Here's our acetylene kit. We got our torch, hoses, and regulators from the Eastwood Co. It came with the torch handle, three torch tips, one heating tip (also called a rosebud), and a cutting tip-and was priced economically at $165.00. We bought the oxygen and acetylene cylinders, along with the cart at our local Airgas welding supply store for less than $500.00. For home use, you may not need to buy cylinders as big as this. Our oxygen cylinder holds 125 cubic feet, while we got a 55-cubic-foot cylinder of acetylene. We do recommend, though, that you get more oxygen than acetylene because depending on use, you can go through oxygen at nearly twice the rate of acetylene.
MIG welders have dropped in price so drastically that seemingly anyone with a pulse and a part-time job can afford one. MIG is a very versatile process. It gets the job done but is not what you'd call elegant. You are also limited to welding mild steel and aluminum with a MIG welder, and you need special attachments to properly weld aluminum. Of course, you can buy a TIG welder and step into the world of high-class welding, but you'll likely have to pay a high-class price that may be too much for the average guy. Or you could buy an acetylene gas torch and do everything a MIG and TIG welder can do. Plus, you can use it for a ton of other things, too.
This article will illustrate some of the uses of an acetylene torch and how it compares with MIG- and TIG-welding processes. Ready to burn some metal?
