Oxy/Fuel Questions

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Well...In the Last week in my welding class at school I got to mess around with Oxy/Fuel Welding..Holy Crap... talk about fun.  I Enjoy mig/stick welding like no other but oxy/fuel was incredible.. It also was drop dead easy and my teacher said that its a much better weld and the penetration is great.My question is, whats the draw back.. Is it more expensive with the gases, does the gas get used up really fast?  If i could pick.. id be this over anything else.
Reply:Well for one its a good bit slower, and in business time is money.   also alot of times I have found that since it is slower you will wind up with more warpage.  Also when you get into thicker metal it will be tough to do and do well. Another thing is the looks of the weld.  I have never seen gas welding that would compete with the other processes when looks were a requirement.  Not saying that it could not be done, but I personally have never seen anyone that could lay down a gas weld that could come close as the other processes.  Not sure what he means by it being a better weld. All the welding processes have there place.  a good weld is a good weld regardless of what process its done with.  Its good to know all of them because I have seen times in my business that life would have been very difficult if I could not do one or the other.  ~JacksonI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:OA is great for hot bending, cutting and brazing. If you don't have mig/tig you can use it for thin sheet too. You can use it for thicker stuff, but you need bigger tanks to do it safely.Downsides would be time, warpage and fuel costs. On 1/8" steel I always reach for my cracker box. Way faster, way cheaper, penetration is seldom a problem with 6011. Originally Posted by DirtWell...In the Last week in my welding class at school I got to mess around with Oxy/Fuel Welding..Holy Crap... talk about fun.  I Enjoy mig/stick welding like no other but oxy/fuel was incredible.. It also was drop dead easy and my teacher said that its a much better weld and the penetration is great.My question is, whats the draw back.. Is it more expensive with the gases, does the gas get used up really fast?  If i could pick.. id be this over anything else.