Propane Cutting Tips Vs. Acetylene Cutting Tips

Cutting Tips

• Cutting tips work as the nozzle on a welding torch. The gas and oxygen moving through a welding tool combine to create a flame from the end of the cutting tip. The shape, size and length of the cutting tip used depends on the needs of a job. For instance, long thin tips provide precision for jobs that require exacting work, such as cutting small or thin pieces of material. Blunt wide tips provide power for jobs that require brute force, such as cutting thicker metals. Manufacturers make almost all cutting tips from copper alloy, a material ideal for resisting the extremely high temperatures of the flames produced by the torch.

Tip Size

• Acetylene cutting tips and propane cutting tips differ in size. Size for cutting tips describes numerous things, including ability to handle power output, as measured in pounds per square inch. Propane torches operate at higher power outputs than acetylene torches, expelling more gas per second than acetylene torches. Because of the need to handle higher volumes of gas, propane tips require a larger opening. Power output correlates directly to the diameter of a tip's output nozzle, which can range in size from a few one 100ths of an inch for acetylene tips to nearly 1/5-inch for propane tips. Power does not correlate with the heat of the torch flame, but the pressure created as the gas passes through and out of the torch.

Construction

• The physical composition of propane cutting tips also differs from acetylene cutting tips. Acetylene tips almost always contain a single piece of sculpted copper alloy. Manufacturers drill as many as six holes drilled into acetylene tips to allow for the passage of oxygen and acetylene, and to balance pressure levels within the tip. These holes also allow for preheating to prepare the torch for work. Some propane tips contain one part, though many contain two separate parts, a spline and a nozzle. The spline fits onto the base of the nozzle in such a way that allows for the passage of oxygen and gas and the balancing of pressure without boring holes.

Temperature

• Acetylene flames burn at higher temperatures than propane flames. Acetylene reaches temperatures of 5,600 degrees Fahrenheit when combined with oxygen, while the propane burns at around 5,100 degrees when combined with oxygen. This difference ostensibly means that manufacturers create acetylene tips to withstand higher temperatures. However, manufacturers may simply use the material created for acetylene tips on all tips to avoid the necessity of creating multiple batches of different alloys. Both gases burn at significantly lower temperatures – 4,352 and 3,596 degrees Fahrenheit respectively – when combined with air.