Hi Hans,
No, you can’t fake it. I wouldn’t touch those things with a ten foot
pole.
The O2 bottle you could possibly do a gang-transfer from a higher
pressure bottle, but acetylene refills take time and special gear.
(It’s not just pumped in there, you have to give it time to dissolve
into the acetone, otherwise loud things happen.) Screw that up and
you’ve got a decent sized bomb on your hands. Absolutely,
positively, NOT WORTH THE RISK.
If they’ve sold 1400 units, that just proves St. Barnum of Baylee
was right: “There’s one born every minute”.
As far as gas bottles go, at least around here (Bay Area, US) I see
acetylene “B” bottles float by on craigslist on a pretty regular
basis, for about $100. B bottles don’t require paperwork to fill, so
you should be OK to get them refilled. (Still has to be an
inspected, stamped DOT bottle, but the gas houses don’t care about
proof of ownership like they do with the larger ones.)
You can pick up a pair of used bottles for about $200 total, and
then work on the torch from there. Do NOT, whatever you do, cheap
out or cut corners when dealing with pressurized flammable
(explosive) gasses. Really. Just not worth the risk.
Just in case you thought your prices weren’t high enough, I just got
an email from Air Liquide that Praxair had bought them out (or they
bought Praxair). Either way, where once there were three gas houses,
now there are just two. And the Praxair closest to me that I
normally go to promptly closed a week later, in favor of another
’local’ facility about 30 minutes away in the wrong direction.
(gurr…) Just remember: monopolies are good for the peasants… .
Regards,
Brian.