Barracuda and 2 M-15s? M-20s? oooooo Smiley ....

[CarolinaDreamDesigns]

OK - I went ahead and got the Barracuda but only have one M-15 so I need more power. The talk about M-15s and M-20 have confused me completely. I know I've seen Brent and the Chases say they are using two units (I think). I am trying to work with BE and boro: beads and small sculpture. Can I get another M-15 and get what I need?

I'll be bothering Jack and Co again but wanted to see if I understood what was being used.

thanks!!

Martha

[IF-Designs]

Yep get another M 15 and look for the holding tank tutorial Trey Cornette put up. If you use a small holding tank with them you will get more consistant preformance I think especially when needing to use the outer flame.

[CD Lampwork]

Hey Martha

Yep, we use 2 M20s for our barracuda. The M20s are their old units, they're designed to put out 10 lpm at 20 psi each. They don't always work that well at the upper levels, so Jack and Paul reworked them to the M15. These units put out 8 lpm at 15 psi, a more realistic max for this type unit (now they're NEW units......drewllll). Actually with our M20s we usually run them at 6 lpm each or 12 lpm total (for the 2 "Y"ed together) for the barracuda. Really that seems to be more than enough power for our torch. We do use bullseye and are VERY happy with the M20s/barracuda set up. I have played with some boro with our set up, but really can't give you any useful info, seems to work really well but I really don't know boro. With bullseye I can easily work marbles up to 2+ inches. When D is making beads we just run one M20 at around 5 1/2 lpm to just run the inner flame, we only run the two together while I'm using both flames. Something to consider as you can't really switch from inner flame to both flames in the same session on consentrators, well we haven't found a way anyway. Too much ox or too little ox. If you go with the 4 stud Barracuda (seperate inlets for the inner flame and outer flame) and add smutboy's footpettle it should work, but that's some good sized bucks to upgrade. Or tanked oxygen. The set up is always in a state of "upgrade".

As for the holding tank idea Trey wrote up. Well, I tried it, not real sure how I feel about it. Nearest I can tell you still get about the same oxygen at the torch. Once the tank comes up to the pressure the M20s are working at everything seems the same as no tank. Trying to turn the torch down so oxygen builds up in the tank effectively back pressures the M20s and they don't put out the LPM that they were without the tank. It is kinda a buffer to smooth out any differences in consentrator preformance, but as the in put and out let on the tank are the same fitting the buffering is not that great. If the inlet were on the opposite side of the tank from the outlet it would be better. Too much work for me.

Jack and Paul are the best! We've been using this set up for about 1 1/2 years now. There were some hickups in the beginning, but Jack went out of his way to fix everything and continues to be extremely helpful.

Greg