6 Important Things you Need to Know about Oxy Acetylene Kits
Aug. 25, 2025
6 Important Things you Need to Know about Oxy Acetylene Kits
Oxy Acetylene Kits are one of the oldest types of equipment for welding, but they can do so much more!
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But before we talk about that!
What’s important
- Safety – Oxygen and Acetylene Kits can be dangerous as both gases dangerous. So it’s critically important that good quality equipment is used, kept in good condition, and inspected/tested at least once a Year.
- Choose the right Kit for your application. If you buy a kit with a Lightweight Torch when you want to do heavy stuff, you’re going to be disappointed. Similarly, if you buy a kit with a Heavy Duty Torch and your application is small and requires a lot of torch manipulation, you’re going to find a Heavy Duty Torch cumbersome. So think about your work and consider the pros & cons. You might find this video useful.
- If you’re making up, or refurbishing your own kit from purchased parts, ensure you have Flash Arrestors (a legal requirement in the UK). Also ensure your hoses have Check Valves on the Torch end.
- When assembling an Oxy Acetylene Kit NEVER use thread sealing products. Also, DO NOT over tighten fittings, seals are made either by an ‘O’ Ring or a Brass on Brass seal which can be damaged by over tightening.
- Ensure your Kit is assembled correctly.
- Ensure you operate your Oxy Acetylene Kit correctly, especially regarding Regulator operation and pressures along with lighting and shutting down the Torch.
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Uses for Oxy Acetylene Kits
As I indicated at the top, Oxy Acetylene Kits are extremely versatile and have many uses, in my opinion, it’s the most versatile of the Welding processes.
Oxy Acetylene Welding
Oxygen + Acetylene is the only readily available gas combination that can be realistically used for fusion welding and is the main reason engineers buy an Oxy Acetylene Kit.
View our Range of Oxy Acetylene Welding Torches
Brazing/Silver Soldering
With a good quality Torch, Oxygen + Acetylene produces a very precise, hot flame which can be applied very accurately, making it ideal for Braze and Silver Solder applications.
Oxy Acetylene Cutting
A high temperature flame offers fast heating to cutting temperature.
Additional reading:The Power of Powder: Advantages and Applications of Industrial ...
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View our 18/90 Oxy Acetylene Cutting Gun
Heating
Using a Nozzle with multiple jets results in fast, accurate heating, whatever the application.
Conclusion
With all this versatility it’s no wonder an Oxy Acetylene Kit can be found in almost every professional workshop, whatever the trade.
Need to Know More?
If you would like to know more, or would like to discuss what equipment might best suit your needs, please don’t hesitate to get in touch, you can write via our Contact Us page, or and ask for me! (numbers at the top of this page)
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Cheers
Graham
I want an Oxy acetylene torch set up... Help me get started
I think the most important consideration for a setup with small tanks is the ease with which you can violate the 1/7th (now 1/10th rule). If you're not familiar with that concept, you can google "acetylene 1/7 rule" and you will get some good (and some bad) technical discussions but in short, acetylene stored at high pressures is not stable. To stabilize it, acetone is added to the tanks and suspended in a porous matrix. When you exceed a withdrawl rate of 1/7th the tank volume, you can actually start withdrawing the acetone from the bottle. The minor issue with this is that the acetone can damage your torch. The bigger issue is the potential to reduce the amount of acetone in the tank such that it is no longer sufficient to stabilize the remaining acetylene in the tank. I am no expert on just how likely the latter situation is to actually occur, but it can have significant consequences if it does.
The issue then with a small tank is that almost any cutting/heating use beyond very light/intermittent use will exceed the allowable withdrawal rate. You can do the math yourself by looking up the acetylene consumption rate in cfh for various tip sizes and pressures and comparing that to 1/7th the capacity of the little tank (1/7 x 10 cubic feet = 1.43 cf). You will find there are very few tips and applications that are achievable with those flow rates and of course, you will almost immediately want to throw a larger tip on your torch and go for a bigger cut but that can be seriously dangerous for the reasons discussed above.
All that said, I would recommend a larger tank setup if you can swing it. Alternatively, go for the mini kit, do some experimenting (within your limits), and then trade up to a larger tank if/when you need it. You might find having the little tanks around is useful for some things.
Good luck and be safe. I was in the same boat. I wanted Oxy/Acetylene for brazing bike frames and using for general shop purposes. For sure the small tanks are very limited on what they can do in a shop and VERY expensive to fill when comparing costs for refilling per Cu. FT. as compared to larger tanks. Acetylene prices has skyrocketed in my area, I believe its around $82+ to fill a small MC (10 cu.ft) acetylene tank, pretty much the same price as filling a B size (40 cu.ft). The small combo sets are more suited for jewelry, plumbing and small art work but after that you're asking for it to punch above its weight plus it will be expensive to use (imagine dollars pouring out of the tip) and won't last long. I've had really good luck finding larger B size tank used sets and larger at my local flea markets and swap meets but you need to know your equipment, how to check & test and always use new hoses. Big tanks are usually the easiest to find used but it can be a total obstacle course finding a good and valid recent set at a reasonable price that your local gas filler will touch and allow refills. Big tanks are definitely the best bang for the buck but take up a lot of space, pita to move around if needed. Not mention the huge risk of having so much flammable/explosive gas in your home shop that may invalidate your home insurance policy (even if you have a water flood issue or something else and they find the tanks on the premises)
*** Having said all that, I totally agree with above posts about looking into Oxy/propane set up. Way cheaper to use & fill (especially on weekends), easy to source and there's now a massive momentum on replacing Acetylene rigs. In the custom bike frame world, many builders are switching to propane/oxy. There's many threads on this subject, they're even now using medical Oxygen Concentrators for free oxy but that's for another thread.
Junkyards and metal scrappers also use propane/oxy as their primary for cutting and heating to save costs as its great for heating and cutting (cuts are not as nice as Acet.). You will need larger torches (spec'd for Propane) and volume plus some time to help perform close to Oxy/Acetylene temps. I think the needs and justification for a small Oxy/Acetylene set-up especially a small one is getting smaller and smaller exponentially with its high costs (and still going up) and good alternatives but Oxy/Acetylene very much still has it's place, especially if speed and high welding temps are a priority. It is easy to switch to propane but need to swap out tips and hose rated for propane. For tips I recommend checking out Paige tips: http://www.paigetools.com/bike-frame-builders-propane.html
Lastly, when reading up on forums about the plus & minuses and who favors what the most, important to look at the date of posts, in there was much more pro's to using Oxy/Acetylene over propane as Acet. back in the day as it was a lot cheaper to refill but when you fast forward to present and view the difficulty of refilling and super high prices for light non-industrial users that propane has now become much more popular. Define the wants and needs and then narrow down the tool choices.
The Lincoln Port-a-Torch set is just fine for what it is. A (relatively) small kind-of portable oxy-acetylene set.
If you are heating or brazing or oxy-fuel cutting (mild steel, most other metals can be melted but not actually "cut" with oxy-fuel), then oxy-propane works very well.
You do have to use the correctly rated fuel hose if using propane (T-rated hose which can be used for any fuel gas, the Port-a-Torch set and most other oxy-acetylene sets usually have R-rated hose which can be used with acetylene gas ONLY).
You also have to use the proper/correct tips for the fuel gas you are using. Tips for propane are NOT the same as tips for acetylene.
You can NOT use oxy-propane for welding though. You need to use oxy-acetylene for that usage scenario.
note: Propane actually has MORE overall heat output (Btu/hr) than acetylene, but acetylene has a higher flame temperature and has the flame "inner cone" with both more heat and a higher temperature at the flame cone 'tip' (which is why it works well for welding steel). Propane flame is Btu x flow rate and acetylene is Btu x flow rate.
The two biggest players in oxy-fuel would be Victor (part of ESAB now) and then Lincoln/Harris. There's also Smith (a Miller subsidiary now). There are other brands and names out there, and clones/knock-offs.
If using acetylene, there is the 1:7 withdrawal rate safety rule (now often listed as 1:10 withdrawal rate).
ex: You can safely withdraw (aka flow) the acetylene at 1:7th (or now 1:10th) of that cylinder size in ft3/hr. If you had a 75 ft3 acetylene cylinder, that means you can (safely) flow the acetylene at 75/7 = ~10 ft3/hr (or 75/10 = 7.5 ft3/hr). Look up the tip specs for the tip size you want/need to use and see if it is less than that flow rate. If yes, you can use that size/type tip with that size cylinder. If the tip flow rate is greater than the safe cylinder flow rate, you need a different (smaller) tip or a bigger cylinder.
The Port-a Torch has an MC (for motorcycle, from back in the day before electric headlight bulbs when they used acetylene flames on vehicles for the headlights. Just an FYI ) cylinder, which is 10 ft3 of acetylene. Meaning you should not use a tip which flows more than 10/7 = ~1.5 ft3/hr (or 10/10 = 1 ft3/hr) of acetylene. Which means you really shouldn't use the included tips in that kit with the included MC cylinder in that kit. Yeah, I know.
For pressurized fuel gases (other than acetylene) or for oxygen, there is no withdrawal rate limit (other than possibly freezing up the cylinder and/or regulator with high flow rates due to Joule-Thomson cooling of the expanding gas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule–Thomson_effect ). BTDT with a 20 lb propane tank and a weed-burner torch (air-propane).
Cost? Varies from area to area, but acetylene is more expensive than propane. Small cylinders are much more expensive to refill on a $$$/ft3 basis than larger cylinders (both fuel and oxygen). But still less expensive on a $$$/ft3 basis than the disposable propane or MAP/pro (since there is no more actual MAPP) or the 1 ft3 red disposable oxygen cylinders. By me, it's about $30 to refill a 10 ft3 MC acetylene cylinder or a 20 ft3 oxygen cylinder. For comparison, it's about $45 to refill a 75 ft3 acetylene cylinder.
If using oxy-acetylene, the flow rates of the gases are about 1:1. If using oxy-propane, the flow rates are about 4:1 oxy-propane.
Bigger cylinders cost more to buy and are bigger and heavier to move around. And there may be some size limits on refilling or storing or transporting 'bigger' cylinders. But the cost/ft3 of gas is less with the bigger cylinders. And they have more gas in them! If you shop around, you should be able to get 80 cubic foot cylinders for around 200 bucks each. That's likely to be empty, but the fills usually aren't all that expensive. Throw in another 80 bucks for the refills, maybe.
Some examples:
A DOT certified acetylene cylinder:
This one has a CGA-300 valve so you might need an adapter, which costs right around 10 bucks.
A DOT certified O2 cylinder:
Just make sure there's a shop in your area that will fill customer owned cylinders that they haven't sold you. If you tell them you're planning to mail order some brand new cylinders, they might work with you on the price.
The gas doesn't go bad, but the cylinders do need to be hydrotested every once in a while. Most shops swap cylinders instead of refilling yours, which means you get cylinders with a good hydrotest with each refill. It also means the brand new cylinders you buy mail order will likely be replaced with older, used cylinders when you first fill them. Especially the acetylene. Some places will refill the O2 instead of swapping cylinders.
The issue then with a small tank is that almost any cutting/heating use beyond very light/intermittent use will exceed the allowable withdrawal rate. You can do the math yourself by looking up the acetylene consumption rate in cfh for various tip sizes and pressures and comparing that to 1/7th the capacity of the little tank (1/7 x 10 cubic feet = 1.43 cf). You will find there are very few tips and applications that are achievable with those flow rates and of course, you will almost immediately want to throw a larger tip on your torch and go for a bigger cut but that can be seriously dangerous for the reasons discussed above.
All that said, I would recommend a larger tank setup if you can swing it. Alternatively, go for the mini kit, do some experimenting (within your limits), and then trade up to a larger tank if/when you need it. You might find having the little tanks around is useful for some things.
Good luck and be safe. I was in the same boat. I wanted Oxy/Acetylene for brazing bike frames and using for general shop purposes. For sure the small tanks are very limited on what they can do in a shop and VERY expensive to fill when comparing costs for refilling per Cu. FT. as compared to larger tanks. Acetylene prices has skyrocketed in my area, I believe its around $82+ to fill a small MC (10 cu.ft) acetylene tank, pretty much the same price as filling a B size (40 cu.ft). The small combo sets are more suited for jewelry, plumbing and small art work but after that you're asking for it to punch above its weight plus it will be expensive to use (imagine dollars pouring out of the tip) and won't last long. I've had really good luck finding larger B size tank used sets and larger at my local flea markets and swap meets but you need to know your equipment, how to check & test and always use new hoses. Big tanks are usually the easiest to find used but it can be a total obstacle course finding a good and valid recent set at a reasonable price that your local gas filler will touch and allow refills. Big tanks are definitely the best bang for the buck but take up a lot of space, pita to move around if needed. Not mention the huge risk of having so much flammable/explosive gas in your home shop that may invalidate your home insurance policy (even if you have a water flood issue or something else and they find the tanks on the premises)
*** Having said all that, I totally agree with above posts about looking into Oxy/propane set up. Way cheaper to use & fill (especially on weekends), easy to source and there's now a massive momentum on replacing Acetylene rigs. In the custom bike frame world, many builders are switching to propane/oxy. There's many threads on this subject, they're even now using medical Oxygen Concentrators for free oxy but that's for another thread.
Junkyards and metal scrappers also use propane/oxy as their primary for cutting and heating to save costs as its great for heating and cutting (cuts are not as nice as Acet.). You will need larger torches (spec'd for Propane) and volume plus some time to help perform close to Oxy/Acetylene temps. I think the needs and justification for a small Oxy/Acetylene set-up especially a small one is getting smaller and smaller exponentially with its high costs (and still going up) and good alternatives but Oxy/Acetylene very much still has it's place, especially if speed and high welding temps are a priority. It is easy to switch to propane but need to swap out tips and hose rated for propane. For tips I recommend checking out Paige tips: http://www.paigetools.com/bike-frame-builders-propane.html
Lastly, when reading up on forums about the plus & minuses and who favors what the most, important to look at the date of posts, in there was much more pro's to using Oxy/Acetylene over propane as Acet. back in the day as it was a lot cheaper to refill but when you fast forward to present and view the difficulty of refilling and super high prices for light non-industrial users that propane has now become much more popular. Define the wants and needs and then narrow down the tool choices.
The Lincoln Port-a-Torch set is just fine for what it is. A (relatively) small kind-of portable oxy-acetylene set.
If you are heating or brazing or oxy-fuel cutting (mild steel, most other metals can be melted but not actually "cut" with oxy-fuel), then oxy-propane works very well.
You do have to use the correctly rated fuel hose if using propane (T-rated hose which can be used for any fuel gas, the Port-a-Torch set and most other oxy-acetylene sets usually have R-rated hose which can be used with acetylene gas ONLY).
You also have to use the proper/correct tips for the fuel gas you are using. Tips for propane are NOT the same as tips for acetylene.
You can NOT use oxy-propane for welding though. You need to use oxy-acetylene for that usage scenario.
note: Propane actually has MORE overall heat output (Btu/hr) than acetylene, but acetylene has a higher flame temperature and has the flame "inner cone" with both more heat and a higher temperature at the flame cone 'tip' (which is why it works well for welding steel). Propane flame is Btu x flow rate and acetylene is Btu x flow rate.
The two biggest players in oxy-fuel would be Victor (part of ESAB now) and then Lincoln/Harris. There's also Smith (a Miller subsidiary now). There are other brands and names out there, and clones/knock-offs.
If using acetylene, there is the 1:7 withdrawal rate safety rule (now often listed as 1:10 withdrawal rate).
ex: You can safely withdraw (aka flow) the acetylene at 1:7th (or now 1:10th) of that cylinder size in ft3/hr. If you had a 75 ft3 acetylene cylinder, that means you can (safely) flow the acetylene at 75/7 = ~10 ft3/hr (or 75/10 = 7.5 ft3/hr). Look up the tip specs for the tip size you want/need to use and see if it is less than that flow rate. If yes, you can use that size/type tip with that size cylinder. If the tip flow rate is greater than the safe cylinder flow rate, you need a different (smaller) tip or a bigger cylinder.
The Port-a Torch has an MC (for motorcycle, from back in the day before electric headlight bulbs when they used acetylene flames on vehicles for the headlights. Just an FYI ) cylinder, which is 10 ft3 of acetylene. Meaning you should not use a tip which flows more than 10/7 = ~1.5 ft3/hr (or 10/10 = 1 ft3/hr) of acetylene. Which means you really shouldn't use the included tips in that kit with the included MC cylinder in that kit. Yeah, I know.
For pressurized fuel gases (other than acetylene) or for oxygen, there is no withdrawal rate limit (other than possibly freezing up the cylinder and/or regulator with high flow rates due to Joule-Thomson cooling of the expanding gas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule–Thomson_effect ). BTDT with a 20 lb propane tank and a weed-burner torch (air-propane).
Cost? Varies from area to area, but acetylene is more expensive than propane. Small cylinders are much more expensive to refill on a $$$/ft3 basis than larger cylinders (both fuel and oxygen). But still less expensive on a $$$/ft3 basis than the disposable propane or MAP/pro (since there is no more actual MAPP) or the 1 ft3 red disposable oxygen cylinders. By me, it's about $30 to refill a 10 ft3 MC acetylene cylinder or a 20 ft3 oxygen cylinder. For comparison, it's about $45 to refill a 75 ft3 acetylene cylinder.
If using oxy-acetylene, the flow rates of the gases are about 1:1. If using oxy-propane, the flow rates are about 4:1 oxy-propane.
Bigger cylinders cost more to buy and are bigger and heavier to move around. And there may be some size limits on refilling or storing or transporting 'bigger' cylinders. But the cost/ft3 of gas is less with the bigger cylinders. And they have more gas in them! If you shop around, you should be able to get 80 cubic foot cylinders for around 200 bucks each. That's likely to be empty, but the fills usually aren't all that expensive. Throw in another 80 bucks for the refills, maybe.
Some examples:
A DOT certified acetylene cylinder:
A75 (75CF) Acetylene Gas Cylinder Tank Bottle CGA-300 | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for A75 (75CF) Acetylene Gas Cylinder Tank Bottle CGA-300 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!This one has a CGA-300 valve so you might need an adapter, which costs right around 10 bucks.
A DOT certified O2 cylinder:
80CF Welding Cylinder - Tank Bottle for OXYGEN | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 80CF Welding Cylinder - Tank Bottle for OXYGEN at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!Just make sure there's a shop in your area that will fill customer owned cylinders that they haven't sold you. If you tell them you're planning to mail order some brand new cylinders, they might work with you on the price.
The gas doesn't go bad, but the cylinders do need to be hydrotested every once in a while. Most shops swap cylinders instead of refilling yours, which means you get cylinders with a good hydrotest with each refill. It also means the brand new cylinders you buy mail order will likely be replaced with older, used cylinders when you first fill them. Especially the acetylene. Some places will refill the O2 instead of swapping cylinders.
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