Thank you. I’ve been working with the Orca and it’s going OK. I do see what you are saying. I thought I was going a bit nuts, as I couldn’t solder at first. Now I’m back in a grove. I have several butane torches as well so I’m hoping I’m good to go for now. Thanks again Rob.
YUP! creme brule!!!
Mine is an Acetylene regulator on the same set up as hers and works great too. I got them for a great price on amazon.
Did you ever find out what was wrong with the torch? or was it the oxygen generator or something else?See that you at least something that works now. I would be curious to know what the problem was if it was finally tracked down…hate to abandon something that was paid for. Steve
After 3 months of tinkering, I broke down and bought an eztorch using ambient air. Plus two butane torches and I’m back to work again. But no worries. I’m keeping all the stuff for when I have a new workshop. Currently with all this, I’ve been fulltime caretaker for my mom with dementia. I put my mom into home hospice today. Once she passes I’ll move back to rural Northern California to pack up that house, and then, once sold, I’ll find my next home with a proper studio. Life is a journey. Thanks everyone for weighing in on this. I appreciate it.
If this helps, I was suspicious of the EZ torch at first, but once I got to know it, it’s now my favorite torch to use in my home studio. I love that the flame is soft and fairly adjustable. It’s great for annealing. It doesn’t give off an overwhelming amount of heat, but I’m finding that it works for most jewelry scale soldering tasks.
One negative is that the tips eventually do clog with propane by-product gunk (I’m not sure what that is?). It took a while for it to happen with me, but when it did, I put the tip in my ultrasonic cleaner for a couple of minutes and it was as good as new. If you don’t have an ultrasonic, then cleaning with dish soap, warm water and a toothbrush will do the same.
Best of luck! You’re juggling a lot!! Glad this one issue is off of your list!
Jeff
I have the same experience with my EZ torch tips and the same solution to the problem. I can’t get enough heat to work on my heavy bracelets, but it is great for annealing and fast in and out jobs. My Blazer GT8000 is quickly winning over the EX torch mainly because it is “cordless”…Rob
Thanks Rob! Good to know. I’ll have to try the Blazer GT8000.
Jeff
Thank you so much Jeff! I’m so happy to be silversmithing again!
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I’ve got a pinpoint butane, a fuel can canister, and The EZ torch. My pickle is vinegar and salt So while at this rental, I can here safe as possible. I’ve got a small ultrasonic, so I’m set for now.
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Oxy/acetylene isn’t dirty. You just need to open the oxy with the acetylene when lighting. No more black floater’s ! It’ll take a few tries to get the feel but I’ve used this method for 40 years. Turning off the torch -acetylene first.
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You can do a lot of god work with that combination.
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it will pop…maybe a little torch doesn’t but my commercial sized one does.
did all of my work with a bernzomatic propane air torch with a larger burner tip. It took a lot of skill to judge metal temperature and not to overheat the work. I used mixed metals: silver/gold and silver/brass/copper… they all make thier own solder as the metals mix together. It was difficult to control but caution and trial and error got it right. Used oxyacetylene, oxy propane, and acetylene/air at different times… a full sized multiorifice steel cutting torch head did the best for melting and fire refining, as it injects a stream of O2 thru the center orifice… inside the house, air propane was enough to do all the fabrication work I needed…
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Too much oxygen when you’re lighting the torch will give you a rapid “pop, pop, pop! If you’re using a large flame it will “pop”! When you turn it off. I’ve never had a problem with it….
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totally in agreement. with acetylene, most instructions say to turn the 02 off completely when lighting and extinguishing the torch… that does make wispy soot, but avoids the big pop…you can have very a little amount of 02 to avoid soot… it takes getting used to it…
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Ive heard so much about the Blazer. Im gonna have to grab me one. Im using this, and i have to say, ots pretty awesome. I bought a big lot of gasone and ive only gone through one so far. This torch is my go to. Ive even managed to smelt a small amount of silver with it.
Handy Flame Butane Torch - SOL-315.00 https://a.co/d/fKOpW7Q
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re fire refining:
this a bit off the topic, but sterling can be fire refined to nearly fine or fine using any oxyacetylene steel cutting torch head…cutting torches have a central office that injects pure oxygen. when cutting steel plate, it uses the 02 to literally burn the cut by oxidizing and burning thru the steel… with sterling scrap, injecting 02 with the molten silver heated bright yellow hot (2,200 degrees F) oxygen that’s injected will by pressing the lever on the cutting torch head that cuts steel, will burn out first, all of the zinc and then all of the copper. it takes some prolonged heating and 02 injection to do that, and a lot of flux to absorb the burnt oxides of mostly copper…you know when you have pure silver because when you start to let it cool down, large oxygen bubble form and “spit out”… “spitting silver”
silver can absorb as much as 22 times its volume of 02…the silver will not oxidize, any oxides spontaneously revert back to metallic pure silver on cooling…everything else is oxidized and taken up by flux…the result is fine silver than can be poured into an ingot mold for further shaping in a rolling mill. to make sterling again, add pure copper by weight percent and re-melt and mix. Having fine silver for bezels sometime comes in handy…
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Very interesting. How much silver do you do this with and what vessel do you use?
I haven’t done it recently as I have another supply of fine silver that i get for free!!!
I have used a melting dish for silver scrap…lots of flux… I heat the scrap with an oxyacetylene cutting torch head until the silver is superheated to a bright yellow and then press the cutting lever on the torch to inject O2 into the heated metal, while continuing to heat with the flame, maintaining super heat… it has to be done outside for safety… be careful not to blow too much 02 in one spot as the jet of 02 could cause the molten silver to spill… the silver will mix spontaneously as the 02 is blown over the surface…only a couple of minutes of heating and oxygenation is needed… testing the silver is also dangerous and another reason to do it outside… as the silver cools, large bubbles of oxygen will exsolve and pop on the surface… hence the name “spitting silver”…the amount of oxygen that exsolves is amazing… silver will absorb over 20X in volume of 02…as it cools, all of the flux will turn brown from copper oxide… the zinc burns off as it’s volatile at a high temperature…you still have to keep it molten , but at a lower temperature than super heat… just enough to keep it molten until all of the bubbles stop spitting…let it solidify then remelt, the result is fire refined fine silver which can be poured into an ingot mold…as it solidifies all of the 02 will have exsolved, then melt it again without excess 02… the technique is a trial and error one until you get the hang of it… the first batch may be fine or still have residual copper…the key is to inject enough oxygen to let it absorb the maximum amount of 02 to burn out all of the base metals…if you don’t have a cutting torch, you will need two torches, one to melt the silver and another to blow oxygen on it… you can use a strongly oxidizing hot flame from a propane/02 torch but it will take a lot longer… I bought my acetylene torch originally to cut scrap steel plate and pipes to make wind chimes and sculptures out of scrap metal…and used a MIG welder to weld, but it came in handy for melting and fire refining silver…the flame with even just a regular 02 torch head is too big and too strong to use directly on jewelry for soldering without risk of melting your piece…
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