http://www.kassoy.com/benchtools/solder01.html is where I ordered from. The set I got is $106 -- very slightly cheaper than Rio Grande ($110-ish there). No idea how much they'll charge me for shipping.
There are really two things going on here. Size and gas choice. The AW-1 that I have is large and pretty unwieldy for the kind of work I want to do - and I should get a heating tip for it, which will make it even bigger. I'm trying out propane because all my reading and pestering of torch-owners tells me that propane burns clean and fairly hot, while acetylene burns sooty and really hot. Like melt-holes-in-silver-sheet hot.
I would probably also like to try a bit of glasswork with the torch, and then the cleanliness of the flame will matter more.
Oh that's right-- you were talking about welding silver. I have a dim dark memory of melting a hunk of silver, running out of oxygen and getting soot all up in it. *sigh* My ring never did come to be...
Eeee. :( Yeah. I've read stories of people poking sooty holes in things they were trying to solder. Considering I've managed to crumple pieces of fine silver using a natural gas flame, acetylene sounded like an exercise in frustration.
neuro42 and I had that conversation when we moved in... "acetylene's a common household chemical, right?" gfish is currently storing my tanks for me.
Though I do have a hypothetical place that my torch could live, at least temporarily, in exchange for me doing some work for someone. It's a bike-accessible semi-communal shop. That seems to me like the best in-kind trade EVER.
Sneak the cylinders in. My ex-gf had to store her acet tanks in my garage for a while coz the landlord found out about them, but that was only after two years' usage. It was a big place with a pro manager, too: it wasn't like he was just being nice. He said "you have to get those out of here" but once she did he didn't mention it again.
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There are really two things going on here. Size and gas choice. The AW-1 that I have is large and pretty unwieldy for the kind of work I want to do - and I should get a heating tip for it, which will make it even bigger. I'm trying out propane because all my reading and pestering of torch-owners tells me that propane burns clean and fairly hot, while acetylene burns sooty and really hot. Like melt-holes-in-silver-sheet hot.
I would probably also like to try a bit of glasswork with the torch, and then the cleanliness of the flame will matter more.
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Mostly soldering, I think, not welding really.
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Though I do have a hypothetical place that my torch could live, at least temporarily, in exchange for me doing some work for someone. It's a bike-accessible semi-communal shop. That seems to me like the best in-kind trade EVER.
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My ex-gf had to store her acet tanks in my garage for a while coz the landlord found out about them, but that was only after two years' usage. It was a big place with a pro manager, too: it wasn't like he was just being nice. He said "you have to get those out of here" but once she did he didn't mention it again.
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