Solidox welding tablets

[Slowpoke]

I have a Solidox welding kit that uses oxygen tablets and propane for small welding & cutting jobs. The tablets are ignited and place in a closed metal tube. The generated oxygen goes thru a rubber tube and connects to a Y with the propane gas tube. The mix is combined and sent to the torch.
I tried to find the oxygen tablets on Ebay with no luck. Are they still sold or are they obsolete?
Has anyone come up with a way to use the outfit if the tablets are no longer made?

 

[willie in mn]

Slowpoke
Had one about 30years ago. Used it once & threw it in the trash.
1- no way to control the O2 flow, light it once, let it burn up.
2- smoke from the tab plugged the filter, blew the stopper out.
For medium sized projects i now have a Bernz setup that uses propane or mapp, with O2 tanks. The tanks are a bit expensive, but ok for small occasional jobs.
For big jobs, I take it to the local pro, give him 10 bucks. Lots cheaper than a big oxy-acc setup for my occasional use.
Willie

 

[KF]

I have one of those also that I bought many years ago. They offered it that way for awhile and then brought out the small oxygen tanks and its own valve on the later versions. I just converted mine to the oxygen bottle version. They are good for small brazing jobs, not much else.

 

[lha]

I've seen those,but never had one.Have seen them working though.Went to a flea mkt outside of Dallas,and got an old cutting torch with small bottles,when I refilled them,they[wanting to sell more]said they didn't have any small bottles,but for a little more,I could have large bottles[ox.about4' atc3']so I jumped on it still have the set after 30yrs.Hardly ever use it.---lha

 

[lha]

I've seen those,but never had one.Have seen them working though.Went to a flea mkt outside of Dallas,and got an old cutting torch with small bottles,when I refilled them,they[wanting to sell more]said they didn't have any small bottles,but for a little more,I could have large bottles[ox.about4' atc3']so I jumped on it still have the set after 30yrs.Hardly ever use it.---lha

 

[Anonymous-0]

Would be OK for brazing or cutting only. For welding you have to use acetylene with a neutral flame. Dave

 

[Slowpoke]

Minimum welding charge in my area is $25/15 minutes. Two years ago I paid $106 to have a 4" wide saddle welded to a 4" post with a 1/4" spacer between the two. It was considered sales taxable as a manufactured product because they assembled the pieces.

 

[Slowpoke]

I tried finding the Solidox tabs on the net, and found a page that tells how to steal credit card #s, pick locks, make explosives, etc. There was a referrence to Kmart and Ace hardware that sold Solidox in 1"x4" sticks. The information appears to be from the '60s as carbon copies found in the trash were mentioned as a way to get credit card numbers.

 

[36 Coupe]

You can buy a used Lincoln 225 welder for 100 bucks.I have been welding here since 1966, very little call from people for welding jobs.

 

[Slowpoke]

I was only interested in the Solidox to try and burn out a broken Easyout. It's in a 3/16 drilled hole and broken off about 3/16 below the surface of the block of an old but expensive Kohler engine. All due to a broken 3/8 headbolt.
Maybe a wire welder could get in there to fill the hole and ad a nut at the top.

 

[souNdguy]

good luck on welding anything to the tap...

also.. oxy-propane wouldn't be my choice to burn the flute out.. o/a with a piercing tip maybee.. and with that small a hole.. no wonder it broke.. a 3/16 flute on a 3/8 bolt?


soundguy

 

[trucker 40]

That is kind of a bad deal to have an easy out broke off like that.I had one of those solidox torches a long time ago and I dont think it would melt that easy out very good.A MIG might work.If you can build it up out of the hole then you can put a washer on it and weld that to the bolt,then weld a nut to the washer maybe.Sometimes it works,sometimes it doesnt.

In order for an Easy Out to work,and that would mean a good Easy Out like made in USA,You would need to drill as big of a hole right in the center as possible of the broke off bolt.So a 5/16 or bigger bit if possible.Maybe the thing to do is try and drill a bigger hole,then get a bigger easy out,and try that way first.It just might also make it possible to get the broke off piece out easier too.