New toy at work today

[hmburner]

The yard I work for just bought me a thermic lance to cut a pile of cast iron rolls from a steel mill that we bought. These are 36 inch in diameter and weigh ten tons. Had to order half inch oxy line to feed it and it burns up a burning bar every four minutes. This is how to make weight in a real hurry. Just thought everyone would like to see cutting action in a big way

[Blacksmith]

Those things are awesome. We had a couple of versions of these when I was in the Navy to cut through the flight deck or armor plate for emergency access. One was a lance like you show, the other used steel cable as the cutter. I used the lance to liberate a couple of hardened locks that were preventing access during an overhaul. A lock that would wear out a handful of hacksaw blades was open in 15 seconds!

[mikecwik]

how long would you say it takes to make that cut?

[hmburner]

About twenty minutes. Cast iron and concrete are the slowest to cut of all materials

[epjohnso]

Didn't have to cut anything like this, but as a firefighter/EMT, we had an ArcAir unit that could cut through some large stuff.
One of the tough things we saw in the rural areas was Motor Vehicle accidents with farm equipment. Someone would be going 70-80 down a rural highway, and come up on a slow moving tractor pulling a chisel plow. On some of these big pieces of equipment they'd have 6x6 steel tubes using 3/8' or thicker, filled with a composite material (somewhat like concrete). They'd ram the car into the plow with horrendous force, making them almost impossible to remove easily. We found the only way to cut the large frame plows out in the fields now days is to use the exothermic torches - they'll cut right through the steel and composite fairly quickly. Actually they need to, as the rods don't last very long!

I have great respect for the capabilities of the Hurst and Holmatro tools, and have used them to extricate many people, but they too have a limit. Everyone can talk about the force and strength of a Hurst or Holmatro tools to cut the material, but there was absolutely no way to cut the steel frames on these plows.

[vicegrip]

Man that's a cool post !!
Thanks!

vg

[SidecarFlip]

I see we have a visitor.... Can't read the rat tracks but I'm sure the post is meaningless.....

Thermic lances are nothing more than phosporus rods encased in a mild steel pipe with an air fitting on the end for an air supply like a gasoline compressor that will give big CFM.

I've used them in the past to cut bolster plate and obsolete dies for scrapping. It's very dirty work.

We used to 'light' ours off with a gas axe and then turn up the air and cut. The phosporus is burning at, at least 7,000 degrees (f) so it 'cuts' through anything. Cut is a relative term. It 'melts' through more than cuts and leaves a ragged, ugly kerf.

Don't last too long either. You could make a home version with ordinary sparklers in a length of black pipe and a ball valve on the end for compressed air. Light off the sparklers and crank on the air and cut..... Wear OA goggles and don't breathe the fumes, they are nasty.

[Fireman]

Ok, i learn something everyday. I also have been a firefighter for a lot of years and the way we cut big steel is with our shindawa cut off saw (like a K12). It cuts really well but be sure to have extra blades because when you are in thick steel it will eat blades depending on how hard you push them. Lots of sparks though so we have to keep a charged hose line nearby at all times. Ive never used the thermic lances before but have seen them work for opening safes and deposit boxes as well as older army tanks......