How Big a Tank for Smith Little Torch?

[SteveHGraham]

For years I have been wanting to get equipment to weld small stuff, like a stamped trigger guard on a stamped AK-47, but I haven't gotten around to it. I have MIG, but on small things it's like picking your nose with a chainsaw.

These days you can get a Chinese TIG for $800, but if it blows up, that's $800 down the crapper. I am wondering about the Smith Little Torch, which is a really small acetylene torch. I don't have any acetylene stuff now, and I have never used it.

They sell the torch in various configurations, depending on the tanks you want to use. They go from disposable to huge tanks you have to chain to a wall.

I'm wondering...for a torch this small, is there any point in having a big O2 tank? I don't know how long a small (20 cu.ft.) tank would last, but then I would probably use the torch twice a year.

[Carm]

Steve
If welding, and not cutting, is your sole use the little tank would last a long time if you only pick your nose twice a year.
Most gas welding is equal pressure so you don't need the bigger oxy.

[Russ Hanscom]

Start small. the demurrage on a larger set of tanks eats up a lot of $$, as does tank lease/purchase. You can always up size later if it becomes a frequent activity.

[hammermill]

i have a amall set of welding torches i use for fine work and change bottles every year or so, i use the same bottles that come with a mini torch set. buy your bottles, it saves in the long run. look at hvac service tech sets.

[SteveHGraham]

I bought a bottle for my MIG, and when I took it to Airgas, they swapped it for a crappy old one. I never got over that.

I guess a 20-cu-ft O2 tank is the way to go, if I ever do this.

[hammermill]

if you do not want to swamp em out they will send them in and return em. but really you are just buying a place in line by swaping them out.

[Carm]

I bought a bottle for my MIG, and when I took it to Airgas, they swapped it for a crappy old one. I never got over that.

Can't speak for your vendor, but swapping DOES save you the hydrostatic recert charge.

[warmstrong1955]

I bought a bottle for my MIG, and when I took it to Airgas, they swapped it for a crappy old one. I never got over that.

Can't speak for your vendor, but swapping DOES save you the hydrostatic recert charge.

If you buy 'em....no monthly payments. you just pay to refill 'em.
Sometimes, I get shiny new bottles....other times....not so new, but they are not beat to death, or ugly.
I have some small bottles, for my backpack torch, and they are pretty much the same way.

Gas is gas.....

Bill

[ronm]

I have one of the little backpack size torch sets on the service truck. 90% of the jobs I do use a torch for a minute or 2-cutting off a bearing race, heating a broken-off bolt, brazing a hydraulic line...the little bottles last on the average over a year. I have a larger set, medium size bottles in the shop, they have lasted as long as 5 years...the guy at the gas house told me I should forget to turn them off more often.
I have rented the big bottles in the shop for years, a welder friend asked me the other day if I would want a set of bottles for a couple hundred bucks, somebody he knows is getting rid of a bunch of them...I said hell yes, but haven't heard back from him yet.

[redneckalbertan]

What does it cost to fill a big tank or small tank. I used to have an account with Airgas up here before they sold their alberta assets to prixair (same company as praxair air but this spelling, I think, better represents the attitudes of the guy up here that work there) there was no cost difference for me to get an oxygen filled from the smallest bottle to the 300ci. I was told that O2 is cheep and the labour to fill a big tank or a small tank is the same. I know I was getting a heck of a good price from them though. If it is the same price for you to fill, or cheeper per volume to fill a larger tank that may be the way to go. If you ever do decide to start using an oxy/fuel torch for cutting bigger is better. Leases for me were $50 a year per bottle and, again, it didn't matter what size of bottle. If there is no price difference in lease sizes bigger is better! I now have a couple of my own bottles through a different supplier, now that Airgas is no more and I don't run my own shop anymore. With the company I deal with I don't own one bottle, I own the rights to one bottle. This, in my mind, is much better. You have no responsibility for maintenance of the bottle, you don't have to pay to get it hydro tested or replace the valve. One other thing for you to consider is transport of said bottles, can you haul a 300ci bottle? If a minivan is what you drive, although there is lots of room in your vehicle to fit a bottle I do not recomend it. Never transport or store a bottle in the passenger cabin of a vehicle. If the tank leaks you may have BIG problems. Airgas used to deliver, if I wanted, for a nominal fee.

[redneckalbertan]

I was told the story behind this vehicle was a leaky acetylene bottle in the back and it was started with a remote car starter several hours later... There are other examples on Google of what happens with acetylene in a vehicle and a source of ignition.

[SteveHGraham]

You sure it wasn't Mexican food and a cigarette lighter?