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Old 04-18-2017, 06:51 AM
RockHillWill RockHillWill is offline
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Default Seeking help in understanding the new TinManTec Acetylene filter

Kent White was very kind in sending two acetylene filters, along with one of his Mecco torches, for our use as door prizes during the recent Redneck Roundup. The Mecco torch was in constant use, along with the one that I had purchased from Kent a couple of years ago, by 10-12 guys, all interested in how well the torch was seemingly able to make them more capable in gas welding aluminum. I had told Kent that I would review those new acetylene filters, but did not fully understand what to look for and I was very busy during the Roundup and was not able to keep a sharp eye out as what to look for. We kept switching use of the torch with and without the acetylene filter with varying degrees of opinions as to the results. I we kept looking for changes in weld appearance at the back side of the weld and opinions varied as to the results.

I am hoping to get feedback photos from others (Kent?) to better understand the quality, or lack of, in the acetylene that my supplier is providing.

Also:Kent, would you provide a list of the tips currently available for the Mecco torch and advise the one you would recommend for use on .060" #3003 aluminum? Thanks!
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Last edited by RockHillWill; 04-18-2017 at 06:54 AM.
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Old 04-18-2017, 09:17 AM
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Kerry Pinkerton Kerry Pinkerton is offline
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Will, I would assume that if your acetylene was clean, you would not see a difference.
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Old 04-18-2017, 09:20 AM
Peter Tommasini Peter Tommasini is offline
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[QUOTE
Also:Kent, would you provide a list of the tips currently available for the Mecco torch and advise the one you would recommend for use on .060" #3003 aluminum? Thanks![/QUOTE]

Will.... what is the equivalent of .060'' in mm ? 1.6? if that is the case ... I use either N 3 or N 4..... all depends on the size of the sheet I am welding, in another words ... the bigger the sheet the hotter the flame needs to be
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Old 04-18-2017, 11:44 AM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockHillWill View Post
Kent White was very kind in sending two acetylene filters, along with one of his Mecco torches, for our use as door prizes during the recent Redneck Roundup. We kept switching use of the torch with and without the acetylene filter with varying degrees of opinions as to the results. I we kept looking for changes in weld appearance at the back side of the weld and opinions varied as to the results.

I am hoping to get feedback photos from others (Kent?) to better understand the quality, or lack of, in the acetylene that my supplier is providing.
Hi Will,
If your weld is rough, ragged, and lumpy on the top but the root side is smooth with good penetration, then you have a gas problem, because the only thing that touches just one side of the weld is the gas.

For instance, a craftsman came to my shop from Nebraska with some bad welds and could not get them smooth, so I set up some coupons and fired up my torch, and got this result from a fresh bottle of acetylene:

P1160609copy copy.jpg
lucky us - I also had a bottle of dirty gas!! - top of weld is rough and bumpy
P1160630 copy copy.jpg
while the root side is nice

So, I got out another bottle of gas (because of the trainings we give here there are several bottle sets on hand) and it was clean -
P1160609copy 2 copy.jpg
and the root side was also good
P1160630 copy 2copy.jpg

Also, the surface of the fresh uncleaned weld will show some "smut" - a greyish greasy infection across the surface - but it's not on the root.

In addition, after finally using a bottle of dirty gas down to empty, unscrew the regulator and have a look at the mating surfaces, and see the wet-ish mass of gray mud that has accumulated on there.

I have not analyzed the dirt, but I have had success in locating filter elements that clean this up. Airgas had a raunchy acetylene generation plant for over 10 years, never washed out the bottles, and is now filling the old dirty bottles with clean gas - and they are slowly being distributed around the US, so we Kalifornians are not the only ones suffering the dirty gas thing, any longer. sigh.

I just put the filter assy on the reg and keep it on there as I swap out the bottles because if the gas is clean, no problem. And if the bottle is dirty, also no problem. The filter elements last for a few years and filter better as they load up.
P1030304 copy.jpg
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Last edited by crystallographic; 04-18-2017 at 11:48 AM.
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Old 04-18-2017, 12:43 PM
RockHillWill RockHillWill is offline
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Thanks, Kent, that is exactly what I was looking for. I was initially looking at the back side of the weld as that is where I was seeing the black dirty line. Now that I have seen the difference, I can report that your gas filter did work. It was not a large difference, but it was clearly a difference. I did a difference on the top side, but was only looking for a noticeable change on the back side. I have two gas welding stations, and prior to the next event I will be getting another of your acetylene gas filters.
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Old 04-18-2017, 05:32 PM
Mike Motage Mike Motage is offline
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Thanks Kent, the pics help understand what I should be looking for. I've got a lot of aluminum welding to do.
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Old 04-19-2017, 03:34 PM
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Z5Roadster Z5Roadster is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockHillWill View Post
Thanks, Kent, that is exactly what I was looking for. I was initially looking at the back side of the weld as that is where I was seeing the black dirty line. Now that I have seen the difference, I can report that your gas filter did work. It was not a large difference, but it was clearly a difference. I did a difference on the top side, but was only looking for a noticeable change on the back side. I have two gas welding stations, and prior to the next event I will be getting another of your acetylene gas filters.
Hi Will, here is Kents thread from a while back, it was right under your nose and you didn't know it http://allmetalshaping.com/showthread.php?t=16338
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