Oxy-Mapp torch constantly loses puddle.

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So at work we carry a small torch tote for rescue operations. It constantly loses the cut for no reason regardless of your travel speed and you need to start a new puddle and continue on. It’s nearly impossible to make a cut of any length without breaks in it.Unfortunately i don’t have a picture on hand, it’s just a small O2 bottle with standard regular and a yellow mapp cylinder with a preset regulator. We only carry one tip off hand I think it’s a 00. It’s always kept clean. It seems to be absolutely crap for making cuts. I know a lot of people use propane and love it, I assume this would be comparable. Years back they carried a small acetylene version and it cut far smoother but the powers that be decided it was unsafe to keep acetylene on the trucks. With the acetylene version (we still have an old one laying around) i can make very clean cuts no problem, so I’m assuming mapp just sucks but maybe someone has insight.www.FirehouseFabricators.comZachMillermatic 255Lincoln SW200Hypertherm Powermax 45xp2x4 CNC Plasma Table.
Reply:I found the regulators on those small sets are crap with flow rates bouncing around. Also the small tip doesn't allow enough heat for cutting operations even though mapp is supposed to have a hotter flame. Those small sets are really meant for brazing work.
Reply:Seems to me that if it's for rescue operations, carrying acetylene ought to be warranted. On ships they carry oxy-acet so they can quickly cut the hawser if the tow sinks, to prevent dragging the tug to the bottom....
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Originally Posted by StandarDyne

Seems to me that if it's for rescue operations, carrying acetylene ought to be warranted. On ships they carry oxy-acet so they can quickly cut the hawser if the tow sinks, to prevent dragging the tug to the bottom....
Reply:I remember when plasma cutting first became popular in rescue circles here around 1990. Everyone ditched the oxyfuel for a plasma cutter. That being said, setting up an oxy mapp or oxy propane torch for cutting is a lot different than setting up oxyacetylene. With alternative fuel gasses you need a specific cutting tip designed for that gas. The acetylene tip won't work well with MAPP or propane. Also notice how loud the flame is once you have enough fuel flow. Miller Multimatic 255
Reply:Do have a Mapp gas tip?It not the same acetylene or propane  tips.Dave

Originally Posted by BrooklynBravest

So at work we carry a small torch tote for rescue operations. It constantly loses the cut for no reason regardless of your travel speed and you need to start a new puddle and continue on. It’s nearly impossible to make a cut of any length without breaks in it.Unfortunately i don’t have a picture on hand, it’s just a small O2 bottle with standard regular and a yellow mapp cylinder with a preset regulator. We only carry one tip off hand I think it’s a 00. It’s always kept clean. It seems to be absolutely crap for making cuts. I know a lot of people use propane and love it, I assume this would be comparable. Years back they carried a small acetylene version and it cut far smoother but the powers that be decided it was unsafe to keep acetylene on the trucks. With the acetylene version (we still have an old one laying around) i can make very clean cuts no problem, so I’m assuming mapp just sucks but maybe someone has insight.
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Originally Posted by BrooklynBravest

So at work we carry a small torch tote for rescue operations. It constantly loses the cut for no reason regardless of your travel speed and you need to start a new puddle and continue on. It’s nearly impossible to make a cut of any length without breaks in it.Unfortunately i don’t have a picture on hand, it’s just a small O2 bottle with standard regular and a yellow mapp cylinder with a preset regulator. We only carry one tip off hand I think it’s a 00. It’s always kept clean. It seems to be absolutely crap for making cuts. I know a lot of people use propane and love it, I assume this would be comparable. Years back they carried a small acetylene version and it cut far smoother but the powers that be decided it was unsafe to keep acetylene on the trucks. With the acetylene version (we still have an old one laying around) i can make very clean cuts no problem, so I’m assuming mapp just sucks but maybe someone has insight.
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Originally Posted by danielplace

MAP gas you are using is propylene with propane added. MAPP gas is composed of methylacetylene, propadiene and propane mainly.It isn't MAPP gas you have. It is MAP/PRO and a scam. They quit making MAPP many years ago(1980 I believe). The MAP/PRO was a way to put it in yellow bottles like MAPP used to be and call it almost the same name to make people think they are getting some special high heat gas. MAP gas is just propylene with some propane and only slightly better than propane. MAP-Pro gas burns at a temperature of 3,730 degrees Fahrenheit, while propane burns at 3,600 F. Your paying twice the price of propane for 130° hotter. Lol.  It sounds like the tip and design wasn't meant for cutting the thickness your trying to cut. If you had a real OXY/PROPANE setup even with small bottles it could probably do what your trying to do with ease.
Reply:If they would just give you a real burglar bottle setup. Even if they swapped out the acetylene tank for propane you could have full size regulators, hoses and torches with many choices for propane tips that could actually do some work. We are only talking $1000 max times 400 of them. Just shy of a half a million bucks.Is everyone complaining of poor performance with their torch setups. Are they used very often ? I know your the fire department but I guess you wouldn't want to start a fire nonetheless so the uses must be limited by that factor at least.What kind of jobs are they used for and did the setup ever work properly for those jobs ?Last edited by danielplace; 12 Hours Ago at 03:45 PM.
Reply:I have been out of the game for decades, but the only time I ever saw the torch used in a rescue (or the plasma cutter for that matter) was when someone was impaled on something. You wouldn't think it happens very often, but I have handled 3 cases personally in my 10 years. An incident of someone falling on rebar, the unistrut from a stop sign that came through a window in a crash, and one where a guy was trying to scale a wrought iron fence and got impaled on top of a picket that had a fancy spade shaped finial on top of it.Miller Multimatic 255
Reply:I used oxy-propane on a machine torch for over a decade.The torch never lost its cut one time, that the tip was not dirty.Since I had the setup for the machine torch,, I had a hand torch, in case a scrap piece needed cut.Cutting with oxy-fuel is VERY tricky,, you need a VERY steady hand,, the heat to keep the cut going comes from the oxidation of the steel.The MAPP/propane has very little part in keeping the cut going.That is why the machine torch was so far more successful.Acetylene adds much more heat to keep the cut going.I do not think the OP's results vary from normal at all.
Reply:I would say you have preheat issues if you have intermittent cut loss.  I have never cutMapp.  However,  the cutting process is a chemical reaction that create heat after a certain point so, If you are not loosing preheat from torch angle or distance from work then that may be your intermittent issue.  In theory you should be able to cut with just oxygen once the oxidation reaction begins.  Perhaps, Mapp required closer proximity to the work than acetylene or like propane it may not be as focused heat is the inner cone as in the outer envelope of the flame?
Reply:[QUOTE=tapwelder;8871797]I would say you have preheat issues if you have intermittent cut loss.  I have never cutMapp.  However,  the cutting process is a chemical reaction that create heat after a certain point so, If you are not loosing preheat from torch angle or distance from work then that may be your intermittent issue.  In theory you should be able to cut with just oxygen once the oxidation reaction begins.  By preheat, I am referring to the preheat jets.  Not preheating the metal?Perhaps,  Mapp required closer proximity to the work than acetylene or like propane it may not be as focused heat is the inner cone as in the outer envelope of the flame?Is there a Mapp cutting top?
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Originally Posted by BrooklynBravest

So at work we carry a small torch tote for rescue operations. It constantly loses the cut for no reason regardless of your travel speed and you need to start a new puddle and continue on. It’s nearly impossible to make a cut of any length without breaks in it.Unfortunately i don’t have a picture on hand, it’s just a small O2 bottle with standard regular and a yellow mapp cylinder with a preset regulator. We only carry one tip off hand I think it’s a 00. It’s always kept clean. It seems to be absolutely crap for making cuts. I know a lot of people use propane and love it, I assume this would be comparable. Years back they carried a small acetylene version and it cut far smoother but the powers that be decided it was unsafe to keep acetylene on the trucks. With the acetylene version (we still have an old one laying around) i can make very clean cuts no problem, so I’m assuming mapp just sucks but maybe someone has insight.