torch question

Dunno if it would make a difference with metal. With glass the only difference I've noticed is that natural gas is significantly cleaner.

KarenK

Well, I have only worked with mine (tanked O2 and propane) and my teacher has only worked with hers (concentrator and natural gas.) According to her after she came and played with mine, mine runs hotter, is slightly louder, and does different things to colors.

I was originally going to go with natural gas and a concentrator. Then dh got cold feet (or is it warm feet?) and decided I needed to work in the garage rather than the basement. Since our natural gas comes in on the other side of the house, that would require quite a plumbing job to bring it into the garage. So for now, I'm using propane. Doesn't really bother me, a tank the size I use on my gas grill lasts about 100 hours, and it isn't that much of a hassle to haul it from the porch (ask me again in January.)

The O2 concentrator lady (Suzanne?) told me that I would have to either keep the concentrator in the house, or bring it in after I was done with it (and even that wasn't a guarantee that I wouldn't get condensation and mess up the whole thing.) Given the extremes of temps in Kansas, that didn't seem like a good idea (to try and use it outside) and I don't have a good place to have it inside and run a hose to the garage. I have a lovely local welding supply place that graciously delivers my tank (300 cubic feet, it's about 5 feet tall) and sets it up for me. Since I don't get that much torch time, and it lasts about 30 hours, I'm only on my 3rd one since March. (no wonder I can't make a round bead yet...) I would like to have 2 or 3 tanks so that I don't have that dreaded 'running out at 2 am Sunday morning' thing going, and the delivery fee is the same whether he delivers 1 or 20, but more tanks require more deposit money, and I'm still needing a kiln, a vent hood, fan, etc etc etc. And eying the rod warmer at Auralens, because working in the garage when it's 100 out is all very well and good (I only crack a rod every now and again) but I'm guessing doing it when it's 10 out is going to be quite a different story.

This probably doesn't help you much, since you're probably wanting info on a torch for soldering etc. The person to ask for that would be Peter Rowe on rec.crafts.jewelry, but email him privately - it's a hard list to ask a question on, you get ripped to shreds....

Kar>

I'm planning to use natural gas for my Smith Little Torch. Everything I've heard indicates it will work well that way.

Tink Check here for available work:

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Karin Cernik :

]This probably doesn't help you much, since you're probably wanting info ]on a torch for soldering etc. The person to ask for that would be Peter ]Rowe on rec.crafts.jewelry, but email him privately - it's a hard list ]to ask a question on, you get ripped to shreds....

no kidding! it's why i gave up reading that group! yes, i want it for soldering and annealing metal. !@%!@#$!#@ i just realized, if i get my own centrifuge, i'll need one for that, too! Oran has 4 sets [of tanks] in his shop. but when the plumber was here last week, he said the furnace is right on the other side of the wall where i would need it. so running the line would be no problem - if it will get hot enough with natural gas and an O2 tank. i'll e-mail Peter - thanks! i had crossed them off of my list.

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Tinkster :

]I'm planning to use natural gas for my Smith Little Torch. Everything ]I've heard indicates it will work well that way.

thanks, doll! i was hoping you'd see that!

It really depends on the pressure needs of your torch. The deal with NG is that it's high-volume, low-pressure. Some torches work extremely well on low-pressure fuel, others don't... but most manufacturers can tell you one way or another if their torches run well on NG.

Oxygen concentrators, as Karen mentioned, like to live where you live. They don't like to be too hot or too cold, but the good news is, you can run that plastic tubing for fairly long distances and they'll still work fine. I don't know if that's something you're interested in but they save a boatload of money over tanked.

-Kalera

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Kalera Stratton :

]It really depends on the pressure needs of your torch. The deal with NG ]is that it's high-volume, low-pressure. Some torches work extremely well ]on low-pressure fuel, others don't... but most manufacturers can tell ]you one way or another if their torches run well on NG. ] ]Oxygen concentrators, as Karen mentioned, like to live where you live. ]They don't like to be too hot or too cold, but the good news is, you can ]run that plastic tubing for fairly long distances and they'll still ]work fine. I don't know if that's something you're interested in but ]they save a boatload of money over tanked.

thanks! i'm copying all this to take to Oran BEFORE i do anything this time!

Only if you're a bit of an idiot who won't listed to answers. I'm always asking questions there and have never been ripped to shreds. Maybe it's because I take the advice and try it before telling them it didn't work for me. Then asking where I went wrong!

Charlie.

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Charlie" :

]Only if you're a bit of an idiot who won't listed to answers.

i don't think i was considered a 'real' jeweler.

Much like this group, there are people there that seem to have very bad days and can't say a polite word to save their lives. Scathing sarcasm seems to be the mode of choice. I've only spoken up twice on it and have avoided any put downs. But some day I'm sure someone will give me the standard lecture on 'look it up yourself, idiot.' :-)

Kar>

Ms. Tafoya must post there. ~~ Sooz To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong. ~~Joseph Chilton Pearce

I've never been to that group, but I've had some really ugly run-ins on rec.crafts.glass. It's wierd, because I used to be a regular over there, but very few of the old regulars are left and there are a couple of people there now who seem to have serious behavioral issues.

-Kalera

Ahhhh...now I know where I've seen her name before! Thank you, it was starting to make me batty, batty, bats. :=)

She won best of show in the 2004 Bead International. A picture of her bead work is in the October/November issue of Beadwork. I like it!

I watch both the jewelry and the tea newsgroups, and both of them have plenty of self important, self rightous know-it-alls. I am often drop jawed over the way some "regulars' treat newcomers that post. More so on the jewelry group than the tea group. The tea group usually gets to the point where thery're having childish arguments about things no one even cares about. However, I have seen folks ripped to shreds on the jewelry ng. Not everyone there is like that--and I wouldn't try to suggest that, ever. I have learned some interesting things by digging through the drama to get at the goods.

I repsect talent, history, and authorative knowledge, but when a person uses those things to make another person feel stupid, or lazy, or even hopeless, I can't understand it. And I don't like like it, which is why I'm merely a lurker on the jewelry ng, and I've posted maybe 3 times on the tea ng. YMMV, of course.

On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 14:45:52 -0400, Candace~ wrote (in message ):

The jewelry newsgroup is a whole lot more palatable if you kill file two people. One person asks for advice but will never take it, and the other knows everything but would prefer not to share it. (But he will tell you how much he knows)

I'm sure you know exactly which people I mean.

Kathy N-V

yep!

Yeah I only post there once in a while.

I've never had any problem over at rec.crafts.glass except once when I was new to this game and ran into a troll. However, that is a more tightly focused ng that this one. And it is always a good idea to do a search before asking a question. Although it has changed somewhat (thanks to Ginny Ruffner and others), there is an implied hierarchy in glass working that puts furnace work and stained glass at the top, fusing in the middle and lampworking at the bottom.