I so I’m after an opinion that is less biased.
Kindest regards Charles A.
P. S. I did consider cylinders, but don’t like renting the cylinder
even if I don’t use it.
I have an oxygen concentrator. I do lampworking and it is FANTASTIC!
I have been using it now for almost 6 months. I purchased it from
1-866-955-0200. You may have a wait time but it is worth it.
Reasonable prices - new equipment - service for life! Can’t beat it.
No oxygen tanks to worry about. As long as I have electricity - I
have oxygen! Any questions - let me know!
Gail Barnett
I know people use them for making glass due to the large amount of
oxy used in bead making and small hot glass works. I would like to
know if jewelry people use these too. I don’t but I have thought
about it.
Susan
Well that didn’t come out right.
I’m after an opinion on oxygen generators.
Regards Charles A.
I’v got one that I use for lampworking glass though I have used it
for metalwork when needs be. The plus side is they are cheap to buy
secondhand and run. They take a couple of minutes to settle down and
then the supply is pretty constant at however you set it. They give
more than enough oxygen for the torches I use so I cant see any
problems with demand.
On the minus side they are a little temperature sensitive, not liking
the winter cold here in the UK and on the make I have there is a
problem with filters and a fan that packs up and gives a sensor fault
that is an incorrect message. When you know this replacing the fan is
all that is needed and that is not too tricky once you get inside the
thing. I dont know how long the osmosis part lasts as I dont use mine
that often but I am told that they are cheap enough to have
refurbished.
Nick Royall
We have an oxygen generator, which we picked up because our son is a
glass blower. He and I share studio space, because the kilns, torch,
venting and safety equipment all mesh well. My husbands wood working
shop (he has been afurniture maker for over 20 years and now builds
custom guitars) is across the hall from my studio.
The oxy generator we got was a refurbished medical device because
once they hit a certain number of hours, they have to be de
commissioned from medical use, but still have lots of good hours
left on them. We also have pressurized tanks, because the oxy
generator only does a small range of flame sizes well.
My pros are:
Never run out of oxygen
Paid for instead within a year, because our son can blow through a K
tank in6 hours on the large flame working torch. However, the oxy
generator can’tproduce this amount of gas to keep up with the large
torch, so he only usesit for delicate, or finishing work, or if he
runs out of tanks.
My cons are:
Does not work well with a #3 or smaller tip, and can be a little
erratic with other small tips because I find the pressure generated
changes as the unitfunction and it does not keep a consistent
pressure, so my torch blows out with small tips
It does work well with a small annealing rose bud torch.
Ours produces 5 litres/minutes, so I cannot use it with my large
annealing torch, need to switch to a tank for that.
I have to turn it off after each use, because if you let it run,
even for a couple minutes, with the torch off, the safety alarm
starts singing. This really isn’t a big deal, it’s just a pain,
because there is also a short delaywhen you turn the unit on, till
it creates pressure, and this just adds another step in the process.
If it was just me in the studio, I would use my Q tank, where I can
change the pressure to suit what tip or torch I am using, and since
my flame is not oxygen rich, like a glass blower uses, I don’t run
out nearly as often. So if I was the only one using the generator,
it would probably take closer to 5years to pay off.
But I always appreciate the fact that I have a back up plan in case
the tanks are all empty.
Cheryl
I originally bought an oxygen concentrator for lampworking but once
I started making jewellery I had my plumber hook it up to my Little
Torch. He also connected our natural gas to it. So my torch costs
next to nothing to run.
Dianne