Mucky flame

Amber · May 13, 2013, 06:49:13 PM

I've been getting sooty streaks on most of my beads lately

I thought it was the propane, because I was right at the end of the canister, but I've changed it now and it's still happening...so I guess it must be the torch. It's a Bobcat and I clean it regularly with the little pokey bits of wire that came with it. Is there another way of cleaning it? Or might it be something else altogether?

Rascal · May 13, 2013, 06:56:08 PM

I get this sometimes but it tends to be only with certain colours only (especially CIM white) and when I've put the propane up too high. Not sure if it could cause that problem but it's the only thing I could put it down to with me and it stopped when I turned it down slightly. Good luck finding out the cause, it's really annoying.

flame n fuse · May 13, 2013, 08:54:28 PM

is your oxycon behaving OK?

Madam Steph · May 14, 2013, 11:29:51 AM

When I first got my dual fuel set up (Cricket) I used to get this a lot. Especially with some of the CIM light blues.
I now work further out in the flame. It's slightly slower, but it preserves the lovely pale colours.

Being unfamiliar with the torch back then, I was always poking about, cleaning it. It's unnecessary. Just watch the flame and on the odd occassion the jets are looking a tad clogged, I carefully 'tap down' the jets one at a time with the tip of my 'all purpose butter knife' and it clears it right away.

Linda x

Hamilton Taylor · May 14, 2013, 01:13:40 PM

Linda's right - sooty streaks is definitely a fuel issue, probably unburned fuel due to bad fuel/oxygen ratio, for whatever reason.

Sean

Amber · May 24, 2013, 11:45:44 AM

Oops, forgot I'd posted this!

I've still no idea what's causing the problem. Oxycon seems ok as far as I can tell and I've had the Bobcat for four years and never had any trouble with it until now. The only time I've had sooty streaks before was when I was about to run out of propane, but obviously that's not the problem now.

Oh well, back to the drawing board...

james M knox · May 30, 2013, 04:06:49 PM

Amber,

Have you tried to clean the torch, check this link for some details: http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135442

JMKnox

Amber · June 01, 2013, 07:19:27 PM

Thanks for the link, I'll give that a go

That sounds just like my problem, I'm getting a lot of blockages and sparks when I never used to!

♥♥Tan♥♥ · June 01, 2013, 07:34:42 PM

I tap it ever so gently with a bit of wooden dowel, then have a poke with my wire, then another gentle tap and then turn it on to its fullest roaring blastiest, that usually clears it all out, you can see the muck shooting up the flame.

flame n fuse · June 19, 2013, 10:51:52 PM

did the cleaning sort it?