Quote:
Originally Posted by bobadame
David, I've used propane in place of acetylene to weld platinum. It welds cleaner and doesn't cause the platinum to harden as it does with acetylene. An acetylene regulator will also fit a propane bottle. Never tried to weld aluminum with it but it is certainly hot enough to do it. I'm talking propane/oxygen torch welding.
Looking at some heat charts on these internets it looks like the flame temperature for oxy/propane is about 1000 degrees F cooler than oxy/acet. It's about 4500 degrees. I believe aluminum melts at around 1100 F.
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Bob,
One thing to keep in mind, although the regulator for acetylene will fit the propane bottle you really need a propane or multi-fuel rated regulator and hoses since the rubber in the hoses and the regulator diaphram can degrade and leak when used with the wrong gas.
As far as heat goes, I use an oxy/propane torch for glass work and it gets hot enough to melt borosilicate (pyrex) glass and quartz at 2500-3200' F, so there is plenty of heat available. Like John said though, there is less carbon dioxide formed in the burning process, but I don't know if it will be sufficient for shielding, even with the flux on aluminum...but that is something to investigate.
Cheers,