Forney cutting torches

Thanks

Wil

• petrogen

I had no idea that Forney was even still producing welding equipment, but they are. A Google search of Forney Industries led me to their home page which states that they are still in the arc welding and oxy/acetylene equipment business.

That said, I feel confident in saying that they are no longer a major player in the industry. I look at welding equipment online all the time, and have done so for years. Whether on eBay, online retailers, this forum, or elsewhere, Forney virtually never comes up except in the context of equipment produced around the middle of the last century.

In oxy/acetylene welding and cutting equipment, Victor, Harris, and Smith are the major manufacturers of new equipment. Airco, Purox, Henrob, and many others come up on eBay listings but I don't know if any of them are newly manufactured. Welding and cutting torches last a long time---especially when not used---so some of that equipment could be more than 50 years old.

More to the point, I don't remember ever seeing Forney oxy/acetylene torches for sale on eBay when I used to look a lot. I didn't even know they made that kind of equipment until I went to their website a little while ago.

Individualism is great and all that, but given the choice of driving a Daihatsu or some make that has a good reputation and parts available right around the corner, vanilla seems okay. After all, there is a big difference between being a pioneer, and shooting yourself in the foot.

All the best, Stan

I googled Forney also and looked at their website but it really doesn"t tell you a whole lot. My local Hardware store sells Forney welding supplies and has a Forney torch set with gauges, handle, 3 or 4 tips, striker and I think some hose for $160.00. He also handles replacement tips etc. This compares to the Farm Store carried KT industries "victor" torch set of basically the same package for $145. Since I was familiar with the Forney welders I was just wondering if the Forney set wouldn"t be better and I thought maybe somebody knew if they are Victor or Harris or Smith compatable. After some research I may end up going with the Harris set though because I plan on using Propane instead of Acycetelene and seems Harris has specific setups for just Propane.

Wil

Here's the address of an online supplier of oxy/fuel welding supplies who I think is pretty good:

Link

I bought a Harris oxy/propane cutting setup from him a few years ago---torch, tips, regulators, hoses for about the price you're talking. Maybe the hoses were separate; I just took a look at that site and hoses weren't included in the price of the combo. You need different hose for propane from what you use for acetylene.

If want to know just about everything there is to know about cutting with propane, go to the archives of this forum and click on "List by Author." Find posts by Mark KW and read what he wrote on the subject. It's got more information than you can absorb in one reading---just about the last word on the subject. (BTW all Mark KW's posts are pretty entertaining as well as informative. He could be a bit of a firebrand when crossed by some ignoramus.)

I consider oxy/fuel cutting to be the poor man's plasma cutter. It's about a hundred times as difficult but if you get good at it you've really got something.

Stan

Wil

Type R hose is rated for acetylene only. It is made of rubber and will eventually be softened by propane which is a petroleum product and a solvent to rubber. Type T hose is made for use with propane and other fuel gases, including acetylene.

Of course you don't have to use type T hose with propane, just as you don't have to use flashback arrestors, or wear seatbelts when you drive your car, for that matter.

As for your opinion about when I can and when I can't use the expression "poor man's" anything, well, you know what they say opinions are like. Anyway, you pretty much missed the point of what I was saying; why don't you get someone intelligent to explain it to you.

But I'm always glad to be set straight by a misinformed, self-satisfied, mean spirited person.

Stan

Hope you don't think that this will-he person is me. I appreciate the information that you have given me. I sent you an email.

Wil

Man it's been many years since I used a Forney club. I say club as the one I used had to be made for cutting 12" plate as it was huge and hard to use.

There's nothing finer than a Victor 100 torch as it's light weight for less hand fatique that will allow you to make more accurate free hand cuts and will cut 3" plate with a #3 tip. And there lies the key to a good hand torch, small body size for less hand fatique. Use a 15ft length of 1/8" or 3/16" hose on the torch end and leave the 1/4" hose for the main line run.

Propylene, is supposed to have the same flame temperature as O/A, maybe a little hotter. You can buy the kit to add the X-zylene to the porpane yourself to make propylene. The gas suppliers here do carry Propylene in stock.

T_Bone

I remembered from when I worked at a local farm supply company that sold propane that the LP guy had something that he added to Propane to make it work better in a cutting torch but couldn't remember exactly what it was or how he added it. Where I currently work we sell propane and use propane in our torch in the shop but don't have the "stuff" to make the propane "work" better. That was going to be a question that I was going to ask sometime in the future.

Wil