How to Handle a Cutting Torch
Cutting torches are used in a variety of vocations from the building trades to car repair and steel mills to scrap yards. A cutting torch is simply a cutting torch head mounted on oxy-acetylene welding outfit. In fact, even though oxy-acetylene welding has given way to electric welding, there are still over 50,000 oxy-acetylene welding outfits sold each year in the United States, most of which are used as cutting torches. While most agree that operating a cutting torch is a tricky proposition in the beginning, working with a cutting torch is an easy skill to master.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Mark a guideline with a soapstone marker on the piece of steel where the cut is to be made.
-
2
Purge the oxygen and acetylene lines by opening the valves on the acetylene torch mixing handle one at a time for 3 to 5 seconds and then closing the valve on the mixing handle. Install a cutting torch head on the mixing handle following the cutting torch manufacturer's instructions. Open the oxygen cutting valve in the cutting torch head by turning the valve in a counterclockwise rotation. Open the valve all the way
-
-
3
Open the acetylene valve on the mixing handle 1/8 to 1/4-turn in a counterclockwise direction and hold the cutting torch nozzle in a spark lighter. Squeezing the handle of the spark lighter will drag a flint across a rough piece of steel causing sparks that will ignite the acetylene. Open the acetylene valve slowly in counterclockwise direction until the flame stops smoking. Open the oxygen valve on the mixing handle until the feather in the center of the flame disappears.
-
4
Hold the tip of the cutting torch perpendicular to the material being cut and far enough away that the inner cone of the flame is slightly above the material. Center the flame on the edge of the material that is being cut and heat the material until it is bright red-hot. Slowly depress the cutting handle until there is a shower of sparks. Depress the cutting handle completely when the flame has cut all the way through the material that is being cut and follow the line that was previously marked at a speed rapid enough to cut the material. Release the cutting handle on the cutting torch head when the cut has been made.
-
5
Shut off the torch by rotating the oxygen valve on the mixing handle in a clockwise rotation until the valve is completely closed, then turning the acetylene valve on the mixing handle in a clockwise rotation until it is closed, completing the exercise.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Always wear protective clothing such as a welding jacket or a welding apron and welding gloves when working with a cutting torch.
Always wear protective eyewear in the form of either goggles or a welding mask when working with a cutting torch.
References
- Photo Credit Creatas/Creatas/Getty Images
