Playing with new toys.
I've been sick all weekend with swine flu, black plague or some other malady. I didn't go to work because of it, but even so, I couldn't sit still.
So I went out and picked up a cart for my latest toy, an acetylene oxygen welding rig.
A little backstory here. I met Joe H, father of lisastrawberry and snortleypie , a while back. He's quite a craftsman, and still produces some impressive woodwork. But he'd decided to pass the torch on metalworking.
And he literally passed the torch to me. He gave me an absolutely smoking deal on this setup. Two tanks, regulators, a regular torch and a Dillon MKIII torch To explain what a good deal this was, and what a good guy Joe is, all I have to say is that he took no money at all for about $800 worth of equipment. Instead he asked me to make a donation to the food bank, which I was glad to do.
I got the decades old regulators rebuilt, bought a new hose, replaced some old dry o-rings, and today I picked up a rolling cart to hold the gas bottles. With everything in place, I sparked it up.
It all works well, and I can already tell that I am going to absolutely love the Dillon torch. It's ergonomic, it's very fuel efficient, and it produces a lovely little flame for both welding and cutting.
A normal torch, like this one will weld or it will cut, but to change over you have to break out the wrenches and swap tips. With the Dillon, you just squeeze a trigger and it goes from weld to cut. It's very impressive.
My next step will be to set up a work area for this in the back yard. Unlike the TIG machine that I already own, an acetylene system should not be used indoors. It makes too much smoke and would stink up the house. But it's going to add a new level of capability to the Pirate Machine Shop. I've got projects in mind as soon as I get my torch welding skills back up to par.
So I went out and picked up a cart for my latest toy, an acetylene oxygen welding rig.
A little backstory here. I met Joe H, father of lisastrawberry and snortleypie , a while back. He's quite a craftsman, and still produces some impressive woodwork. But he'd decided to pass the torch on metalworking.
And he literally passed the torch to me. He gave me an absolutely smoking deal on this setup. Two tanks, regulators, a regular torch and a Dillon MKIII torch To explain what a good deal this was, and what a good guy Joe is, all I have to say is that he took no money at all for about $800 worth of equipment. Instead he asked me to make a donation to the food bank, which I was glad to do.
I got the decades old regulators rebuilt, bought a new hose, replaced some old dry o-rings, and today I picked up a rolling cart to hold the gas bottles. With everything in place, I sparked it up.
It all works well, and I can already tell that I am going to absolutely love the Dillon torch. It's ergonomic, it's very fuel efficient, and it produces a lovely little flame for both welding and cutting.
A normal torch, like this one will weld or it will cut, but to change over you have to break out the wrenches and swap tips. With the Dillon, you just squeeze a trigger and it goes from weld to cut. It's very impressive.
My next step will be to set up a work area for this in the back yard. Unlike the TIG machine that I already own, an acetylene system should not be used indoors. It makes too much smoke and would stink up the house. But it's going to add a new level of capability to the Pirate Machine Shop. I've got projects in mind as soon as I get my torch welding skills back up to par.