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Tractor related gift


HubbardRA

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Some time back, my oldest son stopped by my house to ask if I could haul some things to the local dump for his friend's dad who doesn't have a truck. I stopped by his house on the weekend to find that the item he wanted to dispose of was a set of oxygen and acetylene tanks and the roll around cart that they were mounted on. These were user owned tanks and not the rental type. I took the tanks away but told the fellow that I was going to keep them and get them re-filled for my own use, since I didn't have one of these set-ups. A couple of days later I got word that the man wanted me to stop by his house again. This time he gave me two new regulators, still in the box, a new set of hoses, a torch (used), a #2, #3, #4 tips and a large heating tip. Said he didn't need them and wanted to clean out the storage room. This past Sunday I decided to hook up the tanks to fix a broken part for one of my tractors. Hooked up the regulators to the oxygen, but the threads didn't match for the acetylene regulator. Called the guy who had given them to me, to ask if there was an adapter required. He said he had never had that problem before. Yesterday I got a call back from him. Told me to come over to his house. When I arrived, he gave me another acetylene regulator with the correct threads to hook up to the tank. He didn't want the non-fitting regulator back and wouldn't take any money for any of this hardware. As before, said he was just wanting to clean out his storage room. I thanked him and told him if there was anything I could ever do for him, just let me know. Bottom line: Complete oxy-acetylene welding setup with the small size tanks. Extra acetylene regulator with wrong threads. Total cost $42 to fill the tanks. This may not be tractor parts, but it was a great deal.
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I think when I bought my tanks they were over $100 each. I have the biggest "owner" size you can get of both. There are times when nothing but a "Blue Wrench" does the trick.
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Sometimes my "smoke wrench" is my favorite tool. Good find, gas is not cheep thease day. May times if i have something big to get real hot I use my carbon ark attachment for my welder and save the gas. Like when i made my light bar and got the steel cherry red in short order.
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He was luck you took the tanks most dumps/land fills will not take any type of gas container. But they would of probably grabed those tanks so fast make your head spin. And do just what your doing, use them.
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Nothing like the "Firey Wrench" to take care of those rounded off nuts. Having a torch set is like heaven. I like to fabricate and between the torch, my welder and the metal band saw, little gets by me. Good work on a good save.
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Over the years I have learned to cut pretty well with arc. I really wanted the gas for small and thin items and to be able to heat and bend items that couldn't be easily done cold. It is difficult to do a good looking weld on an exhaust pipe with a "buzz box", but with gas it can be nearly unnoticeable. Yesterday I fixed a voltage regulator that had one end of one of the shunt resistors popped loose from the chassis. With a #2 tip, I was able to re-attach it without causing any visual damage to the relays. I will find out if this worked when I get it wired to the engine. I think I was able to keep the relays cool enough.
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Maybe that extra regulator is for propane? I've heard the same thing, oxy-propane is a lot more economical than using accetylene. BTW, I have an extra set of regulators I'm willing to give away for the shipping. They're old and I don't know how well they work, but the price is right.......
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I like those plasma cutters, I've used the one at the school shop and there is nothing like it, it cuts through hardened steel like butter. I haven't quite got the hang of a oxyacetylene torch yet though.
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Kirk, The use of propane with oxygen is definitely the most economical method of cutting metal. I wanted the oxy-acetylene torch for welding of small item, brazing, and for use with the aluminum rods that you see on TV. I bought some of those aluminum rods, but have been unable to get them to work properly with a propane torch. I'm going to try the oxy-acetylene because a bernz-o-matic torch will not get aluminum hot enough for the rod to melt. With these aluminum rods it is really more of a soldering or brazing technique than welding. You heat the base metal, not the rod, till the rod starts to melt and flow when touched to the metal. You can't do a direct melt with a puddle like you weld steel. By the way, for those of you who keep talking about cutting, it you look at my original post, you will see no mention of the cutting torch. I didn't get one! I only got the welding set-up. Main torch, with two control knobs, and four tips. I now have a cutting torch section, but I haven't checked for compatability, since it is not the same brand, and is probably much older. Any way I do most of my cutting with a band saw, a 14 inch cut-off saw, and my arc welder. A 6013 - 1/8 inch rod with an AC welder set at 200 amps does a great job of cutting steel or cast iron. As many of you probably already know, oxy-acetylene can't be used to cut cast iron.
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