Ethan said:
The gas part has me worried a bit--not the actual handling part, but finding a place to get it locally (Baltimore, MD area). I'm curious if they'll deliver to a residential area.
This is exciting. I just want to weld some metal together to make unusable bigger pieces of metal! 8)
I'm trying to figure out the same thing, we have a lot of different places here, just trying to figure the cheapest way. There's actually a place really close to me, but they're a little more expensive. But you can get small bottles, too, so if you find a place, you don't have to worry about how to haul it. Smaller bottles just mean less welding time, so depends on how much stuff you're gonna weld. And then you get into buying the bottle outright, or leasing. My oxyacet. setup, I originally bought 15 years ago in another town, I just leased it. That way, you just go in, and they swap bottles with you. If you buy it outright, you just get it refilled. Most of the stuff I weld is for car stuff, so I use C25, which is 25% CO2 & 75% argon. It's good for general use, and also cast and stainless.
The main difference between brazing (braze welding) and welding is brazing just joins the parts, like soldering, whereas welding (fusion) melts the parent metal. It's great for stuff like copper and brass. And aluminum is just tricky because it melts at a lower temp. than steel, so you have to be careful, or you'll blow right through whatever you're welding!
And, yes, it is exciting, any time you can actually join steel together , it kinda makes you feel "all powerful", heh-heh!