Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi, i am new to welding. i want to get a oxy-fuel setup beacuse there is one for sale on my local kijiji. but when i watch videos and blogs all them say all the things that could go wrong (Flashback, tanks tipping over,fire,ect) and i was wonder how safe is it really and if i should get it.

Like anything that involves combustibles, OA is safe is proper precautions and care during usage are adhered to.

Yes, your bottle should be secured to a cart or wall, you should use Flashback arrestors (though LOTS of people don't), and you absolutely need to wear protective gear while using it (eyes, hands, feet, etc). OA is a very convenient tool to have, and a bit of practice, you can become rather accomplished.

I don't prefer to purchase used OA gear because the torches and regulators are often abused and in need of rebuilding. I prefer to buy these items new, then service as required.

My friend got an old set used from somewhere and he and I cut a car in half as teens and did a lot of other dumb stuff with it. He still has it 20 years later and we both use it now and then. We have all our fingers, toes, eyes etc and never burned anything down accidentally. I just started seeing the safety stuff now after taking a welding class. Not that I'm recommending that route. But they'd probably get sued out of existence in today's climate if they were prone to incidents.

If you take proper safety precautions and study up and read how to use every thing, it is safe. I use it at home. Of course I only use it when I absolutely need to, such as cutting a thick piece of steel that is too thick for my current plasma cutter or I cant get into the bandsaw, or need to heat something up to bend it. But none the less I don't have any issues with using it. I even have a triple-acetylene tank set-up manifolded together, since I can only get 75 cuft tanks.

If you're trained and educated on oxy acetylene usage and follow safety procedures, there's not a whole lot of danger involved. The danger comes from when things go wrong from accidental or negligent use things can go VERY wrong. Fill a trash bag with propane and carry it around, a static discharge won't even ignite it, even in the worst case scenario where someone holds a lighter to it, you'll end up with a sizable but lazy fireball which will probably just singe all your hair off.

Fill that same bag with an oxy acetylene mix and not only would you likely not be walking away from an ignition relatively intact, EMS might have to scoop pieces of you up off the ground. Acetylene can not only be flammable but outright explosive under the right conditions.