Many years ago, I bought a plasma cutter. Then I realized that I rarely used my cutting torch with leased bottles anymore. I returned them and bought this small unit. I've had it a few years now and I love it.
I didn’t bother to see what the deposit was on bottles this size in town. I don’t know if it was any cheaper or not. I like the hand caddy part of it and for views I’d think more folks will be standing in the Home Depot wondering if it’s any good than in a bunch of smaller welding shops. I can’t believe it cut like a big boy torch. I didn’t show it but the grass caught on fire instantly when I hit the bonus valve so that’s why I did a smaller cut just to test it.
Great video! Any pauses were well edited. 👍 I just bought this same set and reviewing how to set up and use again. It's been about 10 yrs since I did any torch work and welding. Need to polish my skills again. Thanks for the review! 😃
I went through this about 2 years ago. I had to decide if I was going to buy a small tank set up or just the torch, hoses and gauges. I end up leasing the tanks and buying the torch set. It's worked pretty good so far and I think it's about $120.00 a year to lease the normal sized bottles. I'm just a hobbyist so I hardly ever buy gas.
Your way is definitely cheaper in the long run. These are more portable and at the time I made the video the entry price was less than 1 bottle deposit. If a guy was going to use up both bottles in a hurry it would be worth renting.
Hi Mike, regarding your comment about being able to get these bottles refilled, I want to add that it would be in your best interest to purchase this very same set from a Welding suppiler instead of a Home Center. If you buy from the welder supply you can always be guaranteed that they will accept your bottles because they got your initial business.
Yeah I will admit I was an amateur at buying things like this. It’s a popular item sold at a big retailer so I wanted to see for myself what it was all about and share my experience with others.
Good video. I like your style. Straight and to the point. I just traded some work for this torch. I’m excited to use it. I’m still a beginner. Could you recommend settings?
Acetylene 10-12 lbs (never more than 15 lbs as it becomes unstable). Never open the Acetylene bottle more than 3/4 to 1 turn. Oxygen 40-45 lbs and you’ll want to open it all the way as it has a double seating valve. It costs me about $30 per bottle to have them filled and for that i get roughly 20-30 minutes of cut time. It’s only economical for light use or for portability. Nothing cuts or loosens a nut like a torch so it’s a staple in any shop that does tinkering.
@@MikesMischief thanks a lot man! Could I use the hose and cutting tool with larger tanks if I wanted to upgrade. Also, I’ve seen guys cut at a 90 and others cut at more of a 45 (pushing flame). What do you recommend?
@@AncientGains they would work on any bottles. I believe that stuff is all standardized like railroad tracks so there isn’t a mishap. I guess as far as the angle goes it helps to direct it towards the path of the cut so it kinda preheats the metal you’re going to cut. It goes fast and sometimes if a guy isn’t positioned right and can’t keep up with the cut you’ll lose the liquified metal bit and have to reheat to get back into the cut. It’s been 19 years since I had a formal class on a cutting torch so I’d be lying if I said I was an expert. More times than not the angle of my cut depends largely on what’s flammable in the vicinity. If there’s a cardboard box or a bin full of rags I’m going to angle the shower away from that. Likewise for yourself.
I went through this as well when getting my first cut rig. Lot of ppl think it's cheaper leasing bottles but it's actually more expensive. 80-120 a year vs 300-350 1 time and you own the bottle with refills at $40. Anyways, I don't have a small rig like that yet and something I've noticed about all the little rigs 2 things 1 they don't have flash arrestors and 2 nobody puts flash arrestors on them. That's huge safety issue. Other wise I plan to buy a small rig, just have to figure out what brand I want.
It depends how you get your gas refilled. We can only exchange up north here and it’s $15/bottle just for the “hazmat fee”. If you do a lot of cutting that’s a lot of hazmat fees and it really hurts the average price. I refill mine about once a year and it does average out to be cheaper for me. Up here it’s $500/bottle deposit and there’s no continuing rental fee. $1k would be 10 years worth of cutting for me. If I have a big job I can just go to my work and use their torches too and sometimes I take my little guys out for remote cutting at my job so it’s a fair trade.
@@MikesMischief if your using the current Mickey mouse bottles (no aggression intended) once a year isn't much in term of use or price. I got the largest home game bottles I'm legally allowed by Wesco, the welding supply store. 150cuft. At the time 2020 it was 242 out the door per bottle prefilled. I don't know what it math out to but, Wesco does exchanges and airgas does refills, exchanged my o2 once and both c25 and 75/25 once since purchase in 2020. That's at weekend warrior use. Maybe it's just my figuring and comfort of owning my bottle vs renting 🤷♂️. Now I'm back on the market for a port-a-torch setup.
I just bought this kit and I got the bottles refilled. My question is how long do the bottle contents last? I started using the torch today and I tested my cutting attachment which was maximum 5 mins and I did some welding which was around 15 mins total. now my Acetylene was at 200 psi and now it's less than 100, What's going on? How long do the tanks last when you use them?
Yeah they come empty. After using it for a while I will say with the small bottles it doesn’t last very long. There’s a $15 hazmat fee per bottle here so it’s value diminishes pretty fast. But it’s pretty convenient.
I guess I never considered it but certainly could if you’d like. Torch works great. Gas doesn’t last long and the hazmat fee alone is $15/bottle. It’s $60 to fill them. Almost not worth it honestly. In the end.
No I haven’t but I’m sure it would work for that. It does get hot and act like a big torch as long as the bottles last. They are super portable which might be a plus for you.
Many years ago, I bought a plasma cutter. Then I realized that I rarely used my cutting torch with leased bottles anymore. I returned them and bought this small unit. I've had it a few years now and I love it.
I didn’t bother to see what the deposit was on bottles this size in town. I don’t know if it was any cheaper or not. I like the hand caddy part of it and for views I’d think more folks will be standing in the Home Depot wondering if it’s any good than in a bunch of smaller welding shops. I can’t believe it cut like a big boy torch. I didn’t show it but the grass caught on fire instantly when I hit the bonus valve so that’s why I did a smaller cut just to test it.
perfect... thanks for the heads up on bottle exchange... saved me some money thank you!
Great video! Any pauses were well edited. 👍 I just bought this same set and reviewing how to set up and use again. It's been about 10 yrs since I did any torch work and welding. Need to polish my skills again. Thanks for the review! 😃
I used it today to cut some scrap. It’s quite short winded to be honest but it’s portable and convenient.
I went through this about 2 years ago. I had to decide if I was going to buy a small tank set up or just the torch, hoses and gauges. I end up leasing the tanks and buying the torch set. It's worked pretty good so far and I think it's about $120.00 a year to lease the normal sized bottles. I'm just a hobbyist so I hardly ever buy gas.
Your way is definitely cheaper in the long run. These are more portable and at the time I made the video the entry price was less than 1 bottle deposit. If a guy was going to use up both bottles in a hurry it would be worth renting.
2:10 did u take a fire extinguisher with u?
Just the garden hose.
Hi Mike, regarding your comment about being able to get these bottles refilled, I want to add that it would be in your best interest to purchase this very same set from a Welding suppiler instead of a Home Center. If you buy from the welder supply you can always be guaranteed that they will accept your bottles because they got your initial business.
Yeah I will admit I was an amateur at buying things like this. It’s a popular item sold at a big retailer so I wanted to see for myself what it was all about and share my experience with others.
Nice. Straight to the point.
Thank you sir.
Good video. I like your style. Straight and to the point. I just traded some work for this torch. I’m excited to use it. I’m still a beginner. Could you recommend settings?
Acetylene 10-12 lbs (never more than 15 lbs as it becomes unstable). Never open the Acetylene bottle more than 3/4 to 1 turn. Oxygen 40-45 lbs and you’ll want to open it all the way as it has a double seating valve. It costs me about $30 per bottle to have them filled and for that i get roughly 20-30 minutes of cut time. It’s only economical for light use or for portability. Nothing cuts or loosens a nut like a torch so it’s a staple in any shop that does tinkering.
@@MikesMischief thanks a lot man! Could I use the hose and cutting tool with larger tanks if I wanted to upgrade. Also, I’ve seen guys cut at a 90 and others cut at more of a 45 (pushing flame). What do you recommend?
@@AncientGains they would work on any bottles. I believe that stuff is all standardized like railroad tracks so there isn’t a mishap. I guess as far as the angle goes it helps to direct it towards the path of the cut so it kinda preheats the metal you’re going to cut. It goes fast and sometimes if a guy isn’t positioned right and can’t keep up with the cut you’ll lose the liquified metal bit and have to reheat to get back into the cut. It’s been 19 years since I had a formal class on a cutting torch so I’d be lying if I said I was an expert. More times than not the angle of my cut depends largely on what’s flammable in the vicinity. If there’s a cardboard box or a bin full of rags I’m going to angle the shower away from that. Likewise for yourself.
I went through this as well when getting my first cut rig. Lot of ppl think it's cheaper leasing bottles but it's actually more expensive. 80-120 a year vs 300-350 1 time and you own the bottle with refills at $40. Anyways, I don't have a small rig like that yet and something I've noticed about all the little rigs 2 things 1 they don't have flash arrestors and 2 nobody puts flash arrestors on them. That's huge safety issue. Other wise I plan to buy a small rig, just have to figure out what brand I want.
It depends how you get your gas refilled. We can only exchange up north here and it’s $15/bottle just for the “hazmat fee”. If you do a lot of cutting that’s a lot of hazmat fees and it really hurts the average price. I refill mine about once a year and it does average out to be cheaper for me. Up here it’s $500/bottle deposit and there’s no continuing rental fee. $1k would be 10 years worth of cutting for me. If I have a big job I can just go to my work and use their torches too and sometimes I take my little guys out for remote cutting at my job so it’s a fair trade.
@@MikesMischief if your using the current Mickey mouse bottles (no aggression intended) once a year isn't much in term of use or price. I got the largest home game bottles I'm legally allowed by Wesco, the welding supply store. 150cuft. At the time 2020 it was 242 out the door per bottle prefilled. I don't know what it math out to but, Wesco does exchanges and airgas does refills, exchanged my o2 once and both c25 and 75/25 once since purchase in 2020. That's at weekend warrior use. Maybe it's just my figuring and comfort of owning my bottle vs renting 🤷♂️. Now I'm back on the market for a port-a-torch setup.
I just bought this kit and I got the bottles refilled.
My question is how long do the bottle contents last?
I started using the torch today and I tested my cutting attachment which was maximum 5 mins
and I did some welding which was around 15 mins total.
now my Acetylene was at 200 psi and now it's less than 100, What's going on?
How long do the tanks last when you use them?
That’s about how long they last.
How long do those little tanks last?
Maybe 15-30 min of cutting.
Do you have a better idea on how long the bottles that size last?
About 15-25 minutes continuous. I don’t think they always fill the bottles the same so that’s about the window I’ve had so far.
Do the bottles come empty Thanks for the review
Yeah they come empty. After using it for a while I will say with the small bottles it doesn’t last very long. There’s a $15 hazmat fee per bottle here so it’s value diminishes pretty fast. But it’s pretty convenient.
@@MikesMischief Thanks man🤟🏼
No part 2?
I guess I never considered it but certainly could if you’d like. Torch works great. Gas doesn’t last long and the hazmat fee alone is $15/bottle. It’s $60 to fill them. Almost not worth it honestly. In the end.
Have you used it for brazing? I just bought this set to start my new job in hvac
No I haven’t but I’m sure it would work for that. It does get hot and act like a big torch as long as the bottles last. They are super portable which might be a plus for you.
@@MikesMischief thanks for the info
How long can u cut with those small tanks
About 20 minutes.
I just lost the damn tool u said we would loose in 5 mins 😂
It gets wedged down in the little cubby hole thing. Suppose a guy should wire it to the handle or put it on a key ring like a bathroom in the ghetto?
@@MikesMischief 😆
Omg. He had to look at yhe box 3 tomes because he forgot what name it was... feeeesh kud. Shit review...
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