Torch tip blew apart on a 6-inch seam in Gary, Indiana

Was out at the old mill site near the lake last Tuesday, about 2pm, running a preheat pass on a heavy wall pipe. The tip just popped, sent a chunk of brass flying past my ear, and the acetylene line started hissing like crazy. I killed the torch, shut the tanks at the cart, and swapped to my spare Victor tip after checking the regulators for a pressure spike. Turns out the seat had a hairline crack from a previous drop, and the 15 psi on the oxygen side was too much for it. Anyone else had a tip fail mid-weld and found it was from a tiny crack you couldn't see?

1 comments

1 Comment

patriciap5217d ago

Funny you mention Gary, my cousin used to weld at the old Bethlehem Steel yard there back in the 80s. He had a tip blow on him once during a repair on a water line and the piece hit his safety glasses so hard it left a star crack right in the lens. He always said it was from a tiny nick on the tip face that he thought was just a scratch, but it turned into a weak spot once the heat hit it. I checked my own tips after reading your post and found a similar hairline on one of my spares, so now I'm running a magnifying glass over every tip before I thread it on. Small cracks are sneaky like that, they hide until the pressure does the talking.