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Beads of Courage


 
  #1  
Old 2012-03-27, 9:41am
DragonflyPam DragonflyPam is offline
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Default Oxygen pulsing flame from Mini CC torch

Hi Everyone, Greetings from PA!

I just tried to make beads with my Mini CC torch after 6 months of inactivity (everything worked fine when I stopped making beads in October) but for some reason my oxygen is pulsing. Its not pretty, one minute I have a nice flame and the next there is no oxygen, or hardly any at all. It was fluctuating so bad I couldn't even get one bead created.

I have tried shutting everything down and starting back up from scratch but that didn't really seem to help.

My set-up is in an unheated garage and it got down to around 29 degrees overnight temp outside, it was 50-ish in the garage this morining when I started. Could the temp be affecting my oxygen flow? I watched the guages so I know I'm not having a propane issue. Both tanks sit right inside the garage door against the wall and you can feel air thru the seal, so it may actually be colder where they are sitting.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I really want to get back to making beads!

Thanks, Pam
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  #2  
Old 2012-03-28, 10:02am
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lotusbunny2009 lotusbunny2009 is offline
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Default No solutions

I also have had my miniCC pulse. I have a M10 oxygen concentrator, and thought it was associated with it because it seemed to pulse in time with the concentrator's "breath." The pulse in the flame was large and orange, as if no oxygen, and also very regular where I could predict it. I tried to let the concentrator run and warm up longer before I started to torch. It was very cold January (below zero) in northern WI when it happened, and my little propane tank might not have been happy?

I would be interested in others expertise too! Thanks, K
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  #3  
Old 2012-03-28, 11:06am
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alb6094 alb6094 is offline
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Are you two cleaning your torches regularly? I don't use an oxycon, I use tanked oxy but I clean my torch as a rule at least twice a month. I lampwork daily though so if you don't use it as much you don't need to, of course, clean it as much. Love my mini CC!

Hopefully someone on a concentrator will jump in, perhaps it's related to that or the cold as you say.

For cleaning, here is what I use. It's a torch tip cleaner from Home Depot but I would imagine most any hardware place would have it. I use the third and fourth smallest pics to clean the ports AND around the ports on the head of my torch. Be gentle, don't just ram it in there, lol. I've also heard that piano wire works as well:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051
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  #4  
Old 2012-04-03, 2:15pm
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lotusbunny2009 lotusbunny2009 is offline
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Default Thanks and idea

Thanks for the cleaning advice! I did invest in the proper guitar string (per a nice man at Carlisle!), but probably haven't done it for several months.

It just so happened to occur again over this past weekend. After many attempts to figure it out, I found the flame was clearly pulsing without any oxygen in the flame. I went out and checked the regulator on my propane tank and found that the pressure was down at 2.5. (I must have bumped the knob when hooking up the hose or opening and closing housing around the tank.) I turned the pressure up to 5 and immediately went back to my torch and it worked fine the entire rest of the session.
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  #5  
Old 2012-04-03, 4:26pm
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alb6094 alb6094 is offline
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Yay, I'm so glad you figured it out!
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  #6  
Old 2012-04-06, 12:46pm
DragonflyPam DragonflyPam is offline
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Hi everyone!

My husband was able to correct my pulsing issue by turning up the pressure from the oxygen tank. I emptied the tank making my last batch of beads so we took a road trip to the welding supply shop and he bought me new regulators (mine were only light duty) for the oxygen and had our tanks filled. Have to get my taxes done before I'm allowed to play with my glass again. Hopefully I won't have to post any new issues!

Thanks, everyone, for your help! Pam
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  #7  
Old 2012-04-06, 1:07pm
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Dragonharper Dragonharper is offline
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I was going to suggest a regulator issue, but it seems you figured that out. Where in PA are you? I'm in Central PA, Williamsport Area.
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  #8  
Old 2012-04-06, 1:23pm
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Same experience here I was going to tell you to check the settings.
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  #9  
Old 2012-04-09, 4:16pm
DragonflyPam DragonflyPam is offline
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Dragonharper,
I'm in Hellam township, between York and Columbia, PA. Except for some pesky neighbors that love to ruin the rural setting, I love it here!
Thanks for the response.
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  #10  
Old 2012-05-22, 12:28am
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bubblenbead bubblenbead is offline
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I had a pulsing problem a while ago, took the new O2 tank back to the supplier since I assumed that was the problem - no difference with new tank! Oops. Persevered as it was, but finally got so grumpy about the fluctuating flame that I attacked (nicely) the propane regulator and wound it up significantly - hey, presto, no more problem! Funny how a temper tantrum can be just the cure required!
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  #11  
Old 2012-05-23, 9:50am
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Glad you figured it out - I was going to suggest it was the propane tank, but only because this happens to me whenever they overfill my tank at the gas station. Until some is used up, my propane levels bounce around and my flame goes up and down. Could just be a bum tank, but I now make sure the guy doesn't fill it up all the way so this doesn't happen anymore.
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  #12  
Old 2015-07-03, 2:52pm
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bubblenbead bubblenbead is offline
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That particular fill had been a very smelly one, too. The gas guy had said something about having decanted gas when he did the fill, so I also wondered if the gas was a bit contaminated. Who knows. I have since switched out that particular cylinder and replaced it with a new one, as the same cylinder continued to give me trouble
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