Technical Heating (rosebud) oxy/ac - I need a lesson

I've pick up this heating tip for my Harris torch but I'm not sure what my setting should be for the gas. I'm getting a lot of popping.

Greatly apricate any advice - I've never use one before.

 

Have you let the torch head warm up. That will cause popping.

 

Popping is burnback , clean the tip tighten the connection , inspect/replace the Orings.
turn fuel up to 10 oxy can remain at 30 or so.

 

Set Acet. at 10#----Set oxy at 30#

 

Are you saying I'm getting the tip to hot, or not hot enough? Which cause poping?

 

Everything but the torch handle is new. I'll inspect the tip to insure it's tight. Thanks!

 

The inside of a acetylene is full of what is called ' dead earth'. This is soaked in acetone.
If you try to compress acetylene above aprox. 15 psi it will explode. Acetone can absorb several times it's weight in acetylene then it can be compressed. But it can only release it so fast.
The popping comes from a lean flame. Larger rose buds require 2 or 3 tanks tied together with a manifold to produce enough acetylene to maintain a flame.

 

Disclaimer I’m not a welder or pretend to be one so correct me if I’m wrong

One trick that was shown to me is set your acetalyne to 10psi. Back the oxygen regulator all the way out. Light the torch and get it burning without soot. Open the oxygen valve on the torch all the way open. Now turn in the oxygen regulator to get a nice neutral flame. Now you know your oxygen pressure. I used to struggle with trying to regulate oxygen flow using the valve on the tourch seemed to be very touchy to much and it would back fire and pop. Make sure you don’t bottom out the torch this can cause it to burn back In the tip. Flash back arresters are a good safety to have as well on the system.

 

I know that tip you've got is slightly different from an ordinary welding tip, but I would say it should be the same when lighting it up,,
This is how I open /light an oxy/acetylene gas tip..
First open the oxy and acetylene at the tank, turn in the regulator adjustment to about 10/12 lbs on both, (from memory, accetylene gets unstable around 30lbs per square inch, and if mixed with oil, can cause explosions (in other words,don't lube sticky threads) open the acc tap on the handpiece (so you can hear a slight hiss from the nozzle) light the gas, at this ''hiss'' pressurs it will burn with a real roar, if it flames, then goes out, turn the gas back a little till you get a roaring flame, now slowly turn the gas back until the flame is just on the point of burning with soot (we don't want soot, so open very slightly to just get rid of the soot)
Now stop playing with the acceletyne side of things..
At this point slowly turn on the oxygen, until you see the flame change in shape and colour, continue until you get a nice neutral/soft flame (neutral will have the small blue center flame with an outer curved tip) too much oxygen will turn the curved tip to a sharp pointed tip, and a harsh flame.
Hope this helps your situation..

 

I found out that there is a big difference between the settings used for welding, cutting and heating tips. Been a while, so I made a stencil back then so I'd have a handy reference for future use as my memory cells continue to decline. Not saying these are the only settings, but you can see that the information I found several years ago shows at least a starting point for your set-up.


This is what I work from and it seems to be fine. Your results may vary.

 

Too hot. It ignites inside the tip because of the high temperature.
You can cause this by heating into a corner for example, where a lot of heat is reflected back to the tip.
Turning the gas flow down too low for the tip size also makes the situation worse. Might seem counter intuitive that a smaller flame cause problems with an overheating tip, but less gas flow also means that the gas spends more time inside the tip, more time to heat up and ignite before exiting and burning normally in the flame. Also, less gas flow through the tip means less internal cooling by the passing gas.

 

Super helpful! Thank you.

 

That's a great idea. Thanks!

 

Popping is to low act. pressure and to close to the work with the tip. When you adjust the oxy. you will have blue feathers just like the cutting and welding tips any light blue is a carburizing flame and not as efficient and they should be about a 1/2" from what you are heating.

 

Here is a card I got from the welding teacher at the college. I know it is Victor not Harris, but I would think they should be within range of each other. You could probably pick one up from your welding supply house.

 

Great question and great replies!