New to lampworking Midrange plus question

[love2shoot]

Hello all im new to lampworking and i purchased a midrange plus with mega on top. Im having trouble fig out oxygen. I want oxygen concentrators but im not sure how many or how much lpm i need. I also dont have a ton of money.
I was told a 120cf oxy tank last 8-12 hours and it cost 40 or so to fill each time.

What is my best option to start?
Oxygen tank cost 49 to rent 100 deposit and 40 to fill $189 120cf tank.

i have 2 craigslist ad for 5 liter oxygen cons. one is for 150 and one is for 200. i dont know if the torch can run on 10l of oxygen the mega might but not the midrange. i dont think??

Im not sure what this torch needs.

Please help.

Jamie

[cheng076]

I'm not familiar with that torch so wont comment on it.

I have always owned my tanks and I use five 'K' size, 250 cf, and I pay about $20 to refill them. Best thing I did was open an account at the AirGas place That cut my costs by about 40%

[echeveria]

Depends on what you are going to do with it - I have a friend that runs a midrange on 1 5lpm concentrator. She gets a soft, bushy flame that works fine for soft glass beads. She makes some pretty big ones, up to 1", but again, soft glass.

I love her setup for hollows so much I bought a midrange plus that I plan to run on 1 10 lpm, I just haven't hooked it up yet.

[alienscience]

There's a video out there of someone running a Red Max on 3 M-15s. The midrange and Red Max are slightly similar in design and I would think they would require about the same oxygen requirments.

The worker in the video said the top torch ran about 95% with one 15psi/8lpm unit, but he required about 24lpm at 15psi to run the larger bottom torch.

Those costs are a little high for oxygen. I pay $4 a month to rent one 250cf tank and $28 to fill one up and I barely get 5 hours out of it when I constantly run the bottom torch.

If you are just starting out, I would strongly recommend using the top torch. It will save you a lot of oxygen and is surprisingly strong.

In the long run though, home fill systems seem like your best bet. I'm still learning it though.

I've seen some good deals on homefill systems out on the market, which are a concentrator/compressor system that you use to fill your own tanks. But they can take a while and end up costing a little to run electricity wise.

Btw, I noticed your signature states you are a veterinary technician. Would you have any advice for helping a 16 year old female calico that has a history of obesity and is beginning kidney failure? She is on weekly fluids and special kidney function food, but I need to make sure she stays healthy for at least another year as her owner is away and I'd hate to see her in pain or pass while she is away.

Thanks, I hope I helped.