Oxy-acetylene torch to cut and clean scrap metal?

I just bought one to use for a flat bed trailer (tractor trailer). Spent $230 on the kit. It is a little small and came with a 0 tip. Probably should have had a 1 or 2. Brought it at central tractor. It is a Hobart medium duty.

If you have never used a torch before, you are in for quite the learning curve. I burned thru the large tanks and still don't have a good feel for it.

Originally Posted by mthomasdev

I just bought one to use for a flat bed trailer (tractor trailer). Spent $230 on the kit. It is a little small and came with a 0 tip. Probably should have had a 1 or 2. Brought it at central tractor. It is a Hobart medium duty.

If you have never used a torch before, you are in for quite the learning curve. I burned thru the large tanks and still don't have a good feel for it.

It may not be your fault. I set up a medium duty rig quite awhile back and never really got the hang of it. It's fine for brazing,gas welding,and cutting granite but it doesn't seem to cut steel very well.

Maybe it's asking a monkey to do a gorilla sized job ?

Originally Posted by junkfreak

There is difference between a welding tip and cutting tip.Might have been the problem.
Also the set up is different for cutting and welding.

Other things to consider cutting tips are sized,

Most popular brands of cutting torches desighned for acylene will accept propane tips, they do work but not as efficient as a torch specically made to burn natural or propane gas these torches have special mixing heads and these produce a much hotter flame.

What we refer to as cutting metal with a torch is much more than than, once the hot flame heats the metal red hot you squeeze the trigger shooting a stream of pure oxygen onto the hot zone. What happens now is that the oxygen actally burns the metal so what you get from burning lets say a six inch thich piece of metal is slag with perhaps a bit of molten metal created by the massive ampount of heat caused from burning.

When I sut metal thicker than six inches thick would weave the stream of oxygen off centre 1/8" side to side cut in such a way that the slag exiting the cut falls downward this way the heat retained in the slag pre heats the metal underneath.

When ever doing a largw job would order a liquid oxygen, comes in a big thermos is the equivalant of 18 large bottles of oxygen at a fraction of the price. The only downside is you have to use the bottle daily for hours at a time. The liquid oxygen requires refridgeration by using the bottle drawing off the contents refridgerates the contents otherwise the bottle will bleed off oxygen when not in use.

I used a torch made by Harris, burned propane.

Metal Thickness	Tip Size	Cutting Oxygen
Pressure*** PSIG
1/8"	000	20-25
1/4"	00	20-25
3/8"	0	25-30