portable brazing kits

[richelli]

Hi Everyone.

In my van I carry the standard porta pack oxy/ acetelyne kit. Durinng my week of service calls I very rarly need to use it. most of the calls I do are small fridges etc. Am starting to think a smaller set would do the job and be less of a pain to carr, saving space and weight in the van. A friend told me about a small kit which you can get from HRP called the microflame brazing set. Basically you have two canisters about the size of the mapp gass one i think, and you can refill the oxygen from a larger bottle and just replace the other canister when empty. Thing is there nearly £400. Has anyone seen them any where cheaper or does anyone have one and could tell me if there worth the money.

[Electrocoolman]

Have a look at Bernard's link from another thread

http://www.countyweld.co.uk/shop/pro...products_id=83

Quite a few of us I gather use these.

ECM

[norfolkboy]

RPW have been selling a kit i have been thinking of geting for the same reason and i think county do it aswel,l but i cant find it on their web site. it uses mapp gas and a oxy bottle about the same size as a portapac bottle, that they get refilled. has any one tried these. Another advantage is no rental to boc.

[bernard]

Hi

The problem with the porta pack kit is the weight of the bottles.Why can,t they make them lighter and throw away,they did it with dumpy refrigerant bottles they were easy to hump on a roof.They could make a light weight bottle protector to go around the porta pack.

Regards Bernard

[richelli]

the one im looking for is sold online by a company called Ensign-accesories. The one im looking for the is the #5000 oxy- lp gas pack. the oxygen canister can refilled by a hose supplied the lp gas can is just a throw away one. Just wondered if anyone had got them at a good price

[expat]

See if you can find Campingaz kit. This is what I used here in France and they were great.

Advantages are weight and size.

Disadvantages are, of course, the gas is more expensive in smaller canisters.

Judging by the 400 quid you mentioned I would hope the oxgen and the combustible are rechargeable bottles. This I say because the little Campingaz kit with all disposable canisters (and therefore less autonomie and higher price consumables) only costs about 90 euros. However the kit with disposable butane/propane but rechargeable oxygen (and when I say rechargeable I mean you hand them in for a full bottle, not you recharge the youself) is more like 290 euros which is still a far cry from your 400 quid which is more in the region of 600 euros.

As for are they any good: yes, on small pipe. They take a little longer to get up to brazing temp but they still give you that nice precise flame that you don't get with that other hand held thingy, what's it called a mag flame or something.

So be advised that if you can get the consumables in England for Campingaz you can get the 500l oxy 350gram butane in it's carrying case for 288 euros from Leroy Merlin. There's one in or near Le Havre. They even give you their GPS coordinates on their site. Here's a link to the kit:

http://www.leroymerlin.fr/mpng2-fron...ille-render=on

[Andy W]

I for years mauled a porta pack on to roofs etc before buying one of the microflame kits, the problem with the microflame kits is the oxygen does not last long, and I mean not long!

The one I have used for the last 7 years is a mapp gas and BOC oxygen kit with a standard torch, I can braze 1 3/8" copper pipe no problem at all.

RPW has previously said sells a virtually identical kit as mine (mine was purchased from SRW) and regarding oxygen rental from BOC, I cancelled my rental agreement as it is cheaper to "buy" an A GAS bottle of oxygen from RPW for I think about £85/90 and then just exchange the bottle each time it is empty for I think £19, works out better than paying BOC rental and handling charge for a single transaction.

[richelli]

That sounds lke a good kit andy. Do you have any links to a picutre or anything?

[Solair]

I agree. Good piece of kit.

[Andy W]

This is my kit, RPW sell one very similar to it.

[acb]

Hi

The kit I use is the rothenberger set sold in wolsley, they have it on special at the moment, it comes with a free handheld battery air pump and a free rugby ball. It does upto 1/2" no problem.

[Andy AC]

I've been using a microflame kit for about 4 years now, couldn't go back to dragging oxy-acet equip everywhere. I've been using modifed nozzles as the ones that come with it are a bit pants ( well I think they are), the twin tip ones are good for confined spaces.
Just recently I have fitted the torch and nozzle off my old rothenburger roxy set to it, and it works so much better, plus a bit more robust, i'm allways bending/breaking the microflame nozzles/torches.
Unfortunately, the microflame kit is expensive and you will need to refill the oxygen now and again,also expensive, but well worth it in the end.
I've had a supply of free oxygen for the last couple of years but that nearly all gone so I'll have to fork out for BOC rental any moment now
My uncle will be a bit cheesed off when he finally gets to use his large oxy-acet rig and finds it empty!

Andy

[pendlesteve]

Be careful about the oxygen cylinder. They often have to be filled from a larger oxy' cyl by a hose without a regulator meaning very high pressure in a line which could become worn. Also the small cylinder would have to be tested every 5 years.
There are some kits around that use non refillable fuel and oxygen cyl's which in todays pc and safety concerned world are probably the better choice.

[marc5180]

I saw the kits for sale in the manchester branch of RPW today Andy, £280 all in. Im thinking of buying one myself when i get some pennies.