Red Max?
 

I'm considering buying a Red Max - if you've got one, can you give me a review? I have a minor and have really liked it. I work by angling and repositioning the glass rather than adjusting a flame. I like radiant heat in my torch. I want to do larger soft glass and boro work. I plan to buy an OSGI-20 generator to run with it. Would the Red Max be a good fit?

Any input is appreciated!

Cindy

I don't have one (I wish!) but I've used one a few times. It does have a large, very 'radiant' flame....boro is easy to work, but soft glass does well too, with some careful torch adjustment. My one big objection is (duh!) the heat is intense and hell on your hands. I keep thinking about upgrading my Midrange and that's one of the big things that stops me. That and the fact that it doesn't run well on house-pressure natural gas. I don't want to invest in a gas pressure booster so for now I'm being cozy with the Midrange. I think it's a great torch, though!

Thanks for the feedback, Karen! :-) Good for boro, that's what I want to hear! :-) I've got a hankering to do boro but it's slow on my set up now and when I go boro I want to do big! So I want to be sure I get a torch that will be able to handle it.

The Red Max is hot, huh? Too much radiant heat you think? How's your midrange? (maybe I should go and read the threat with midrange as the title! smile!)

Cindy

I use a red max with the pre-mix top. I work boro.
I use 4 medical type concentrators wyed together for my oxygen. Tried it with tanked oxy for a while and found that torch runs 90 to 95% on my oxy-con setup. It's a lot cheaper, and a lot less hassle than hauling tanks. But it does take 4 concentrators for me to get the performance I want.I'm running 18 Liters per min @ 10lbs pressure.
My son runs a red max on 3 oxy-cons. He is happy with his setup, but I work a lot of dicro, and I need the higher flow of oxygen to work with a larger oxidized flame.
As to what you can make with this torch, I make marbles up to 3-3 1/2 inch, witch balls up to 4 inch, vases, jars, pendants, Christmas ornaments, solids up to 40 mm, etc. I have been using this torch for over 2 years and the limiting factor so far is the size of my kilns!
As far as radiant heat, the RM is no hotter than the mid range when it comes to radiant heat. But puts a lot more heat into the glass. I have tried the mid range and major, go for the Red Max. it is better for boro.

Christmas ornaments and witch balls! That's what I'm talking about! 8-)Thanks, for the input Firefreak!

I've used a major before with a minor mounted on the top but used it so long ago I can't remember how well I worked on it. The Red Max will be alot of fire power coming from the minor but I have a hankering to do boro right and tubing I want to do tubing! So, I'm ready for some serious fire. I'm glad to hear that Red is the torch for boro.

18 litres and 10 psi - hmmm not sure the OGSI-20 puts out that much - 4 oxycons, huh? hmmm what oxycons do you have? I have 2, maybe better to invest in more oxycons than a generator?

Cindy

I have Devilbiss oxy-cons. 2- mc44d and 2 mc84. I paid around 150.00 each for them. They consume about 75.00 a month in power. Compared to 28.00 a fill for a K tank. X 20 a month. The 5 to 10% loss in performance going from a tank to oxy-con was not worth the 400.00 each month i was paying for tanks. I change the filters every 6 months. Runs around 80.00 for all 4. I have put several thousand hours on them with no real problems.

OGSI-20 web site says"It produces up to 22 SCFH/ 10 Liters per minute at 1-15 PSIG, with oxygen purities up to 95%."
I like the higher pressure, but IMHO the flow of 10 liters is not enough. If you had two of them it would be a sweet setup.

I'm a real cheap skate when it comes to oxygen costs. I ask a few people when I first started with the max. They said what I'm doing won't work! They said you had to have at least 20 psi to run the torch. Funny it's been working for me for over two years now. I've turned out thousands of pieces.

The only real drawback to the whole thing was, I had to run an extra circuit to my studio to run the extra oxy-cons. But I was running new circuits anyway. And a few extra feet of wire and a box was no big deal.

Yeah, you're right, firefreak - the OGSI-20 doesn't look like enough lpm for the Red Max - I've done some more research and the Hurricane from Unlimited Oxygen looks like it can do the job - I looked at the Psyclone but the purity for 20 lpm goes down to 86% so the machine looks like it really only puts out 15 to 17 lpm of 90% oxy. The Hurricane is advertised as able to run a Phantom at 90% and the Red Max is in the same category as the Phantom. Not a heck of alot of info out there on this but on paper seems to be a pretty good set up.

Cindy

Have you seen the new RED ROCKET YET???
 

I was at Frantz yesterday and Tim showed me the new Red Rocket that was just released during the show in Tuscon. WOW... It is a beautiful torch and so smoooth.. the flame is super adjustable.
Check it out.

WildBird