Cricket to Scorpion?

rjw69215 · #1 2011-10-21, 6:16am

I am about to switch from my cricket to a scorpion running 2 m15 oxy cons. Does anybody have any helpful suggestions? I was thinking about rather then the scorpion going with the cheetah and save about $200.00 but it is only a single stage an my propane pressure at the house is fairly low so I thought the scorpion would be better choice. I am planning on doing small boro work, I'm flying from Cincinnati to Oregon in two weeks to take Brent Graber's implosion class (this is how much I love doing glass). Flying to Portalnd and driving 3.5 hours to get there.

Dasi · #2 2011-10-22, 8:19am

I have a scorpion and a cheetah. I love my scorpion. Never liked my cheetah much. I find the cheetah needs more O2 to work properly. I have 2 M-20's and the cheetah did not seem to work as well as the scorpion. The scorpion rocks on 2 concentrators.

Plus, I have an inner flame for smaller stuff. Then I open the outer ring. The cheetah has only one real setting.

rjw69215 · #3 2011-10-22, 10:34am

Thank you very much, this is exactly what I needed to hear.

rjw69215 · #4 2011-10-31, 2:12pm

Just upgraded my torch, VERY EXCITED.....New GTT Sidewinder is on a ups truck headed to Ohio. Think it might work boro a bit faster then my cricket.

rjw69215 · #5 2011-10-31, 2:14pm

Figured if I got scorpion I would be wanting sidewinder in a year, so I saved myself a step. This is the kind of logic I use.

Roo Blaty · #6 2011-10-31, 2:22pm

haha...from a tiny flame to a giant flame! Makes sense to me!

rjw69215 · #7 2011-10-31, 2:30pm

Yup, it should be an interesting first couple of days when it arrives. Hehehe.

LyndaJ · #8 2011-11-01, 8:35am

Ooooh, nice torch. Who had one in stock?

rjw69215 · #9 2011-11-01, 8:59am

Got it directly from GTT. Think I'm going to try sell my cricket at the glass place in Oakley/Hyde Park sometime in the next few weeks it was amazing, I think I waited almost 4 months for my cricket. I called GTT yesterday and the sidewinder will be here tomorrow.

ArtcoInc · #10 2011-11-01, 9:26am

Quote:

Originally Posted by LyndaJ

Ooooh, nice torch. Who had one in stock?

FWIW, I have both Scorpions (2-stud and 4-stud) and a Sidewinder in stock

Malcolm

rjw69215 · #11 2011-11-01, 9:56am

Hey Malcolm are people happy with them? I have yet to see any bad reviews.

Roo Blaty · #12 2011-11-01, 10:00am

ah-HA, should have known Malcom would have them! (

and yet I didn't)
I can't wait to see how you like your torch, Bob.
I'm still leaning toward a Scorpion but I would really like to hear from someone who has one running on 2 oxycons. (or do I have to upgrade to a big giant oxycon to go with the big giant torch?)

Edited to say, I looked on your site Malcom and I don't see the Scorpion?? It's GTT right?

ArtcoInc · #13 2011-11-01, 10:17am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roo Blaty

I looked on your site Malcom and I don't see the Scorpion?? It's GTT right?

Yes, both the Scorpion and the Sidewinder are from GTT. It's just my sadly out-of-date website that need attention

Malcolm

rjw69215 · #14 2011-11-01, 10:44am

Hey Roo, when I talked to the guy from GTT yesterday he said he had one (sidewinder) running on 2 M15's and it was doing great. I asked him if it would run better on 2 M20's he said they were having what he called "breathing" issues with anything bigger then M15. With the M20 he said it would go from neutral to reducing when the larger oxy con was breathing. I'm more curious if I am going to have to upgrade my 5 lpm for the center fire to a M15 since it is a bobcat but he said it should work fine. I really do think I'm going to get a small oxygen tank (one that is 1/2 the size of K tank) for doing striking, but not 100% sure yet. I'll be out at Brent Graber's (Mr. Smiley) this weekend and I'll see what he thinks. I'll keep everyone up to date in the next few weeks.

Roo Blaty · #15 2011-11-01, 10:56am

Thanks Bob! Can't wait to hear what you find out. Interesting about the "breathing" issue!

I've got 2 oxycons together at present and love how it's heated up my Mega Minor. But I still want a BIG heat and then a smaller one for detail work. And I really don't want to have to buy an oxygen tank. That's what got my attention about the Scorpion.

I've searched this site for any chatter about the Scorpion vs other big torches...I only find out of date info. Of course, I'm not a very thorough searcher sometimes... =/

Oh, and foot pedal....??? Do I need that? Seems like a great idea if your hands are full. I had to go back and look to see what you're getting. Sidewinder, huh? I'll have to look at that now. What made you change your mind from the Scorpion? Other than you just wanted a giant-er torch!

rjw69215 · #16 2011-11-01, 11:09am

What I didn't want to happen was getting the scorpion and then in a year wanting something bigger. Figured that spending a couple of hundred bucks more now was easier then selling the scorpion a year from now and going with the sidewinder. Then talking with the GTT guy about how I was going to hook it up it made more sense to go with the sidewinder. My little cricket is bullet proof so hopefully the sidewinder will be the same. On the foot pedal, he said that only a few people that bought a scorpion/sidewinder went with a foot pedal. I am glad I went with the 4 stud just because if I ever did go that way. I think with tanked oxy the foot pedal might do better, I'd be afraid to cut off the oxy from the concentrators with the possibility of damaging the compressor.

LarryC · #17 2011-11-01, 11:11am

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjw69215

I really do think I'm going to get a small oxygen tank (one that is 1/2 the size of K tank) for doing striking, but not 100% sure yet. I'll be out at Brent Graber's (Mr. Smiley) this weekend and I'll see what he thinks. I'll keep everyone up to date in the next few weeks.

Why go smaller than a K? Not much more of a headache to fill than a smaller tank of any real volume. Furthermore, why not just take the plunge into a couple of K tanks and leave the whole concentrator issue behind?

rjw69215 · #18 2011-11-01, 12:53pm

I was thinking that also. I used to have a truck, now in a VW. Thought it would be a pain to drive downtown (40 miles each way) to get tanks filled. Other thing is the company that does the oxygen charges a "rental" fee of 9 dollars a month to keep their tank and have it refilled. So rental fees alone would be roughly 240.00 a year, not including the refills. That was one reason I got away from the hothead as soon as I could, they charged me $100.00 deposit just to be able to buy the propylene 9.00 a month and 60.00 for every refill. So fingers crossed that the concentrators work like I hope they will. Oh and I'm sure there would be 100.00 deposit on each of the oxygen tanks also. Maybe I should invest in a fill at home system, I was reading on another post that the oxygen you get from the company is only like 95% unless you request medical purity?? I don't know how true this is though.

LarryC · #19 2011-11-01, 1:23pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjw69215

I was thinking that also. I used to have a truck, now in a VW. Thought it would be a pain to drive downtown (40 miles each way) to get tanks filled. Other thing is the company that does the oxygen charges a "rental" fee of 9 dollars a month to keep their tank and have it refilled. So rental fees alone would be roughly 240.00 a year, not including the refills. That was one reason I got away from the hothead as soon as I could, they charged me $100.00 deposit just to be able to buy the propylene 9.00 a month and 60.00 for every refill. So fingers crossed that the concentrators work like I hope they will. Oh and I'm sure there would be 100.00 deposit on each of the oxygen tanks also. Maybe I should invest in a fill at home system, I was reading on another post that the oxygen you get from the company is only like 95% unless you request medical purity?? I don't know how true this is though.

I transport my two Ks in the back of our Lexus

Strapped down of course. I paid $150 for the first K and traded for the second. I pay no rental fees and pay $20 for each fill but I own the tanks. I usually fill one a week. Based on posts here and on MP, typical oxygen concentrator purity seems to be around 90% dropping quite a bit lower if you ask a lot of the concentrator. The drop is a function of the Sieve beds. According to my supplier his purity is at least 95%-96%. I have been blowing glass for almost 6 years and torchworking since february of this year. I went to tanks immediately because the last thing I want to focus on is how to live with concentrators. If this part of my glass business ever becomes significant I will research the various high pressure industrial grade oxygen systems as a replacement for the tanks or maybe liquid.

rjw69215 · #20 2011-11-01, 1:42pm

Thanks for the info, I might ask about purchasing a tank. I guess I would also have to buy a regulator for it.

LarryC · #21 2011-11-01, 4:04pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjw69215

Thanks for the info, I might ask about purchasing a tank. I guess I would also have to buy a regulator for it.

Yup. Got mine from Artco at artcoinc.com

rjw69215 · #22 2011-11-02, 6:12pm

Got sidewinder today....(can only run center fire at the moment) almost immediately burned thru the first mandrel, on a happy note the striking color was awesome compared to what my cricket did. Running the center fire (bobcat) on my 5lpm oxy con was a bit underpowered I believe was pretty much a reducing flame from startup. Had to turn the propane way way down to get a neutral flame. Sooooo what I am planning to do is when my 2 M15's get delivered I'm going to use both of them on the center fire and do tanked on the outer fire. Sound like a good idea?

LarryC · #23 2011-11-03, 12:33pm

Sounds like your gonna love the new setup

I have a mirage and run tanked on both stages. If your gonna go to the trouble of having tanked available why not eliminate the oxycons altogether? Let us know how it works out.

dusty · #24 2011-11-04, 10:10am

Sounds like a good idea.

When you have the funds, you might look into a third m-15 and reservoir tank like Trey's - run the whole deal off concentrators.

LarryC · #25 2011-11-04, 10:16am

Quote:

Originally Posted by dusty

Sounds like a good idea.

When you have the funds, you might look into a third m-15 and reservoir tank like Trey's - run the whole deal off concentrators.

might be best to just buy stock in the company that makes these