Iinterchance acetylene/atmospheric tips with oxyacetylene torch system?

[Tmprdsun]

Is there any way to interchange acetylene/atmospheric air tips with an oxy-acetylene torch system? I am looking into purchasing a torch but I'd like to only purchase one if I can. I recently graduated from a metalsmithing program. I used an acetylene/atmospheric air system for soldering and annealing and an oxyacetylene system for casting. Is there a way to combine these two sysetems?

[usmcpop]

I'm no expert but I haven't seen anything like you describe. If you have an Oxy/Acetylene rig, you already have the major parts (mainly regulators) other than the Air/Acetylene torch. Frequent switching around is a pain. If you are in a good area, some used equipment is available at low cost on Craigslist, especially the plumber's air/Acet torches.

[Northweldor]

Why would you want to do this? If you want do metal smithing , as stated by usmcpop, you would get the most versatile performance from an O-A rig, and Bernzomatic can handle low heat requirements.

[Blacksmith]

I recently was wondering the same thing and found I could heat 1/2 inch round red hot in 2 minutes and make 90 degree bends with my Bernzomatic 4000, their lowest cost MAPP torch. MAPP is no longer available, but there is a substitute I have yet to try, but with "MAPP", a fresh bottle is as close as the nearest big box store, there is no special handling or storage and no withdrawl restrictions. TurboTorch is reputed to be a cut above even the best Bernzomatic and can be found for around $60 for a simple model that just screws onto the bottle. A fancy one with a carrying bag for two bottles, a hose and two sizes of self igniting tips is around $200-250, about the same or less than an air-acetylene rig. Of course you can't cut with either "MAPP" or acetylene without an oxidizer - aka oxygen.

[usmcpop]

I'd like to have a couple sizes of these burners:

http://www.hybridburners.com/products.html

[ptsideshow]

The short answer is no you can't. As been said you can get smaller or larger tips for the oxy/act torch set, as the rosebuds are used for melting metal for small castings. Or go with an oxy/propane as you can use the propane to fuel a metal melting furnace burner. As also been stated you can use the MAPP torch, new green MAPP substitute gas don't know if it is much different other than enough for the tree huggers to be happy.
The biggest thing is what exactly are you going to do with the torch?

You can not weld ferrous materials, with anything other that an oxy/acetylene torch set up. It is the only combination that can achieve a true neutral flame profile.

You can do just about anything else with an oxy/propane set up. There are a number of threads on this site about them.

[monckywrench]

Smith and ESAB make adapters, but I'd just buy a used acetylene-air torch instead.