anyone know how much it costs for bottle rent and gas approx, and are there any restrictions on who they rent to
I have a boc industrial place near me,
Give them a ring. Its not too dear. Alot cheaper than argon.
Its not the renting of the bottles that will cost you, its all the attachments and safety stuff that will... unless you can aquire some cheap of
course...
David
what would people say are essential attachements and safety articles then. I probably have most allready
goggles gauntlets apron........
Falsh arrestor within the pipe work to prevent flashback.
Acetylene is very, very unstable in the wrong situation has almost the highest flammable range of any gas. Cylinders dropped or damaged can start an
internal thermic reaction resulting in "significant effects"
Any where between 2% - 96% will cause a explosive mixture. Even a tiny leak could have dramatic effects on your house inssurance.
I have seen and attended a few fires invoving Acetylene and the effects are impresive.
Not for the faint hearted
Torch, nozzles, hoses, flashback arrestors, regulators. New from BOC £200 - 300.
Mick
http://www.diywelding.co.uk/product_det
ails.asp?d=1&c=12&p={F20A809D-7314-4805-931B-3DCC6002848B}
what do you guys think about set like this above, or just go to the Boc place and get every thing there?
This is a "lightweight" set you are better off getting a standard set from BOC or any other welding place. You can pick up a lot second hand
and if it is at all dodgy you can part exchange for refurbished stuff at BOC this will save you a significant sum.
You should get no.1 no2 no3 and no5 nozzles to start with and don't get cutting adaptor unless you are actually going to use it.
Make sure you get 2 stage regulators, single stage are no good for small thickness materials.
Safety gear should include a large bucket of water close to hand, this is useful to damp down any area where you are cutting, good for dumping a torch
with terminal backfire, admittedly a very rare occurence these days, also for plunging any part of the anatomy that you just burned, this will happen
usually when you pick up something by the wrong end or touch a bit of yourself with a hot welding rod! Of course if something does catch fire this is
the first line of defence. A good large CO2 fire extinguisher is also handy to have about.
Work on a fireproof bench preferably on a concrete rather than wooden floor and have a good thick pair of welder's gloves. If you wear glasses
BOC have a full size polycarbonate visor for gas welding, all other kinds of mask end up with steaming up problems.
Gas welding is really rewarding when you get the hang of it, and gas cutting is really fun.
Good luck
Caber
I'd love to have oxy-acetalene kit but wouldn't have it at home.
FYI,
According the lecturer at Bracknell College who taught our evening class, if you do have a fire / accident, and the fire brigade know you have
acetalene gas bottles in the property, they will just back away slowly and probably evacuate all houses in the immediate vicinity.
Wouldn`t be without it. I have the big bottles and all the kit. See if you can pick up the trolley and torches etc S/H. You may even get bottles with
gas in them as well. Boc is expensive especially for hire and price of gas. Just recently taken the front exhaust pipes off my Trafic and Nissan
Patrol. Without heating the studs red hot I would have had no chance of removinng ten year old nuts from manifold.
Alex
Hot spanner works every time. I have a portapack with a set of bottles and am thinking of renting some just to get my spare ones filled. I used to get them on a friend's account but he let it go and I can't find anyone else with one local.
If are planning to weld then you'll need oxy-acetylene. If all you want to do is heat stuff up, braze or cut then consider oxy-propane.
Cheaper, and a lot safer. The torch kit is pretty much the same.
David
[Edited on 15/3/06 by David Jenkins]
Acetylene is safe in most hands but ther's always 1
In this car teens took a balloon full of gas to frighten the neighbours, it rolled across the front seat, static ignighted the balloon , the gas
detonated.
Al three suffered shrapnell wounds and punctured eardrums.
A bit different from LPG
bang
If anything oxgen cylinders are more dicey than acetelene --- if they are dropped and the valve gets snapped off they become an unguided rocket that is quite capable of punching through a double brick wall.
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
If are planning to weld then you'll need oxy-acetylene. If all you want to do is heat stuff up, braze or cut then consider oxy-propane.
Cheaper, and a lot safer. The torch kit is pretty much the same.
David
[Edited on 15/3/06 by David Jenkins]
quote:
Originally posted by stevebubs
FYI,
According the lecturer at Bracknell College who taught our evening class, if you do have a fire / accident, and the fire brigade know you have acetalene gas bottles in the property, they will just back away slowly and probably evacuate all houses in the immediate vicinity.
I remember going to a blacksmith's workshop once - he had his gas cylinders in a cage outside, with pipe-work going inside to the shop.
He was a heavy-handed old so-and-so, but he'd seen some nasty accidents in his time and didn't want to witness another, especially when he
could be involved!
David
Here you are chaps
Sorry it's so big, but any smaller and I couldn't read it.
Paul G
Rescued attachment BOC price list.jpg
That's why I stopped using BOC before. To take out the small portapack bottles for 1 year =2x£36.10 + 2 bottle price +£9.95 handling charge if you pick them up yourself or £29 delivery = a small fortune. When I took mine out it was a 5 year rental but they stopped doing that and you had to go direct debit, no cash payment option.
Try Air Products they still require direct debit but are more reasonable on bottle rental, you are charged by the day so you can take them back when
you know you won't be using them for a while. I have my argon from them and may switch my oxy acetylene over when my bottles are empty.
Caber
Firstly, when you add the pickup charge, those prices listed for BOC are about the same as Air Products.
Now, it has been known for a person to occasionally find bottles at your local tip/recycling depot.( A few £'s to the 'supervisor'
helps oil the situation .) Said person then gets his full Air Products bottle from agent, then takes the empty obtained from the tip back after a
couple/ three days. This results in about £1 rental nominal, just to have things look legit.
When the bottle in use starts to get low on pressure, get a new full one, then get the empty back pronto in a day or so. Cheap way of having this
stuff without getting shafted on rentals.
I use oxy-propane for heavy cutting/heating/ silver brazing and brazing. Not quite as hot as acetylene, but only about 10% of the hazards. And I keep
the bottles well away from the building.
Syd.
Hypothetical question of course
Does Syd's method actually work??
I have 'aquired' oxygen and acetylene bottles which at some point will run out so I hope it's true, however my rented argoshield bottle
has a bar code on it so I presumed that BOC had a bit more control lately 
Mick
I use Energas now for my Co2/argon. They don't charge for admin if you pick them up yourself and refills are cheaper. They use different bottles
to BOC so my portapack bottles can't be swapped there. I could take out a monthly agreement and swap them at BOC though.
Mick,
I'm using Air Products. I don't know about your part of the country, but the agent down here is fairly casual about things.
BOC may have a different system. Not to say, the 'barcode label' could easily fall off.
Syd.
BOC agents are not bad but their main gepot is like Colditz. Security will not let you in without seeing in the boot if you're in a car and you can't bring an empty bottle back off site, you are given a receipt for a new one if they don't have a replacement in the size you want and you have to come back or pay delivery.