Mini CC, oxy, reducing, and neutral flame, please help?

[ziggys]

Hi, I recently bought a Mini CC and can set my Oxycon to 7 lpm ( it an M15 Oxycon). The propane is set to 3.

How do I dial in an Oxidizing, neutral, or a reducing flame? How do I tell when I have them? I try to keep it at a 3/8" candle but the flame is so hot and big I burn all my glass.

Still, is that a neutral flame? Can I make it smaller and still have a neutral flame?

If I turn down the propane at the torch is that a reducing flame? Or should I turn up the Oxy on my torch?

If I add more oxygen, the torch hisses, and goes towards a pencil thin flame. Is that a oxidizing flame? I usually end up working with this to keep it manageble. So how do I get a neutral flame I can work with?

I'm at the point that I dont' care if I "hurt" my torch by using a smaller flame as long as I have one I can work with!!!

Thanks in advance for any help. I can try it at night in the dark if that will help.
Angela

[afina]

Hi Angela!
What does "The propane is set to 3" mean? 3 bar pressure?
My Mini CC works with 50mbar propane which is 0,05 bar. I guess your flame is awfully hot with 3 bar!

Reducing flame = turn propane up or oxy down. You get longer orange candles. The candle in the middle is longer than the others. This is reducing.

Oxydizing flame = turn propane down and/or oxy up. You will get small blue candles with orange tips. The flame is kind of narrower after the candles.

Neutral flame: blue candles, the one in the middle is as long as the others, the flame is bushy. To get a neutral flame, go make e reducing one first (middle candle is longer), then turn propane slowly down until the middle candle gets shorter and shorter, but the flame itself doesn't get narrower.

Uff, that is difficult to explain in a foreign language, I hope you could understand my brabble...
Regards, Verena

[lldesigns]

My propane regulator is set to between 2-3 PSI. A high oxidizing flame will hiss. A reducing flame is done by turning the propane up, or the oxygen down.

The Mini CC is a hot little torch so make sure you're not too close to the torch head when you melt glass. I'm usually at least a few inches out from the torch head.

Also, if you bought the torch new, it should have come with an instructional DVD. I highly recommend watching it!

[afina]

Oh, so it is 3psi, not 3 bar! I am relieved now :-)
The different measuringsystems always confuse me....
Redards from Austria with the metric sysem,
Verena

[ziggys]

Verena, I was wondering what "bar" was. Sounds hot whatever it is! LOL!
Thank you for the explanations. I read on the Calisle site that the flame was different than other torches.
I have seen it when the middle flame is larger. So now I will have something to go by.

Your explanation is actually very easy to understand!
Thank you. :love:

Laurie, I tried turning the PSI down to 2 instead of 3 to see if that would help. I am working about 4 inches or more out from the torch and I still boil and and get bubbles in my glass!
I bought the torch used. I sure wish I had one of the DVD's. I downloaded any information I could from Carlisle but I think when using an oxycon it changes things you know? I barely turn the Oxygen knob on my torch and I get the loud hiss so was/am confused.
Thank you for your help. I'll get it yet!
Angela

[lldesigns]

You may need to turn the oxycon itself down. I'm no professional with them and I had to play around with mine for quite a while before I got it right.

You'll get it!

[Carols Glass]

Angela,
First, may I ask, what is ziggys about? When I was young my family used to drive from Columbus to N.Y. to visit Jane and Ziggy's, LOL!
Anyways,
The first bead I made with my mini cc was horrible! I had watched the dvd but unless it is playing when you torch, you forget what they said (at least I do).....so my DH ran upstairs to watch the dvd and when he came back he turned the propane almost off and then I could see the blue candles and the flame turned from a huge orange unruly flame to a nice blue with nice candles. Actually, he turned it so much it went off and had to relight it. So, you really almost turn the propane off and then it is a good flame.
I just happen to have 2 copies of the Carlisle Mini CC dvd and if you PM me your address, I will gladly mail you my spare one!
You will just love this dvd, there are demos on it and all kinds of info you need to know. I'm happy to share if you want it. When I received my torch, one dvd was in the torch box and one was outside of it. You sound like the right person to get it, LOL!
Just let me know!

[afina]

I agree, turning the oxycon down could help. If there is to much air/oxy coming out of it, it can "blow" the flame out. I am working with a 5lpm oxycon, but turned it down to 4lpm, because I like the flame it produces that way better.
Try 5lpm and see if it improves...
Verena

[kbinkster]

Carlisle recommends a flame with 3/8" candles for a reason (that torch needs to be passing a lot of oxygen to keep from excessive carboning). If you find that you are burning your glass, then move further out in the flame or faster.

Run you candles out to 3/8" and only let them have small white/yellow tips on the ends. The longer those tips, the more reducing (fuel rich - will pull out oxygen from the glass, creating reduction) your flame will be. When you have no tips, then your flame is oxidized (oxygen-rich). The neutral flame is your hottest flame and is the best all-around flame to work with. You will use oxidizing and reducing flames for special effects.

Now, if you are running the 3/8" candles that look neutral, are working a little out in the flame so you are not burning your work, and find that you are reducing your glass (pulling metals to the surface, making it grey and sometimes metallic looking in spots), then you might be having a purity problem with your concentrator. When concentrators put out low purity, they are essentially passing air. Air combusts fuel, so you will get a blue flame that might look neutral. However, air does not combust fuel very efficiently. So, your flame might look neutral, but actually be fuel-rich, causing reduction.

At any rate, you should turn up your concentrator and feed your torch what it needs. Keep in mind that the lower the LPM setting, the better the oxygen purity. Carlisle says that the Mini CC needs 7 LPM for standard operation. I know people who run theirs on much less to make small beads, though. I believe they just dial in a smaller flame to keep those candles neutral to oxidizing. I haven't tried running my Mini CC on my concentrator, yet, to see what kind of candles I can get with less than 7 LPM. But, if you have 7 LPM available to you, then by all means use it! I believe your concentrator is capable of 8 LPM. So, 7 LPM would not be pushing it hard.

You should also bump your propane pressure up to a pressure that is good for your regulator. When you set it down at 2-3 psi, it isn't good for the internal parts of the regulator and it can cause the flame to fluctuate. Setting it to 5-10 psi would be good for the regulator and will not cause any problems for your torch.

You will not use any more fuel or oxygen than you let in with the valves on the torch. So, just running higher pressures and LPMs will not necessarily make you have a bigger flame. It will if you open your valves far enough. But, you can run a small flame on higher pressure/LPMs by not opening the valves on the torch very far.

[ziggys]

Thanks everyone! I have a few things to try now.
Carol, I will be sending you a PM pronto! I am definately the one that could use the DVD. I promise to explain Ziggys too. :)

I did play a bit with it tonight and now know I was running an oxidizing flame all this time.
I joined a focal reaction challange and was considering dropping out, 'cause by the time I wrapped my big blob of glass onto the mandral it was fried. Well maybe not fried but turned too many colors black, and made big bubbles.
Thanks again,
Angela

[Carols Glass]

Your dvd has been shipped, lol!

[ziggys]

Woohoo! (And thank goodness!) I sometimes don't check my mail for days, it's only ever bills, but you can bet I'm checking it daily now! :)

Thank you!
Angela