Homeade oxy/acetylene torch

iPaintball · Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:05 am

I was messing around with some carbide earlier today when I remembered something I read about how adding manganese dioxide to hydrogen peroxide create pure oxygen gas, so I decided to try a little experiment. I emptied out 2 glue bottles, filled one halfway with water, and filled the other one halfway with hydrogen peroxide. I attached a short piece of vinyl tubing to each cap of the bottles. I then pressed the other end of each tube into a larger metal tube I found, and put carbide in one bottle, and MnO2 into the other one and closed the caps. I lit the hissing stream of gas coming from the "nozzle" and a ~3" jet of white fir sprayed out. Instant oxy/fuel torch!

This contraption actually worked a lot better than my propane torch in that it could melt glass almost 3x faster. I know many of you probably don't care, but I thought it was pretty cool that I successfully made a torch using chemical reactions alone...

What can I say? I'm a PYRO!

rednecktatertosser · Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:08 am

GOOD GOD MAN!!! thats pretty smart of you, i prefer using the real thing though.

Fnord · Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:55 am

Did you buy your magnesium dioxide or get it from batteries?

iPaintball · Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:12 pm

I'm way too cheap to buy it. I got it from batteries.

Oh, it's magnesium dioxide? I always get manganese and magnesium mixed up.

pyrogeek · Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:38 pm

No, it's manganese dioxide. Trust me. Magnesium oxydizes into a white powder.

C2H2 (acetylene) is not something to be messing with, especially around strong oxydizers like pure oxygen. You're bound to have some sort of accident and either blow yourself up or light your garage on fire. If you really need a torch that burns hotter than propane, get MAPP gas, or get an oxy/fuel torch and just run it on propane instead of acetylene. It won't get quite as hot, but will still be enough to cut and braze, but it will heat up a little slower than acetylene.

You can get oxygen tanks, acetylene tanks, torches and regulators cheap off eBay or from Harbor Freight. It's definitely worth spending a few dollars to get something safe.