Another big question

[Welding man]

I'm not trying to hyjack the thread about the smallest to the largest drill bit, but another thought comes to mind. What is the thickest steel plate any of you have cut with a regular hand cutting torch?

 

[Harvestmoonpuller]

7in. Had die laying around that was a little too big. Lifted it up and blocked it up then lit a fire underneath to preheat it. Used a dedicated cutting torch. Ive personally seen 2ftx2ft pieces cut with an oxycetelene torch. Not by a person tho, machine.

 

[iowatom]

6" round. Harris 4nx tip. no preheat.

 

[RodinNS]

The thickest I've ever cut myself was 1-1/4"... with a Victor junior setup and #2 propane tip with about 80 psi of O2.
I really needed more tip and more hose as I could hardly flow enough gas to get it hot.

Rod

 

[Welding man]

I used to work for a very large electric power co. We had coal fired boilers and steam turbines with 3600 PSI steam pressure.The main steam lines had 6 in thick wall piping.We also made a lot of our own fittings etc. in the machine shop.I have cut a lot of 8 in. plate and some 10 but the thickest I can ever remember cutting was 12 In.

 

[Owen Aaland]

When I worked in a steel mill melt shop they had a ladle failure as they were tapping the furnace. The result was 40 tons of steel in the pit between four and five feet thick. After cooling for a couple of days they had to go down and cut it in pieces to get it out. The procedure was to use a length of 1/2 inch black pipe as the cutting tip. They would use a torch to get the end of the pipe to start to burn and then use it to start a puddle on the steel. By controlling the flow of oxygen through the pipe they could burn through any thickness they needed.

 

[T_Bone]

Hi welding man,

In my 45yrs of welding that just something that I never was involved with being a SM man. 1" to 1-1/4" was about it.

I did smoke thru some 2" bar stock with my Victor 100 when I modified my hitching.

T_Bone

 

[charles todd]

Owen, the technical term for that is a THERMAL LANCE, I think. It will cut steel, slag, asphalt, concrete, ect... Bout anything nothing else will cut. They use massive amounts of oxygen and fuel. Google it.

CT