Uniweld makes an interesting variety of torches and tips (both cutting and brazing) that it claims can be used with acetylene, propane, propylene, and natural gas. Not sure if any of them would work with the Victor torch (or even if I would need one to), but interesting to know it's out there.

Do any of them claim you can switch fuel gasses in the same torch? 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

A little hard to figure out. The website images of the torch bodies show packaging printed with “For most fuel gases”, and a lot of the tips similarly are labeled or “For oxyacetylene, propane, MAPP/propylene, hydrogen, and natural gas”. I might try giving them a call. 

I had to give up on the Uniweld site, no nuts and bolts info just lots of pictures. I'm thinking a call is in order. Their cutting torches appear to be handle and head in one piece. I haven't used a purpose made cutting torch but I don't work in a scrap yard so I don't have an negative opinion. Heck, I don't have an opinion. 

Just don't mix fuel gasses. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Well, I've ordered the Victor Medalist 250 (a recent customer having decided to add an extra $100 to the balance for the hatchet I made him) and plan to be getting a 20 cubic foot oxygen cylinder from Airgas. Now the question becomes, do I buy a cylinder ($80, including the initial fill) or do I rent it ($78/year) in case I want to upgrade to a bigger one later?

If you are confused about owning or leasing a cylinder, it varies widely from the various bottle gas companies/LWS's and mergers of same.  It can be a nightmare in some markets.  If you want an indepth appraisal of the pros and cons, go over to weldingweb.com and do a search among the probable hundreds of posts on the own/lease controversy...do your homework and inquire among the bottle gas suppliers where you might be obtaining your gas.  Some will fill owner bottles, others will handle lease-only bottles.  And some are also restrictive on bottle sizes they will service.

Thanks for the tip, arkie. I knew I wasn't the first to have this dilemma!

An interesting tidbit: Cyberweld's site says that the WH411-C (0382-0355) Torch Handle that comes with the Medalist 250 outfit can be used for brazing with the addition of the Victor RTEN (0323-0284) nozzle. This is a couple of hundred bucks, comes with a #6 tip, and has tips from 00 to 8 available for about $15-20 each.

Probably not something I want to invest in at present (I suspect I'd get more use from a gas saver right now), but good info for the future.

That is the one that made me rethink using mine for brazing small items. You could get a Meco Midget for about the same price and for little stuff that Meco is very nice as it weighs next to nothing. 

Edited April 6, 20215 yr by Mod30
Excessive quoting

The Meco Midget is oxyacetylene, though, right?

The Meco is a really cool old torch, they used them during the war with hydrogen to make airplanes.  You can get propane tips. Look up TM Tech online. It is a really cool site with a lot of sheet metal tools and information available. He has the propane tips as well as the torch. 

Edited April 6, 20215 yr by Mod30
Excessive quoting

Noted. Many thanks. 

Having picked up another order and thus with some more cash coming, I'm thinking about getting a gas saver to go with the oxy-propane rig. I see one from Smith that's currently retailing for about $175 and another from Gentec that goes for about $100. Clearly, the Gentec would be preferable from a price point of view.

My question is this: the Gentec's maximum fuel gas pressure is 22 psi, while the maximum rated pressure on the G250 regulator is 60 psi. However, everything I've seen so far about the setup for oxy-propane has given 10 psi as the initial setting on the propane regulator, and I can't find anything on Victor's tip selection charts with a working gas pressure of higher than about 16 psi. If I'm correct in assuming that the 22 psi is still less than maximum *working* pressure I'll be using, is the Gentec still going to be okay?

Another question that arises is the cart to carry all this gear. I know that a lot of folks use what's basically a modified hand cart, but I'm thinking of building something on top of a small metal dolly frame I picked up at HGR. I figure there's plenty of room for the bottles, and it should be plenty stable, especially if I add some kind of wheel lock to keep it from rolling around.

So, is it acceptable to have the gas saver/torch stand be part of welding cart, or is there some minimum distance one should be keeping the bottles from the torch's open flame?

Interesting info: the full catalog of Victor cutting tools is available on the ESAB website with searchable text, so I've been able to find some very interesting items by searching it for "propane". Lots of charts with pressure ratings and so forth -- very good resource. Just do a websearch for "Victor gas equipment" + "pdf".

  $200 for a nozzle.  What a rip off.  I'd wait if possible.  Meanwhile,use pre-heat on cutting tips to braze.  I often braze with cutting tips because I'm in a hurry or too lazy to switch out.   I never tried something small like jewelry so that might be difficult.  I have several propane brazing tips,they look the same as acetylene except for a reccess where flame start's.  Apparently propane tips are like NA forge burners in needing something to hold flame when not in the forge.  I have owned the majority of my gas torches for decades and had no idea tips were so expensive.  I've had cutting tips reconditioned until worn out and replacements cost the same as acetylene.  If you aren't pleased brazing with cutting tips,I think you can find some used tips and handle for less than $100.  When I gas weld,all I do is move fuel regulator to acetylene bottle and put an acetylene tip on handle.  One could do the same for brazing but someone here suggested bad things will happen so you might ask an expert or over at Welding Web first.  Glad you got your set up.  Remember to hold preheat a little farthar away from work than acetylene when cutting.

Gas saver would be awesome. Thanks for the esab info!

In other news, I just had a REALLY bad experience with the company selling the Gentec at the lower price. I placed the order through torchtools[dot]com on Sunday, got an email from PayPal on Monday that my payment was being refunded because of "Price issues", and then got another email from the company saying that I should re-order the Gentec through their OTHER website (torchtips[dot]com) for $90 more. I offered them the opportunity to honor the lower price, they declined, and I've taken my business elsewhere. Looks like I'll be getting a Smith gas saver from Cyberweld.

Sounds like a classic Bait & Switch scam!

Yup. I've also subsequently encountered an online review that says they advertise name brands, but ship Chinese-made counterfeits. Glad I got out of this one safely.

Of course, Cyberweld tells me my torch is backordered from ESAB until May anyway....

The gas saver is on its way, even though the torch is still backordered. I guess this gives me a chance to figure out how to mount it to the cart before the torch arrives.

So Gentec is on the dishonest business list. I wonder if letting some 56,000 people around the world know they defraud people will have an effect? 

At least you found out before receiving a low grade substitute unit. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Hello,

4 hours ago, Frosty said:

So Gentec is on the dishonest business list.

Not from what I have read in this thread and my experience using the product. The dishonesty is on the part of "torchtools[dot]com" not Gentec itself. I did not buy my Gentec from that site. There are many sites that sell the Gentec gas savers, the problem JHCC had was with the retail end not the manufacturer. 

So the lesson is to vet the store you are ordering the product from, not that Gentec makes a bad product. 

If I missed the mark JHCC please feel free to correct me.

Have a great day,

W

 

5 hours ago, Frosty said:

So Gentec is on the dishonest business list. 

No, Steven NY has it right: it’s the retailer that’s the problem, not the product. I’d still be happy to get a Gentec, if I could find a reputable business selling one at that lower price.