Another thread from a welding forum and indirect info from welding suppliers
http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=52806
Looks like the plant that blew up provided 75% of the USA with the calcium carbide used to make acetylene. My take: Unless that 75% supply can be replaced from somewhere else then there will definitely be a supply shortage and a hefty price increase to go along with it.
Glad I mothballed my torch years ago (got tired of paying the expensive bottle leases and the gas just kept skyrocketing in price. Worst I would always run out of gas on weekends when everyplace to get refills was closed). I now use Twin Carbon arc along with the Lincoln AC-225 buzzbox welder to produce an intense flame to heat metal with for bending, or freeing rusted nuts. Twin Carbon arc can potentially burn up to 1000 degrees hotter if desired than oxy/acet so it can also be used to silver solder, braze, and improvise flame fill weld. Twin Carbon arc WILL NOT cut metal- must use other methods to cut metal. My flames compare to a oxy/acet with a rosebud tip installed. More skilled user's can alter their flame shapes, but it takes practice. Regardless, about as close as it gets to free heat as all you have to buy is the electricity to power the welder which is cheap and a $10 box of carbon rods lasts a very long time. The torch head to hold the rods can be made for almost free or purchased cheaply. (NOTE: Do not confuse a Twin Carbon Arc torch with Carbon gouging or ArcAir which is a totally different process).
This post was edited by rankrank1 at 09:59:09 04/03/11 10 times.
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