anyone use star flame gas?

[VED]

my oxygen guy was telling me about some new gas that he called star flame. he gave me a bottle to try out and claims that it burns hotter and cleaner than propane. im interested but am hesitant to hook up in fear of dammaging my torch. just wanted to check and see if any one has any info on this stuff


thanks

brandon

[daveabr]

not used it, but here is some good info on it

http://www.siad.com/docs/brochure_starflame_inglese.pdf

[glassblowingBiker]

well with a heat base of 3000C with O2 mixed would be cool to try it out

[VED]

i think i have conviced myself to try it and just pay close attention to my torch for malfunction. im interested to seee how the differnt flame chemistry effects the glass, color, and fume, going to try it when i get home. i will post my results later

[elad65]

Its probably propylene, and 3000° C. is only 5400° F. which is comparable to oxygen/propane flame (check any welding/torch manual).

Elad

[hwcglass]

Ever heard of Chemolene (http://www.google.com/search?q=chemolene&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a)? (google search right there)

And this'n is the MP search (http://www.talkglass.com/forum/search.php?searchid=1535290).

I'm no scientist but I can bullshit like a bastard so, that being said, this is about how this all works:

You got your propane and your oxygen. In the process of making a flame is controlled by how the two bond together. Looking at one little atom of propane you can see these points where oxygen can bond, lots of these places; for shits and giggles let's say 30 places. Mathematically there are thirty places on a propane molecule where o2 can bond. The more places where o2 hangs onto - bonds - with the propane the more boom the flame has. More boom, more heat. Getting close to 30/30 is the goal for efficient heat.

If you want more heat, you gotta figure out a way to bond up as many bits of o2 as you can to the propane. 30/30 is the goal.

If I blow o2 from one pipe and propane from another pipe side by side, no mixing, and start a flame, I end up filling like 10 of the 30 spots filled. 10/30. Not so good.

If I build some crazy contraption to force the two to get along, if I physically mix the two gasses up a lot (like say in a GTT), I get a flame that is about 20/30. Good but not impressive.

Me. You. All us. We all got 20/30 in our shop right now. we loose 1/3 of the propane we buy cause our flames are not efficient enough.

So, some crazy bastard figured out this crazy liquid that changes all that.

There is a tank with this crazy liquid in it, you push the propane through the liquid, like the air into a fish tank only really, really fine bubbles, and the propane picks up some of this crap just like it would oxygen.

Only this stuff, it splays the propane molecule open wide, where there is no possible way it can refuse to play nice with the o2.

Now, in your GTT, you run this propane, you get 25/30. A full 25% more heat.

When your gas company sells you a tank that looks like a tank of propane, someone else owns the percolation unit, they used that deal to fill a tank and they where happy as hell to sell the shit to you.

Old school. In boro, mostly seen in a by-pass unit. Flip the switch, press the peddle and you start running the crazy juice.

There is a lampworker, also old school, who was selling the perk units many years ago, Mr. Ricky Charles Dodson.

So there you go.

I am sick with the flue and have nothing to do except type on the internet about how I allegedly know shit. Pathetic really.

[derekg0]

Good alleged info, sounds interesting, hope to hear more about this!

[VED]

i held off last night untill i could talk to gtt. they said i was at no risk of hurting my torch but that in their experience nothing has performed like propane when it comes to working glass. i told them i would still try it out and let them know what i find, i will let you guys know as well

[Greymatter Glass]

chemolene was hell on colors too, wasn't it?