GTT Lynx problems

[Feldt's Glass]

I purchased a lynx torch about 3 months ago, and have had nothing but problems with it. I used one in a class before the purchase and loved it. Can someone please tell me how they are running theres and what to expect from this torch. I bought it to do both soft and boro, but I just can't seem to get enough heat to do boro work. I tried to get in touch with GTT but there site is not working and can't get anyone by phone. They can't be out of business???!!!
Thank you for your replies

[rosiescreations]

Hi
No they are sure not out of business.
I have a lynx and love it.
At first the flame would fluctuate some.
What do you have your propane set on and what are you using for O2?

[Mr. Smiley]

Kimberly will be along shortly to help you out. ;)

[Feldt's Glass]

I use tanked oxy when working with boro, and my propane is set at 6PSI. I have tried higher and it didn't make much of a difference.

[Mr. Smiley]

You shouldn't have to go higher on the propane... what's your oxy set at? How large of a piece are you trying to work?

[Feldt's Glass]

I started with approx 15PSI and went all the way up to 20PSI. I tried to make a small fish about 1&1/5 inches long and 2/8 of an inch thick at the thickest point. The fish ended up being a bit smaller and thinner than that, and took almost an hour and a half. I did the same fish only larger on a mini cc in class with boro and tanked oxy in 15 min. It just cut right through. I even used smaller rods 5mm. In class we used some a bit larger I believe. I just couldn't get a good sized ball to flatten to make the fish body, and I worked on that alone for over half an hour.

[pam]

I was talking to Wally on Thursday and he said their website was down because they are adding info or revamping it or something, however the best way to get in touch with them is calling during business hours. I can't imagine that your Lynx will not melt boro at least as fast as a Mini CC, so either there is something wrong with your Lynx, or with your regulator. Brent is right, I am sure Kimberly will be on soon and can help you out.

[Cosmo]

If your torch is running at those pressures and won't melt boro, it's either 1) operator error, which probably isn't the case since you've used one before with success; or 2) something wrong with the torch, in which case you should send it in to GTT to have it serviced.

Or, you can just send it to me. I'll give it a good home... :D

[Feldt's Glass]

Just wanted to thank all of you for trying to help me out with my lynx.
It turns out that my torch had a very large buildup of carbon. I took it in to a friend and had it deep cleaned. We have set it up again and it works like it is supose to. I am soooooooooooo relieved I can't even begin to tell you. When I first had things set up in my new studio I was using a concentrator and it just wasn't "happy". I blamed the concentrator, so my boyfriend ran a bunch of tests on it and determined that it was only running at 50%. But before that was figured out one of the tests was to run the torch on a tank. When that didn't work right well I just ran out of ideas on what was wrong. When we tested the concentration on the oxy at the sorce of the concentrator and found it at 50% it made sence that it got the torch durty. I hope that made some sence, but I just wanted to let you know how things ended just incase someone else had this issue in the future. It might save them some gray hairs.

[kbinkster]

Hi, LT.

I just got in last night from being out of town for five days and am just now seeing your post.

I'm glad you found your problem. The thing about concentrators is that a purity problem won't cause carboning, but pressures that are too low can. Low purity at correct pressures will make the flame "weak" (not as hot), but something will still be pushing through the jets. It's when there's not enough push that the carbon problems begin, and that can happen regardless of the purity. Flames that are too low will cause carbon build-up on any torch. That is why I am always suggesting certain candle lengths and what not to push the ignition point of the flame off the face of the torch and to keep the flame so that it doesn't bend back up and heat up the face of the torch.

When run correctly, the Lynx should not carbon up. I run the centerfire of my Phantom (the Lynx) on a concentrator that puts out 9 psi and it works great. When I run it on tanked oxygen, I like it at 15 psi. I have never had carbon problems with it, either way.

[Feldt's Glass]

Thanks for responding Kbinkster. I do however have a question on your comment. I was running at or above the psi you mentioned when this happened to the torch and the candles were always at a normal length but I could not get a good neutral flame due to the lack of oxy concentration. It was more like a reduction flame or somewhere in between. The torch was not used much this way, just enough to trouble shoot these issues.
I would like to know what lpm do you really need to get this torch to run well on a concentrator. Fred from OSGI has said the concentrator I have is the best but it just doesn't cut it for boro. (OSGI 15) It is doing well now with soft glass. I have been going back and forth between the concentrator and a tank depending on what I am doing. It would be great to know how much more oxy I need so I can just run two concentrators and not have cables to change every time I torch. Thanks for your response

[kbinkster]

What you are saying about the poor oxygen concentration causng a reduction flame is correct: it does that. It does not carbon up your torch to run a reduction flame as long as you're not running it short and soft.

Normal candles for boro would range from 1/4" to 1", with 1/2" being average. The longer the candles, the more yellow tipped they can be. You don't want tips on candles under 1/4".

Pressure also comes into play when using the Triple Mix feature. The Lynx does not need a lot of volume, but when you want to use the little injectors (blue knob) to their fullest, you will need more pressure to force the oxygen through the tiny tubes the more you turn it on.

Wally tested a Millenium 10 (5 LPM at 10 psi, I believe) and that ran the Lynx at about 50%.

I use an Integra 10 (10 LPM at 9 psi). I would say that it runs the Lynx at about 90%. I just can't get that last little bit of the top end out of the torch. I can get an aggressive driving flame (using the inner oxygen jets to sharpen it up and add extra thrust to the overall flame), but just not the last little bit of it that would be there if I were on tanked oxygen. I get it to a certain point, and then the pressure just isn't there to push the additional oxygen through the inner jets while the outer ones are going strong. Does that make sense?

But, that does not keep me from being able to work boro with that concentrator. That top end is such a small range, that I really don't ever need it for what I do, which is soft glass and small boro these days. I will have to run some tests like how big a boro gather I can make in a certain amount of time, etc., but I won't be able to do that for a while. But, even on tanks, it only takes somewhere around 12 psi to get everything out of that torch. The flow rate measured at top end was 14 CF/hr.

I hope this helps.