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Flame Cutting Practice:: Jobs 7-J1-J3
Flame Cutting Practice:: Jobs 7-J1-J3
Flame Cutting Practice:: Jobs 7-J1-J3
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flows or is blown away, exposing more metal to the
action of the oxygen. In order to keep this action
going, it is necessary to supply heat to the point of
cutting from an external source.
The function of the cutting torch, Fig. 7-2, is
to provide a flame to heat the metal to a red heat,
to maintain that heat, and to direct a stream of
oxygen on the heated point of cutting. Always
keep in mind that the high-pressure oxygen jet
does the cutting. Practically all trouble in cut-
ting is caused by the cutting tip becoming burred
or obstructed by small particles of molten dross
adhering to it. An unobstructed, cylindrical jet
of oxygen always produces a smooth cut. Any
obstruction, either in the bore or at the end of
the tip, retards the speed of the cut and produces
Fig. 7-1 These young welders are being observed by their instructor as a rough cut. With the torch on and the pressure
to the proper procedure for cutting a bevel on a flat bar. A track type cutting at the proper setting, a clean cutting tip should
machine is being used. Note the PPE being used. Hill Street
sound like ripping paper when the torch handle
Studios/Blend Images/Getty Images
is pressed down.
Since most oxyfuel cutting (OFC) that a welder will be Vertical Cutting Progressions Position the material to be
called upon to do in industry will be with straight carbon cut in a vertical position and then work from the bottom
steel, the emphasis in this chapter will be on steel. It is to the top. Use gravity to help remove the molten material.
important, however, for the skilled welder to know about
the wider applications of OFC and to understand basic Flame Cutting Effects on Steel
principles and techniques. For many years after the development of the oxyacetylene
cutting process, steel fabricators were reluctant to use the
Review of Flame Cutting Principles process in the preparation of metals for welding. They felt
that harmful metallurgical changes took place on the sur-
The cutting of metals by the oxyacetylene, oxyhydrogen, face of the cut, that surface cracking occurred, and that
and oxyfuel gas processes is based on the fact that all
metals oxidize to a greater or lesser degree, depending
upon the physical conditions around them. Wrought iron Seating Surfaces
High Purity Oxygen
and steel oxidize quite rapidly, even under ordinary at- for Cutting
mospheric conditions. When oxidation occurs in the air
around us, it is called rusting and can readily be recog-
nized by the oxide that forms on the metal. Rusting is, of
course, a slow process, but it illustrates the tendency of
ferrous metals to combine with oxygen. Mixed Gases for
After iron or steel is heated to a red heat and cooled, it Preheat Flames
Head
is covered with a thick scale. These metals oxidize more
rapidly when hot than when cold. If the temperature of the Tip Nut
steel is raised even higher to a white heat and a stream of
pure oxygen is directed against the white hot spot, it burns Tip
rapidly. This can be demonstrated in the shop by taking a
thin piece of steel wire and heating it to a red heat and then Cutting Oxygen
submerging it in a vessel containing oxygen. The heated
Preheating Flame Ports
end will immediately burst into flame and burn vigorously
until the wire is burned away or the oxygen is consumed. Fig. 7-2 An oxyfuel cutting torch is designed to supply mixed
The reaction between oxygen and iron causes a consid- gases for the heating flames and a stream of high purity oxygen to
erable amount of heat. It forms a molten oxide (dross) that do the actual cutting.
Repetitive Cutting
Lag
Movement when cutting thin cast iron.
Lag in.
100 = % Lag
t in.
Fig. 7-8 Lag is the amount by which the bottom of the cut lags
behind the top. Lag is usually expressed as a percent of the plate
General Direction
thickness. If this were a 1-inch-thick plate and the amount of lag
were inch, there would be a 50 percent lag.
Fig. 7-7 Typical cutting torch manipulation for cutting thin cast the torch is held in a vertical position and the cutting con-
iron (top) and heavy cast iron (bottom).
ditions are correct, this line is vertical from top to bottom,
Fig. 7-18 (1), page 186. This condition is referred to as zero
drag. If the speed of cutting is increased or if the oxygen
surface of the plate to ignition temperature. This method pressure is not set high enough for the thickness of the
can be used to obtain rapid starts in heavy plate. It can also material being cut, the drag lines at the bottom of the kerf
be used for cutting cast iron. Short lengths of wire can be lag behind the top of the kerf. The amount of lag can be
fed m anually,or special equipment can be attached to the expressed as a percentage of the plate thickness, Fig. 7-8.
cuttingtorch for continuous iron wire, or powder feed. In reverse drag, the drag lines at the top of the kerf lag
behind those at the bottom. Reverse drag may result from
Oscillatory Motion When the torch is moved from side to
too much oxygen or a speed of travel that is too slow. Both
side, Fig. 7-7, more material is heated to the ignition tem-
drag and reverse drag must be avoided because they may
perature so that additional material is oxidized and blown
cause the cut to be lost.
out of the kerf. This is one method used in the cutting of
cast iron, and it produces a rough cut. Straight Line Cutting Cutting along a straight line that
Difficult-to-cut materials may also be cut using other has been laid out on the material to be cut may be done
methods such as oxygen arc cutting, flux cutting, and pow- with a great degree of accuracy, depending upon the skill
der cutting. These methods are explained in Chapter 6. of the welder. Very often a straightedge or angle iron
is clamped along the line of cut to act as a guide. See
Cutting Technique Table7-3, page 190, for hand cutting data. The torch is
held perpendicular to the plate with the holes positioned
Welders must manipulate the torch when cutting so that they
as shown in Fig. 7-9. Mechanized cutting is somewhat
create the proper kerf and drag for the material being cut.
more accurate than manual cutting.
Kerf Bevel CuttingBevel cutting is one of the common
Kerf is the gap created as the material is removed by cut- operations used in beveling the edges of plate and
ting. Control of the kerf is important to the accuracy of the pipe for welding. The torch tip is held sideways at the
cut and the squareness of the face of the cut. The width of angle desired with the holes positioned as shown in
the kerf is determined by the size of the cutting tip, speed Fig. 7-9. Cuts may be made by either hand or machine in
of cutting, oxygen pressure, and torch movement. Since straight or irregular lines.
oxygen pressure is directly affected by the thickness of In order to do the jobs that are outlined for advanced
the material being cut, the width of the kerf increases as gas welding, the shielded metal arc, gas tungsten arc, and
the thickness of the material increases. A rough cut also gas metal arc welding of plate and pipe, it will be neces-
increases the width of the kerf. sary to prepare bevel joints.
For plate beveling, the student will use the flame cut-
Drag ting machine provided in the welding shop, Fig. 7-10. This
When steel is cut, lines form on the face of the work that type of machine is often referred to as a track burner
are caused by the flow of the high pressure oxygen. When on the shop floor. A commercial machine, Fig. 7-11, may
End of Tip
Line of Cut
4 Preheat Orifices
Tip Setting for Square Cut
Line of Cut
4 Preheat Orifices
Tip Setting for Bevel Cut
Fig. 7-9 For square and bevel cutting, the tip should be set
so that the preheat orifices are positioned as shown. Cutting tips
with more than four preheat orifices should be positioned in the
same way.
Fig. 7-11 Two mechanized cutting torches mounted in a fixed
position over the pipe that is being rotated. This is set up in a high
production high quality pipe spool fabrication shop. To cut pipe
to length with the appropriate beveled ends. Location: Piping
Systems Inc. McGraw-Hill Education/Mark A. Dierker, photographer
Note: In this table, acetylene pressures have been omitted because they are mainly a function of equipment design and are not directly related to the thickness of the material to be
cut. It is suggested that for acetylene pressure settings, the charts of the equipment manufacturer be consulted.
Source: American Welding Society
Piercing takes more time than edge starting to bring the Flame Scarfing Flame scarfing is a process used mainly
metal to the temperature required for cutting. The time re- in the steel mills to remove cracks, surface seams, scabs,
quired can be reduced by center punching or chisel nicking breaks, decarburized surfaces, and other defects on
the plate to raise a small burr of metal that will tend to catch the surfaces of unfinished steel shapes. The opera-
the flame and reach the cutting temperature much quicker. tion is done before the steel reaches the final finishing
A spot is heated to a bright red, the torch is raised slowly departments.
to about inch above the plate, and a limited amount of
oxygen is turned on. As soon as the plate is pierced, the cut Flame Washing Washing is a procedure similar to that
can continue in the regular manner. Care must be taken so of scarfing. It is used in the steel mills to remove un-
that the dross that is formed on the surface of the plate is wanted metal such as fins on castings and to blend in
not blown back into the torch orifice. Figure 7-13 shows riser pads and sand washouts in castings. It is also used
the following sequence of operations: to remove rivets without damage to the riveted parts. A
skilled thermal cutter can remove a rivet from a hole, a
1. The cutting torch is held still until a spot on the sur- threaded bolt from a threaded hole, or a piece of pipe
face just begins to melt. from a threaded flange without destroying the hole or the
2. The cutting torch is raised until the end of the tip is threads, Figs.7-14 through 7-16.
about inch above the plate.
3. Meanwhile the cutting oxygen lever is slowly de- Flame GougingFlame gouging provides a means for
pressed, and the cutting torch moved slightly to one quickly and accurately removing a narrow strip of surface
side at the same time to start a small spiral motion. metal from steel plate, forgings, and castings without pen-
As the cutting action starts, the dross will be blown etrating through the entire thickness of metal. The pro-
out the opposite side of thepool. cess is generally used for the removal of weld defects, tack
4. When the cut has pierced all the way through the welds, and metal from the back side of weld seams. When
plate, the cutting torch is lowered and the cut is used for removing defects, the procedure is called spot
continued with a spiral motion until the desired gouging. Care must be taken so that only a small area of
diameter of hole has been obtained. the weld is affected. Edge preparation of plate for welding