cheetah on concentrators?

[meadowesky]

how is it on 2 concentrators? I just sucked through half a k tank (337cf) in about 3 hours.

[squid]

oooh - that will add up fast.

[glassferret]

I am using an OGSI 20 with my Cheetah and I think it runs at about 80% of the Cheetah's full capacity. I can make any of the complex boro canes and good sized beads without any problems and pretty quickly too. It is a great combination for me.

[maddog1050]

I'm running my Cheetah on one Psyclone generator from Oxygen Unlimited. It works great.

[PaulaD]

Are you getting 100% out of the psyclone??
I was running mine on liquid oxygen with the psi at 25. And wow it rocked! To the tune of 4 inch long solid boro beads.

Paula

[kiko]

2 concentrators aren't going to give you enough power for the cheetah. That is standard 5 lpm medical units... Would be o.k. for soft glass I guess. I'm in the OG-20/Cheetah club too... Thinking about a storage tank to enhance the top end.

[IF-Designs]

yep 2 5lpm oxy cons just dont cut it with the cheetah you need to look into the high PSI units ....and maybe a holding talk.

[meadowesky]

guess I am going liquid.

[IF-Designs]

The lease which is yearly on liquid can be pretty dam pricy....so by the time you pay that lease $$ and the fill you would have just paid for one of the M15 's or similar you could have ran with a holding talk.....

I got a great deal originally for my LOX but then they were told they cant do that so the company took the loss and paid for it out of pocket...but next time I go in to renew my lease if I do renew it it would be almost $800 for the year NOT incliding my fills which run around $105-110 with delivery.

Ah and you need to use it everyday or you loose your oxxy from blow off. Also it most be stored in a secured place such as a garage....or a larged securced locked and vented shelter outside. They do not want those tank exposed to the elements or at risk of theft.

[PaulaD]

My lease is $450.00. For a huge tank that is equal to 17 or 18 of the regular size high pressure tanks.

Paula

p.s. You don't have to do an annual lease. You can lease by the month. If you knew you were going to torch for 4 weeks straight then you could get a tank and it would probably last the month. Mine last way longer than anyone syas they are supposed to!

[bhhco]

Originally Posted by meadowesky

how is it on 2 concentrators? I just sucked through half a k tank (337cf) in about 3 hours.

Did I get this right... 337/2=168 CF in 3 hours? 56 cubic foot per hour?
Maybe my assumptions are wrong but I thought it ran 100% on 22 CFH.

Me

[PaulaD]

It does...The maximum it should run at is 25 according to the literature.

Paula

[Feldt's Glass]

I run my cheetah on two OG15's with a holding tank. They run it about 80%. I recently ran it on tanked and noticed more heat but not a bigger flame size. It is limiting but works for most things just fine. Fuming and encasing larger items is much easier on tanked.

[meadowesky]

I just ran out and figured that I got 10 hours on the full tank. Could I be doing something wrong? My calculations say I should be getting almost 14 hours on a tank.

[meadowesky]

I might be able to get the lease for free on the liquid (which is 1500$ here) the fills are 150$ each though. The liquid is equivelant to 16 tanks so money wise it is a great idea. I also know that they wont deliver to a residence so I will have to pick it up and transport it.

[WildBird]

Ya know what.. I put my Cheetah back on the shelf and reconnected my 2 1/2 year old Barracuda, because I could not believe the tanked O2 I was going through. I thought maybe my hoses were leaking or something. Maybe someday when I am a 'blue-hair' old lady and have retired from my day job, I will think about some concentrators.

WildBird

[Feldt's Glass]

Brandy I think that might be correct if you are running it high. I ran mine on tanked for a couple times when I first got my torch and I think I got around 12 hours for a large tank. It's a hog!

[pam]

When I was running my Cheetah on tanked oxy I believe I got about 16 to 20 hours to a tank. It varied according to what I was doing, of course. I work mostly soft glass. I'm using an OG20 for the past year and a half and love it, although I do not get the top end. I'm thinking of getting a holding tank to give that extra boost. I would definitely give up on the idea of running it on two 5lpm concentrators.

[kbinkster]

Brandie,

First, check for leaks in all of your connections. Then, take a look at what type of flame you are running. It is possible that you may be running more oxygen than you need.

What size tank are you using? You say "K" tank, but then say 337 cubic feet. A "T" tank holds 337 cubic feet, and those are for industrial customers only (not individual customers - even studios have problems getting "T" tanks). A "K" tank holds about 281 cubic feet. You should get a minimum of 11 hours on a "K" tank using a Cheetah at continuous full blast.

What size/type work are you trying to do?



As for running a Cheetah on concentrators...

I run my Cheetah on a single Regalia and get 60-65% performance. This is enough for soft glass and small boro. The Regalia puts out 21 CFH (10 LPM).

I ran a Cheetah on two DeVilbiss 5 LPM machines and found that it only powered the Cheetah to about 50%.

Even though the Regalia and DeVilbiss put out similar pressures, and you would think flow when you put two DeVos together, that is not exactly the case. Any time you link two units together, you lose a little bit of pressure and a little bit of flow. It may not make that big of a difference on a smaller torch, but when you are running a bigger torch where you need everything you can get, it becomes very noticable. That is why I get better performance on the Regalia than with two DeVilbisses.

Would I recommend a Regalia for you? That all depends on what you are wanting to do. If you want to make boro beads and pendants, then yes. If you want to stretch the Cheetah to the most of its ability (like 3" boro marbles), then I would say no. And that goes for the other concentrators/generators in that size category, as well. The OG20 puts out a slightly higher psi than the Regalia, but less volume, so there is no gain there.

[meadowesky]

So not a k tank. I have 4 T tanks now. they are 337cf.
I went through a T tank in 10 hours.
I think I found the problem. Shane hooks my tanks up and when I went to unhook it, it seemed really loose like he didnt use the vice grips. After I kill him, I am going to keep track of this tank.

So after checking the tank,
I torched for 6 hours last night and the tank is now at 1000 psi. started at 2400 psi So actually 10 hours is about right. I made an intentional effort to conserve oxy last night. I turned it off completely when moving pieces to the kiln, didnt run as much as usual, etc.
I expected to use so much less.

[kbinkster]

What type of flame are you running (especially what do your candles look like)? You may very well be using more oxygen than you need.

Also, what kind of work are you doing? Are you working larger now than you did when you got your Cheetah?

ETA: For boro, you can use longer candles with longer tips than you can for soft glass.

[Paul Ewing]

Originally Posted by meadowesky

I think I found the problem. Shane hooks my tanks up and when I went to unhook it, it seemed really loose like he didnt use the vice grips. After I kill him, I am going to keep track of this tank.

Brandie, don't use vise grips. Those will really tear up your regulator fittings. Get a large Cresant wrench or a regular wench the proper size for the fittings. The welding supply store should have the appropriate wrenches.

Cheers,