The sorts of projects I have in mind are just constructing frameworks for things like shelving in my storage areas. Constructing / repairing the big open BBQs we use for the scouts. Supports frameworks for aerials etc.
Nothing major or too drastic with load. These are all (apart from the aerial) jobs that I would currently do with timber.
if you go for that route read up on the hns issues, fumes, UV and hot/sharp bits are nasty.
ps having a selection of rod sizes/types will be essential for practice so source those as well as a cheap tranny.
a workmanlike angle grinder can be had for under a ton , pretty vital unless you really like files
boot sale/scrapheap challenge can provide clamps, things to clamp the work to etc etc .
pps pop a pencil in a clothes peg and practice drawing a line made of side ways 8's
88888888888888888888888888888 like that but overlapping and pushing the melt while pulling the rod
I would concur about the H&S. Nasty fumes, very hot stuff etc. Also a drawback of acetylene is that it is unstable if hot. Someone managed to set his garage with oxy-acetylene welding equipment in near here once and shut the motorway for 24 hours or more as the fire brigade didn't want anything within about 100 m of the place as a cylinder going bang can be rather nasty. You wouldn't believe where we found artic lorries for the next couple of days.
gas is totally unsuitable unless you have expert tuition and remember it
Also because it is a whole lot more expensive, not just to set up, but with ongoing costs as you can only rent the gas bottles.
Nick
Joined: 02 Nov 2004 Posts: 34535 Location: Hereford
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 18 10:34 pm Post subject:
I played and didn’t die. But neither did it stick together very well.
So yesterday I booked a lesson with the guy who’s done most of the welding on the latest, and next two Fast and Furious films. And Mamma Mia 2 (rather less welding there). Son of a mate, currently in a dream job and owes me for three hotel nights. But yeah. I reckon a couple of hours tuition will save time/fingers/eye sight etc.
And maybe I can make the tractor do 0-30mph in 0.7s.
That is why they shut the motorway. If the cylinder had gone off like some of those, it could have taken out a big lorry let alone a car. Rather overkill in the case near here, but better safe than sorry.
As an aside, when we were learning about acetylene at school, our teacher told us that in the past, public halls sometimes had their own generating plants for it to use as lighting and stored it in some sort of container under slight pressure. Being a chemist, he was always aware of how unstable it was. He had to give a talk at a hall lit by acetylene on one occasion, and said he was glad when it was over and he could leave.
Never heard of acetylene being used as lighting as you describe before,normally it was town gas,my Granny used to have a gas light in the kitchen even thought there was electricity throughout the house,kept it as an emergency.
Acetylene lighting was common in the non gaseous mines ,last used was a private mine in the Neath Valley around 1970,
Also the old motorcycles were acetylene lighted,both of these through the use of carbide and water dripping to give off the gas.
acetylene lamps were common among cavers until decent batteries became available.
as vehicle lamps they were far better than wick or early electric as bulbs dont bounce about and stay working for long
for lighting a building, there are a few issues i would not like to experience.
gas/ limelight and arc have all caused issues in theatres etc but acetylene is bonkers.
the stuff really loves oxygen, it loves it large from 2 directions and it sneaks about like a crawlin kingsnake to consummate it's desires:lol:
oxygen rather likes both directions on offer and unless both are very well chaperoned their explosive affair will rock the world.
ps HP o2 has a few serious issues as well.
pps i am pretty comfortable about 2000psi hydrogen for comparison
thinking of gas if you do go for shielded arc although the gas is inert it still has a vast amount of potential energy from being under high pressure so cylinder safety is still important.
It may not have been very common, but was apparently used in some village halls and similar buildings. He told us about it when we were doing acetylene in chemistry. I knew about the lights for bikes and cars and it was a far more robust system than the electric bulbs of the day.
Limelight was another thing we covered in chemistry at school; mainly used in theatres and the term 'in the limelight' still used of course which comes from that.
Arc lighting was also dangerous. My great uncle died of leukaemia, probably as a result of the mercury arc lighting used in the earlier days of television where he worked on that sort of thing.
Husbands grandparents didn't have electricity in their house until the 1960s, so had gas lighting, as did my grandparents for the first year in their new house in the 1930s until electricity got to their part of London. Husband's grandfather was too tight to have the rather breakable shades on his gas lamps, so every time a moth flew in it had to be chased out before it hit and broke the gas mantle.
Thank goodness for electric light.
Hairyloon
Joined: 20 Nov 2008 Posts: 15425 Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
Husband's grandfather was too tight to have the rather breakable shades on his gas lamps, so every time a moth flew in it had to be chased out before it hit and broke the gas mantle.
Reminds me of a time we were camping and had a paraffin pressure lamp. Some large insects came and started battering themselves against the light (I think they were beetles rather than moths). We put the light out to stop them, but that led them to the next brightest thing which was the campfire...
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