When’s the last time you acetylene welded?

[Richard G.]

I don’t know about you guys but I don’t often use my torches except to “loosen” things. I picked up my MIG about 30 years ago and it’s my go-to welder. Really HD stuff I might use 7018 and stick...

Picked up a 40 yr old VW Jetta and the manifold pipe had more holes than a flute!

I kept chasing holes through the rust when I remembered fabricating whole sections of dirtbike exhaust with my friend’s dad’s torches and several coat hangers...

First time I took the cutting tip off that I can remember. Amazing how much smoother real welding rod flows compared to coat hanger wires.

Anyone else torch weld lately?

Quite often brass, silver, and coat hanger.

 

[stdsch40]

I learnt to weld with oxy-actylene, but the cost of gas started to get very high and switched to Tig. But that oxy-act sure could heat things up for brazing and bending.

 

[wp6529]

I don't think I've ever done O/A welding. I started with TIG and mostly did that for a number of years until my shop space shrunk and I had to work on stuff outside the shop so I switched to mostly stick. More recently I got a nice ~40# MIG/stick machine I have loaded with flux core and have done a good amount of that outdoors. I have plasma as well as porta-band so that does most of the cutting. O/A has mostly been used for silver brazing refrigerant lines and a little bit for heating or cutting too far from the shop. Even brazing I've mostly done TIG brazing and some case hardening I also used TIG to heat the part.

 

[47fivewindow]

My Dad had a 45 John Deer combine. At the end of the day i would braze the places it was spilling grain through the rust holes, I told him if he didn't replace it soon he would soon have the only solid brass combine the the world.

 

[moresmoke]

That is good to know WM, my new welder is a multi process (Lincoln MP210) and for the past 3 years I have been meaning to put the TIG torch on and try my hand at it. Trepidation and time have kept me from it.

I used to gas weld once in a while. A couple years ago I bought a Miller Multimatic 220. I never thought I would use the TIG welder as much as I do. Have torch welded since.

 

[teddy52food]

Ever try overhead brazing? Then you know if it sticks or not. I welded up many cracked transmission cases on tractors in my younger days.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Did some silver soldering lately. I have a ribbon of .005 x 1/2 inch that was given to me by one of the diemakers when I was an apprentice. Real easy to use. Snip off a piece and sandwich it in with some flux and heat it. Going to have to braze up a Buda manifold soon as it warms up some.

 

[Bill in Colo]

I still braze a few times a years, but weld no

 

[urbancase]

Have not welded with torch in over 20 years, but I have 2 sets of large tank and change them out at least twice a year for heating and cutting. My brother was real good with welding with a torch but he was a old school body man.

 

[caterpillar guy]

The one I would like to know more about is heating beams to either straighten them or arch them like to put the arch in beams for trailer or to straighten them if they are bent/warped. as well as plate or sheet steel . Supposedly you can pull the warp out of sheet steel by heating to the right temperature and in the right places or something like that.

 

[Janicholson]

I don’t know about you guys but I don’t often use my torches except to “loosen” things. I picked up my MIG about 30 years ago and it’s my go-to welder. Really HD stuff I might use 7018 and stick...

Picked up a 40 yr old VW Jetta and the manifold pipe had more holes than a flute!

I kept chasing holes through the rust when I remembered fabricating whole sections of dirtbike exhaust with my friend’s dad’s torches and several coat hangers...

First time I took the cutting tip off that I can remember. Amazing how much smoother real welding rod flows compared to coat hanger wires.

Anyone else torch weld lately?

A month. but I use it as much as a MIG and prior used it every day teaching. Jim

 

[Welding man]

To clarify something. Brazing and Welding are two totally different processes. When welding, the base metal is melted and the weld and the base metal and the filler rod become one. Brazing and silver soldering are bonding processes and the base metal is not melted.

 

[da.bees]

A good friend of mine fixed many a dented dirt bike pipe with a torches and a coat hanger. He has a set up to plug both ends of the pipe and add about 15 lbs of air pressure. Heat badly dented pipes with a rosebud tip and the dents usually popped back out. Occasionally a seam would tear open. Grab a coat hanger and patch it back together.

Now that's a craftsman. Myself included I doubt many would think of that.

 

[paul]

To clarify something. Brazing and Welding are two totally different processes. When welding, the base metal is melted and the weld and the base metal and the filler rod become one. Brazing and silver soldering are bonding processes and the base metal is not melted.

Dad was really good at brazing, he stuck a lot of metal together with a lot of rods over the years. I’m still using some stuff he put together.

His welding was, um, adequate. Let’s say. With a stick welder.

I’m not sure what welding with a torch is?

Paul

 

[m16ty]

I rarely use my touch. When I replaced AC compressors I would use silver solder and my acetylene torch.
I use a stick welder more than a mig welder.
When I was a kid I saw my dad repair the bell housing on a Farmall H, I think he used brass rods.
The pipe loader broke the bell housing.
His repair never failed.
My brother used coat hangers to weld with. I can't remember what he used for flux.
I think the acetylene torch was the first welder other than using a forge and the strongest welder.
I could be wrong.

No flux needed for gas welding steel.

 

[da.bees]

I'd be money ahead to sell my stuff and pay someone for my occasional need for welding but I enjoy it. I'm not proficient with any process but I do realize each process is better for some jobs. For example brazing runs circles around other processes for joining dissimilar metals.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I Like to braze and did a fair amount of it over the years.
Like the little vise I repaired last August and posted about it below.
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I bought 5 of these 13" South Bend lathes at a school auction. Have sold 3 so far.
(Edit: just sold the 4th one this morning.)
The compounds on All of them look just like this one. I'm real tempted to try to braze one of them but don't know how I could recut the dovetails accurately.
Also, I believe the cast iron is stable enough that it wouldn't warp and the job could be done but if it is NOT that stable then the whole compound would be fubar.
They are still entirely useable as they are.

https://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/threads/baby-wilton-bullet-vise.1765344/

 

[teddy52food]

Dad was really good at brazing, he stuck a lot of metal together with a lot of rods over the years. I’m still using some stuff he put together.

His welding was, um, adequate. Let’s say. With a stick welder.

I’m not sure what welding with a torch is?

Paul

Welding with a torch is when you heat the metal to the melting point and melt a filler rod in the puddle to make a bead. Can be done verticle or overhead too. I repaired many exaust systems on vehicles in my younger days.

 

[Dusty MI]

I've done a fair amount of sheet-metal fabrication in the past, A-C ducts, and pull-boxes, for large conduit, I have a spot welder, I used.

 

[Ray,IN]

I haven't used a gas welding outfit since mid-1970's.