Red Max and Liquid

[The Cheese]

So I bought a lynx thinking that even though it wouldn't do larger work very quickly, that it would be a step up from my bobcat, which it is but still slower than what I'm looking for. Just takes too long to get the whole mass hot. After blowing in a bubble of color into a 3" cup it can take almost 5 mins to get it closed back down CLEANLY and evenly. So going on someone's advice which I should have taken in the first place I'm thinking that I want to sell my concentrators, get a red max and liquid oxy. Just so that I'm not dicking around with tanks all the time. Those things scare me.

So I'm trying to figure out how long a tank of propane would last on that torch and also how long a normal size tank of liquid would last. Need to see if it's going to be a bigger expense than I can swing right now. I'm working more-less 40 hours a week on the torch so I don't think that much would go to waste. Just really need to get up to 12 pieces a day and I'm only able to really swing 7 to 9 right now. 9 being fumers with some i/o on the front of the bowl. 7 if I'm doing full color blow ins or i/o lines. See where my issue is? I got a little bit of a need for speed.

whew... sorry, went off on a ramble there....

Any input - much appreciated!

[Mr. Whale dick]

propane about a week or so...oxy will last at least a month...

[MUPH]

I go through a 20 lbs propane tank about every 2 1/2 K's on my phantom running 5-10 psi for gas and 30-40 for oxy

[The Cheese]

Thanks guys. Is a 230L at 50 psi the norm?

[KT-Old School Glass]

20 Lb propane will last a week to a week and a half. Liquid O2 will last about a month with one person.

I suggest setting the Red Max to 5-8 PSI Propane and 20-25 PSI Oxygen.

[The Cheese]

I was checking them out on your site today. Hopefully I'll be talking to you soon.

[Kool]

So I bought a lynx..... Just takes too long to get the whole mass hot......I'm working more-less 40 hours a week on the torch....Just really need to get up to 12 pieces a day and I'm only able to really swing 7 to 9 right now. 9 being fumers with some i/o on the front of the bowl. 7 if I'm doing full color blow ins or i/o lines. See where my issue is?......

You seem to have already got the answers you need on the liquid and such, so maybe I can help you out with this part.

The thing is, if you are working 40 hours on a Lynx and making those type of pieces and can only put out the numbers you are putting out.....the problem isn't the torch, it's the way you are using it.

Is there anyone near you that can give you some help in using your Lynx in a way that will be more efficient?

The reason I say all this is that I know if I was making "fumers with some i/o on the front of the bowl" on a Lynx, I could easily make 24 in an 8 hour day and that would be going at a fairly slow rate, yet it is twice the number you want to achieve. So I know that your goal is easily attainable with the torch you currently own.

Even when my wife does layered full-encasement pieces on her Lynx all day, she averages about 25 of them, and they are very hefty 4 1/2" pieces. This makes me think that the problems you are having on a Lynx would still be present on another torch or that you are running the torch in a way that is not beneficial.

EDIT: I just noticed you have been running on concentrators. I have never used concentrators, so I can't speak to the difference, but maybe that alone is the problem getting the Lynx to do what it is capable of? FWIW, we use liquid.

[Frankie Hess]

^^ I agree with Kool, I would get a K tank and run your Lynx on it to see how much better it runs!

I have made fully worked I/O bubs out of 50x5 on a Lynx in 45 min. That little thing is a beast on a K tank or off liquid!

[LFC]

concentrators are great in concept but generally suck... i have a links hand torch and running on two m15 concentrators i can not get the same effect out of it as when i just plug it into the liquid.. it is almost as if the flame just isn't as hot.. if i were you i would follow kools idea and just test the torch out on one tank to see the difference before you go and spend all that money on another torch.

Plus tanks are not that scary..just don't knock them over....:devilish:

[jr23]

I do iso prodo on my lynx and do a fully worked cup shaped and lots of dots and lines and got them to 25-30 min and that is taking it easy now that I practiced.

I use 50 med with a three inch blank. I also do blow ins with it and can have one melted back down and ready to rock quik.

You must find the laser crispy bacon flame and you need a k tank small oxy-cons will not due for these flames I run the lynx at max capacity for these.

Also you need to angle your blank you are melting in so the flame hits and splashes down the piece and then rock the other direction. melting from end to middle then end to middle again. If your sleaving do one pass to get air out then do the end to middle melts.

You are not able to utalize the triple mix top end tell you have maximum flow at 15-17 psi which no small con can do. even multiples have trouble keeping it going without bleeding at these settings

Good luck

[misticglass]

i would think about getting something other than a red max,

i hate the over/under set up and always warn my students about getting them,

save up a little more and get a carlisle, knight, beth, or bigger gtt

[jr23]

Yep once you get a k-tank you will get your numbers so easy. If you go for the k-tank you could push your numbers up big time. I bet just like me you thought the oxy -con saves you money.

A lynx on a small oxy con might as well be a minor cause you are not getting its high end. sure you get tiny tiny tight laser flames.

I am no good with picks but someone should take some shots of the nice melt in flames on the lynx.

Some of the flames in the lynx's hight range look diff from the small ones. The small flame candles are wider at the bottom and come to a point.

The bigger lynx flames are smaller at the ports and get wider the futher out you get. These flame's are hard to achieve on a con.

[KahunaGlassArt]

what about running 2 cons at 10 psi and 5 lpm each? thats what GP is using
and is what i will be using

[jr23]

they really hold you back and the money you save, You loose right away bye taking more time on each piece. then as you push the con your purity goes down causing you to get thinner cooler flames. Again a total time waster if it is your job.


Two cons hooked together fight each other two 5's is nothing but a beaders or really part timer.

[KahunaGlassArt]

FACK wish i knew this before i bought 2 :)
anyways no more thread jackin sorry GP

[jr23]

I was stuck on cons and the only way 5lpm machines can push a lynx to full tilt you need a steady 15 LPMS.

in reality it could take 3-4 5lpm machines to get 15lpm on the steady due to the machines fighting each other two 5's have a hard time producing more that 7lpms.

for that matter a lynx recommended pressure is more than 10 psi

[KahunaGlassArt]

im actually on a bobcat, as was GP until he recently got his lynx. maybe hes used to his bobcat being able to rage on the cons, but the lynx and the bobcat arent quit different.

[jr23]

yes sorry for the jack its just if you want to do pipes, jars and make any profit in a reasonable amount of time you would have to bank multiple 15-20 psi units. due to fighting the machines thing.

[jr23]

the are way diff if you cats are not seeing much diff you need to go watch a full time guy rage a lynx. Are you using a con too! thats the prob the lynx on a k will butter the bob cats bread for real.

[The Cheese]

Ok, and I don't mind the jacking, brings up more points.

Don't think that the cons were a waste of money. For me they've been great to learn on, but I'm to the point where I could use a little more power now. They do save a bunch of money while learning. I spent $100 on 4 tanks in a month and didn't turn out anything near salable. Now that I can make decent pieces and know more of what I'm doing it just doesn't seem to make sense anymore. Also, on the cons with the bobcat, to get the hottest flame I had to turn them down to about 5/8ths, but with this, I'm getting hotter the more oxy I add. Kinda throwing me off.

I turned up the oxy to about 7/8ths power this afternoon and ran the candles higher, about 2" or so. Took some pics of what I've been using for flames. Turning them up seems to have helped a bit, but doesn't that get really reducing? Seems like when I was watching another guy work on the lynx center fire he was able to get a really large flame. Think he said he was running 40lbs. Going to get a tank refill on Monday. Gonna be $100 though - gotta pay for the tank rental again. Year at a time - kinda dumb, but whatever. If it helps, I'll see if they'll work something out in exchange for my first liquid tank.

This is the "melter" flame that I've been using. Have to leave the green open all the way and then just about a 1/4 turn of the blue to clean it up. Seems to get the hottest for me. Ran this out about another 1/2" to 3/4" tonight as mentioned above.
http://www.glasspipe.biz/images/100_2886.JPG

And here's what I use for most small shit. Coiling, picking open points, fuming I'll turn the cons way down, turn off the blue and run the candles a bit longer that you see here. I will cheat and turn the green down on the cons for a couple mins at a time to get the needle flame do way up in the tube, tearing off mouth pieces and polishing bowls. I know it's not the best for them, but I've got another set of seals on hand just in case.
http://www.glasspipe.biz/images/100_2885.JPG

Also, in thinking about speeding things up, I pulled a couple points tonight too. Haven't done that in a while as I've been using 12mm tubes - they feel nice and comfy but they're taking me a couple mins to hook up and it's just getting to be pain in the ass. Some stuff I need them for, but for this prodo and what not I'm thinking that going back to points will help out a bit too. Just gotta tweak it all out to work for me is all.

Thanks for the good points everyone brought up. Appreciate all the help.

[The Cheese]

Plus tanks are not that scary..just don't knock them over....:devilish:

Ever seen how fast and far a caulk tube can fly out of the end of a piece of PVC when powered by acetylene? Kinda like a potato cannon only much cooler. (Glasspipe beats chest and grunts) That's how my dad taught me respect for oxy and fuel tanks. He said now imagine that cylinder over there doing this same thing. lol - yeah, we're hicks.

[VED]

before you decide to get a bigger torch try tanked oxy and play with your pressures, turn ur propane up tp 10-12 and ur oxy up to 40 and i bet you start getting the speed u want, maybe even too much :) i had the same thing going with my mirage, i didnt think the linx was enough and i was killing a lot of oxy running the outer more often than i needed to, biggles stoped by showed me how to tune in my torch and holy shit i had a hard time keeping up with the heat at first, good luck

[Johan]

I'm not sure if anybody mentioned this already...What turns me off about the oxy con's is how the oxygen purity drops when you crank up the psi.


GP...I don't know gtt's very well but that top pic seems too reduced to me.

[The Cheese]

Yep, all over it VED. Thanks for the comments - makes me feel better knowing that it'll do it, just needs more help.

RG - I'll get little orange specs in the flame when I adjust the output on the con or put a little backpressure on them for a couple minutes. They've allowed me not to go broke while learning, but it's time to pay the gas-man.

[jr23]

I will post some pics of my flames I run 15-18 psi when running the lynx only. That large flame is week and reducing. Wait tell you get a tank. Tell you what I will do my best to get the picks. But in the mean time go to Glass pipes and go to the tutorial or how to section its under glass working on the side were it says all the category types.

Then find the Eusheen turorial on iso tube pulls. He has some great pics of him closing down a 50 mill blank full of lines. You will see the nice lynx close up flame.

Do you use a paddle when you close down! I think this tutorial will help you some it did me.

When master you lynx on real oxy you will be pissed about the cons. How many psi do you get at the torch thats the real ? and if its running at max your purity drops .

[Mr. Whale dick]

I'll get little orange specs in the flame


i'm no gtt master...but i've heard you don't want those specks...and that may be the flame that builds carbon....


i don't know shit about gtt tho i use a herbie...

[nodice]

Neither of those flames are bad for the torch. The little orange specs can just be moisture(from what I've heard). Might wanna think twice about getting liquid. Even with a redmax, you'd probably have a problem draining it quick enough to stop it from venting.

[jr23]

I was the same way Glass pipe, I bought the red max upgrade at the time I owned a major. I thought damn sure my times and glass would better but it did not. So I bought a phantom same thing ,things got hot faster and I learned more about the flames but still my times only got better with practice.

Then I watch other folks work there lynx and could have sworn that the deltas lynx was bigger than my phantoms. My friend could dial in much bigger flames on his center fire. After a few months I found out I was wasting tons of gas running my outer fire melting down wrap-n rakes and small iso melt ins. Come to find out I can do them just as quick with the lynx only and using angles to utilize the flame splash to heat a longer portion of glass.

If you learn to utilize your lynx a k tank should last 2-4 days. What I like to do if I am broke is onies and rakes. I can usually get 50 onies and 10-15 rakes using 300 -400 lbs of gass. This amount of stuff pays for all the gas and supplies I burn the rest of the week.

[The Cheese]

Neither of those flames are bad for the torch. The little orange specs can just be moisture(from what I've heard). Might wanna think twice about getting liquid. Even with a redmax, you'd probably have a problem draining it quick enough to stop it from venting.

Could be, jolting the lines around a little will get it to come out. I think the GTT sheet said that the little orange specs you don't want come from running the torch too hot on too short of candles that it burns the ports.

Thanks for all the input folks. Going to get a tank this week. I'll let you all know how it goes.

I do use a paddle when closing. Before I was just using my torch marver but then I was shown that if you've got a cheap ass paddle, sitck it on up there. Sped things up quite a bit at that point even. What you've said about heat splash has got my gears turning a bit too. I've used different directions to push the heat one way and not so much the other, but not really so much for heating a mass. Usually I'll start at one end of the point and work the heat back and then go back and forth with it spinning a little slower. I'll give it a go.

Spent the day moving some friends yesterday - hope to get out later on this afternoon. Nasty, drizzly, cold ass day.

[nodice]

That's my point. I don't think the problem is with the way you're running the flame, and don't think the torch is in danger(from looking at the pics). Specs in the flame could be from dirty propane or oxy.....