Gas Cutting

Lightest & most mobile equipment to date

Involves a chemical reaction to burn the
preheated
metal along a predetermined
path & remove the
resultant oxides from
the cut with a jet of oxygen
Normally cylinders of Oxygen & fuel
Each cylinder has one regulator & two
pressure
gauges. (Cyl.pr. & Line pr.)
Fuels Acetylene, LPG
Suitable for thin to thick sections

Types of Gas cutting

Oxy - acetylene - 3200 C
Oxy - Natural gas - 2770 C
Oxy - Propane (LPG) - 2815 C
Hyd. Ethylene & Methane
Chemical flux & metal powder
NFM, CI &

(SS &

Oxidation resistant Ferrous

alloys)
Deseaming - removal of cracks or seams in
finishing devpt. of steel mills.

Advantages
Reduced labour & Over head
Reduced cost of tooling

Reduced material cost

Faster operation

Effect of cutting on steel

Structural change

Changes in hardness

Changes in analysis - by direct action of flame & by

diffusion of some elements

LCS - Not much hardening & mech. Properties

MCS - 0.25 - 0.45 % C - Little hardening, A thin

decarburised layer followed by a layer high in carbon
than PM.

HCS & AS - Thin layer of hard material - may be

cracking

Effect of cutting on steel

Normal pre heat - CS - 500-600 F

Alloy steel - 600-1000 F

Cr < 2.0 - No effect 2.4% - PH 4-10%-Metal

Powder Cutting(MPC)

Mn - high % - PH. Mo - 1% No PH. 5% MPC

Si - 2.9% with PH. High - Slow speed

GC outfit
Cylinder Truck
Fuel & Oxy. Cylinder
Fuel & Oxy. Regulator
Hoses & Fittings
Cutting torch
Cutting torch tip
Proper size
Right amount of heat thro pre heat flames & Oxygen
Minimum consumption
Orifices and passages must be clean & free of burrs

Guides

Guides

Cutting Torch
Equal pressure

Check the equipment

Inspect the regulators

for condition

Turn adjusting screws all the way

Open Oxy. Cyl. Valve

Open ace. Cyl. Valve slowly

Open the torch oxy. Valve one

Open oxy. Cutting valve & adjust

Close the valves

Repeat for ace.

Use flint lighter to ignite ace. By opening torch valve 1/16 turn

Open torch valve

Open Oxy. Torch valve & get Neutral Flame

out (regulators closed)

turn
regulator for desired pressure

Cutting Torch
Injector type
Press down oxy cutting lever & adjust
torch acetylene valve to get Neutral
Flame

Cutting Torch Position

 Excellent tip condition for clean & accurate

cuts
Adjust pre heat flame correctly
Right cutting oxygen pressure
Inner cone of preheat flame - 1.6 to 3.2
mm from metal surface

Good cutting operation

Appearance of slag is the indicator
Ideal slag stream passes directly thro a
plate <25 mm thick
For thicker sections DRAG is required (in
the direction of travel between entry & exit
of jet)
Slag stream lags excessively behind the
torch tip

travel

Incorrect flame adjustment

Too low Oxygen pressure

Cutting of Materials

 Melt temp. of all steel oxides < metal

Refractory oxides - C. I., some ally
steels,
Non ferrous materials -Special process are
available

Parameters
Oxygen pressure & jet orifice size
Speed of cutting torch
Distance of pre heat flame
Size / amount of heat through pre heat
flame
Torch tip position
Alignment of torch tip orifices with
Surface cleanliness

kerf

Parameters

Parameters
For 4 or more pre
heating orifices - - One
should precede the
cutting & one will
follow. Others aligned
to heat each side of
the kerf.

Typical edge conditions

1.
Good cut - Edge is square - Drag lines are
vertical
& not pronounced
2.

Too small pre heat flame & low speed gouging bottom

Bad

Typical edge conditions

3. Too long pre heat flame - top surface melt over irregular cut edge - excessive adhering slag
4. Too low oxy. Pr. - top edge melt over due to
slow cutting speed
5. Too high Oxy. Pr. Too small nozzle size
control of cut

- loss in

Typical edge conditions

6.
Too slow cutting speed - irregular
drag
lines
7.
Too fast cutting speed - Pronounced
break
in the drag line & irregular
cutting edge

Typical edge conditions

8. Unsteady torch travel - Wavy &

irregular cutting edge
9. Cut was lost & not careful restart bad
gouges at restarts

Cutting Thin Steel Sheets

Smallest cutting tip for steels 3.18 mm

Tip with few pre heat hole

Tip pointed in the direction of torch travel

If small tip size is too large change tip

angle

Keep end of pre heating inner cone just above

the metal

Cutting Thick Steel

Cutting Thick Steel

Nick the edge with cold chisel at start point

Place an iron filler rod under the preheating

flames at the edge

Cutting
Bevels

Cutting Pipes

Smaller dia - keep the tip almost tangent to the c

circumference of the pipe ( similar to thin
metal)
For 100 mm keep tip to surface. Better to
rotate

Piercing & Cutting Holes

To pierce - a relatively small hole. During
cutting raise the nozzle slowly.
Use next larger tip to meet the high heat input
need.

For larger holes, use outlines.

Use automatic m/c or with radius bar

Cutting Ferrous alloy metals

Use a mild steel weld rod in the kerf.

It is for poor grade steels, cast irons, and old ,

oxidised
steel castings.

Powder cutting, plasma arc and inert gas arc

Cutting Cast Iron

Pre heat the whole casting ~ 260 Deg. C

Use carburising flame - to prevent oxide

formation

Wider kerf than steel

Very slow cool - gray CI. Rapid-white CI

Oxygen arc, plasma arc, chemical flux,

powder and GTAC

metal

Oxy - Ace. Pressure for steel

Metal
PH orifice cutting**
Cut Orifice
Pressure in kPa
Speed
Thickness
mm/min.
3.2- 9.5 mm
457
9.5-19.1
305-381

Drill Size
70

Ace.

67
58

21
62

19.1-38.1
57
54
305
Metal
PH orifice
Cut Orifice
38.1-50.8
68
51
254
Thickness
Drill Size
** - Equal
pressure 75
torch
3.26.4 mm
67
6.4-9.5
74
62
9.5-12.7
72
59
12.7-19.1
71
55
19.1-25.4
70
54
38.1-50.8
68
51
** - Injector pressure torch

138-207
34

34

Oxy
356-

207-276
276-310

Pressure
in kPa
34
310-345
Ace.
Oxy
07
103-38
07
138-172
07
172-207
07
241-276
07
241-276
07
310-345

254229-

Conditions of LPG flame

Conditions of Acetylene flame