the little regulator that didn't

[adularia]

dymaxion and I braved Snowpocalypse '07 (it snowed yesterday! did you hear?) to get me set up for glasswork at last. I still haven't been able to find my previous valve adapter anywhere. So, okay, got that over with

Comments

[randomdreams]

That is a regulator problem. I don't know which regulator and I don't know what's wrong with it. On my ex-gf's Smith LittleTorch, we went through two acetylene regulators because they had something wrong with the regulator diaphragm and it would leak and let the acetylene pressure climb way up (which is Very Bad) regardless of how we'd set the regulator valve. I don't know enough about regulators to know how they could fail the way you're talking about, but I'm pretty much sure that's where the problem is, since nothing else in the system is capable of variance.

[randomdreams]

Troubleshooting: try seeing if you can bum someone else's regulator or use a full-size fuel regulator on the propane side -- even the ones they use for grills might work -- to see if you can figure out which one's wonky. It's been my experience that unless you have significant flow, the downstream gauge is only vaguely accurate and won't show the sorts of flow variations you're talking about.

[amai_unmei]

Thank you for the sweet message that you sent me a week ago!

I'm sorry that it has taken me this long, but thank you. :)

[adularia]

:) You're welcome!

[gfish]

I know there is a highly recommended regulator repair shop in town, but I don't remember the name. I'm sure a query to the Metalheads list would return the contact info quickly enough.

[randomdreams]

When I built my first glassblowing setup when I was 12, I plumbed it from the natural gas line going to the furnace. Every time anything else that used natural gas turned on -- furnace, particularly, or hot water heater or something else I never figured out -- the flame would go lean and blow out immediately. What I did to fix this isn't safe, but it might suggest a safer alternative to you: I added a pressure accumulator into the system, consisting of a 2-liter pop bottle with a weight on top, inline with the gas, so pressure changes would be partially compensated for by the plastic bottle changing shape. It didn't fix the problem but it slowed down the variances to the point where I could compensate with the gas valve. I don't know how you could do this without risking blowing yourself up, but if you could put a -- basically gas capacitor -- on the oxygen line, that should be safer than on the fuel line.