A Scrappers Dream; Cutting Torch - Page 4

Theres something that ive never seen. A couple of baby Harris torches that are new. I have one aty the yard that I use to cut 24 inch mill rolls with.Nice rigs

Hate to be long winded,but one more thought.
When cutting pipe overhead,leave a tack or small uncut section somewhere near the top. Its like cutting a tree,leave your tack in the direction you want the pipe to fall. This is where a 3 ft torch is handy. Even with planning and teamwork having too many guys in the work area becomes dangerous. When dropping large sections,you never know what they will hit or shift on the way down. Also in a steam plant,all the pipe hangers are not for vibration but for and contraction. Over the years they can build up stress,so be careful. Of all the ships I have cut,the engine room is a mass of pipe. We always cut with two burners: one port side and one starboard,this way I dont have to be forever watching underneath me.
On the job you are on,I assume this was a coal fired plant. You will run into a bunch of mangenese to cut. Pick one burner to do this,give him a big pay raise and nickname him "Blacky" coal dust is explosive but rarely burns. After blacky has hads a few dust explosions and filled the plant with dust,he will get the hang of it.

Originally Posted by hmburner

I have tested many burners in my day,and its always on pipe. You start from the top and work your way down. When you get to the bottom,put on a big weave on till it blows through the bottom and out the other side. Start back from the top and meet the cut on the bottom from the other side. I can always tell former fitters by the way they cut pipe.Starting from the bottom makes a slow cut and I would never hire the guy. When I started as a burner,I was always taught that "a fitter can never burn and a burner can never fit"
If you are getting slag in the bottom of the pipe,it means you are using way to low of oxy pressure
As far as tips go: use a bulldog style tip for your torches. They are much tougher and should last about 6 months with a good burner. The americans also call them "fast preheat tips" These work the best with natural gas

This is interesting and something I will try tomorrow. No matter how high I have turned the oxygen, I could not prevent the slag from pooling at the bottom of the pipe. The pipe we are cutting ranges from 2 inch to four inch thick. The weave you talk about is called a lazy w on this sight. We use it on the bottom of the pipe to allow the slag to blow through and on dangerous cuts that we want to ensure they are free before we move on. The rookies use their arms to cut the weave, the average burners use their wrists, but the best burners use their finger tips to finish this cut. It is much more efficient and cost effective. The difference is 1/2 inch cuts verses 1/4 inch cuts.

When this project started all but 2 of the 16 burners were taught from scratch. Now 80% can cut better than I can. They spend 8 hours a day behind a torch and I spend 8 hours a day behind a computer and smart phone. They share ideas and secrets and get better by the hour. It is all about teamwork. Working myself out of a job.

Originally Posted by spinroch

Most scrappers WANT to share their awesome tool....

Not if you are shy.

I don't think shy is a term used to describe PSP..lol. Lest not in the time I've been here.

I dunno, guess I just ain't smart enough to figure it out. Ha ha. Oh well back to pondering bigger mysteries of Universe..like..how come you can go through a ten item or less line with a 24 pack of beer an a dozen eggs.



Sirscrapalot - I think it's wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly. - Steven Wright

Miller/Smith Torches have been picked up directly from the factory. This is a display case when you enter the building showing some of the original products they made. Earlier it was pointed out that gasoline and propane would be used with liquid oxygen. Now I am experimenting with natural gas. This is being considered because the building will have to be plumbed anyway for heat. The owner of the building offered to plumb the building for natural gas right away, if we want to cut with it. This has presented another learning curve, experiment, and opportunity. So far I have cut with acetylene, propane, propylene, diesel fuel, gasoline, kerosene, and now natural gas. Next challenge will be jet fuel and white gas when I grow up.

This may explain why we are looking at natural gas as a fuel for cutting.

Residential Energy Cost Comparison
The costs of various forms of energy are calculated in several different ways. This can make it difficult for consumers to compare the actual cost of the energy fuel they are using. The following information compares the retail prices of various forms of energy on an equal basis.
Average BTU* content for various energy fuels:

Natural Gas 100,000 Btu per Therm

Kerosene 135,000 Btu per Gallon

Propane Gas (LP) 91,500 Btu per Gallon

Electricity 3,413 Btu per Kilowatt Hour (KWH)


Amount of fuel required to obtain one million Btu:

Natural Gas 10 Therms per million Btu

Kerosene 7.4 Gallons per million Btu

Propane Gas (LP) 11 Gallons per million Btu

Electricity 293 KWH per million Btu


Form of Energy Units to obtain one million BTU Substitute your present cost ** Cost per Million BTU

Natural Gas 10 Therms x $1.01 (Heat Only Rate) $10.10

Natural Gas 10 Therms x $0.91 (Year Round Rate) $9.10

Kerosene 7.4 Gallons x $3.75 $27.75

Propane Gas (LP) 11 Gallons x $3.50 $38.50

Electricity 293 KWH x $0.085 $24.91





* Btu stands for British Thermal Unit.
** Costs shown reflect local energy prices as of February 2014
Copyright © 2014 ERPUD. All rights reserved.
Revised: 3/6/2014

An apology is needed. A previous post about experimenting with natural gas was placed somewhere on the forum, but I cannot find it. The owner offered to plumb the building with natural gas, if we could cut with it. Reference the previous post. After experiments and research, it is possible and cheap. But it takes longer to heat metal and is not as efficient, therefore it does not make economical sense to use it on a project of this size. It might be worth while to use it once a while, if cutting is limited. You can use the same setup used for propane including the tips and gauges.

No apology needed...you're trying to think outside of the box, and for this particular thought process it looked promising but didn't lead anywhere. No big deal. You're out a little time in your investigation, that's all. But you are a little more knowledgeable in the process.

I tip my hat to you because you are coming back with the information for the forum, both if its good or bad. That's very valuable for future people on the forum following your threads, say, 2 years down the road.

Please keep the photos coming-- even just general interest ones--scrap coming out of the building, interesting old machines in there, etc!

Thanks, Patriot76!!

Jon.

Fun Tip:

I have a hard time keeping cold drinks ready throughout the day. Two solutions that have proved valuable as the weather warms. First when arriving on site in the morning, Mt. Dew and Gatorade are placed on our hardest burning torches liquid oxygen tank. The harder it is used, the colder the tank gets. Others have discovered this secret, but they all know to stay away from the tanks I use. They also know if my beverages are on their tanks, they will be cutting non-stop throughout the day. They feel proud because they know they will not be pulled off a torch to move metal because my drinks will get warm.

A safety valve if the tank selected is not used all day long is a fire extinguisher. Blasting the beverage will instantly cool it.

Hmsburner I think the problem is more experience. Trial and error. You tried it all you know what works and what angles work and what angles won't work. Your either a burner or a learner. Anyone can cut through paper thin material with a torch but a torch man should be able to torch anything and everything put in front of him. Every burning crew has burners that are great and burners that are so so. Unless they have an experienced person cutting manganese (dead iron) is one of the toughest tasks you can give a burner. Keeping a bead on dead iron is almost impossible unless your a beast with the torch. Cutting through 4 inch material and making a clean cut is gonna be hard with the torches there using. I like your homemade vaporizer idea but I think these guys are running multiple burners off dewar tanks which are only meant for 1000 cubic food draw and hour when they are blasting through thick material. The math isn't in your favor from the word jump. Torches that require 3000 cubic foot an hour are getting 1000 cubic foot an hour which means there turning up the pressure to compensate. That's why the tanks freezing up. The tank wouldn't freeze if you had a vaporizer with good up and down action where the liquid can turn into gas. Marry the tanks hook up to the vaporizer let the vaporizer freeze up and not the tanks. That's how it's supposed to work. Mastering cryogenics took me years and years to figure out. Something as little as a hose barb in your line can f up the whole way the torch works and operates.