is the frequency of cylinder changes.
Cylinder changes cost money. This can be because of lost productivity, changeover time, poor welding properties causing re-work or at worst having to scrap the workpiece. Farmer Hoggett's broken gate is not going to be a massive loss, but if you work to a schedule under a delivery deadline, this can be important.
Even your humble plumber without his oxy set will need to take an hour out of his 8 hour day to make the round trip to pick up more gas if he runs out half way thru the job. If this happens once a week, then it costs the company, what... $130 billable hourly rate per week x 48 weeks in a year (can't work him too hard, eh ) to total a $6240 hit to his bottom line at the end of the year. For a sole trader this equals a big hole in the schooner budget.
Scale this up to a mining company grossing billions per year, and this works out to be a big loss. Into the millions. It is this very reason why key manufacturing sites do not **** around with cylinders, instead having manifolded packs, bulk vessels, or Air Separation Units on site.

Today's cylinder manufacturers (and gas retailers) are in a race to get the highest volume in their cylinders for this very reason- customers value it.

Oh, and CIG hasn't sold gas since 1994. Your argument point is 20 years out of date

"Oh, and CIG hasn't sold gas since 1994. Your argument point is 20 years out of date"

Yes that would have been about the time. I remember an Aus wide ban on using existing oxy regs because of OHS implications. Employer was not under production pressure, just had perfectly good oxy sets everywhere which were no longer able to be used.

Terry

Originally Posted by rover-56

I think CIG increased the oxy bottle pressure, which meant that EVERYONE had to buy new oxy regs. Guess what- CIG sell regs.

I just had a look at the current specs for a CIG Cutskill 800kPa Oxy reg and it doesn't appear to be greatly different to my Monitor 2 reg.

First column is the Cutskill and the second is the Monitor 2
Max outlet pressure (kPa) 800 vs 705 (I think - the spec sheet for the Monitor labels the 705 figure as "Delivery Range")
Rated Air Flow (l/min) 310 vs 600
Inlet Gauge range (kPa) 30,000 vs 27,480 (that's 4351psi vs 4040 psi)
Outlet Gauge Range (kPa) 1,600 vs 825

The last is the biggie but the reg is only rated to 800kPa.

So it begs the question, can my regs be used with modern cylinders?

Originally Posted by p38arover

So it begs the question, can my regs be used with modern cylinders?

Short answer: 'yes'
Longer answer: If they are too old the diaphragms may be rooted, and cause a leak- leak test before use. If workcover asks, they are decommissioned.
I'd go the higher spec reg if you are doing heating or cutting thick plate, as you need the flow rate to do this.
Inlet gauge range- keep in mind that just because the gauge reads to 30 Bar, it may not be capable of that inlet pressure. Check what's stamped into the reg body. Same goes for outlet pressures. That being said, the highest 'Extra High Pressure' cylinders are still about 25-30 Bar.