Oxyacetylene Torches in the Welding Workshop

Regardless of whether or not you are planning to make use of a MIG or TIG welder in your welding projects, or even one of the more uncommon types, nearly every welder recommends purchasing an oxyacetylene torch and the complementary equipment as well. The setup includes the torch itself, an oxygen tank, and an acetylene tank, which are used to mix the volatile combination of gases which produce the powerful oxyacetylene flame.

The oxyacetylene torch is useful because it is a flexible implement, able to carry out a large number of different functions, although techniques and accessory substances, such as fluxes, will vary from use to use. Part of the torch’s usefulness is that you do not need an electricity supply to run it, so it can be used anywhere that the torch and its two supporting cylinders can be carried. Depending on the settings and other details, these torches can be employed for cutting steel, welding steel or aluminum, or making brazing welds or heavy-duty soldering that can link two kinds of metal or produce a quick metallic bond without actually melting the base metals.

The intense heat which an oxyacetylene torch can generate – up to 6,300˚ Fahrenheit, although there is no practical application for a flame this hot – is also useful for bending steel, since the metal can be softened and then reshaped. This occurs when the steel has reached a temperature of 1,250˚F and is showing its softness and heat through the visual cue of a dark red color.

When used for cutting, an oxyacetylene torch’s performance is directly related to the size of the torch tip that is fitted to the device. Using a small-sized torch tip will allow you to safely cut through very thin sheet steel, with much risk of holing it, or causing sags, melting, or vaporization, but this same small torch tip will be as ineffective against thick steel as a pocketknife is in cutting down a full-grown oak.
Conversely, a large torch tip will allow you to slice through thick, massive slabs of steel with surprising speed and ease, but will twist and ruin thin steel by transmitting too much heat to it with its larger flame, even if the temperature of the torch is technically the same as with the small torch tip.

Oxyacetylene torches are very dangerous, both because of the intense heat of the flame and because leaks in the oxygen or acetylene lines can cause lethally powerful flash-fires or explosions. It therefore behooves users of these implements to take proper precautions when using them and when handling the cylinders which contain the two gases used in producing this uniquely intense chemical flame.