Star Wars

[Barley]

I have just had my minor on and after making only 4 beads I started getting little sparks shooting up through my flame, then a full out star wars impersonation  .  At the same time my oxycon started flashing it's service light intermitently as well as the low oxygen light.  I turned off the minor asap 

Looking at it afterwards I can see a little bit of something on the minor end point thingy, which I'm guessing may be a bit of stray glass?? Would this also have caused my oxycon problems or is that likely to be something unrelated?? 

[Margram]

It sounds like you had a bit of carbon on the torch face - have you been doing a lot of reducing and have you cleaned it recently? I don't actually clean mine with the wire thingy, I give it a tap with a wooden handled tool and can see the sparks flying up the flame. If there is a big bit of soot (I like reducing! ), I quickly flick it off with my rake. The oxycon may just have been settling in as you had only made four beads - do you let it run for 10 minutes before you start?

[Barley]

I hadn't knowingly been doing ANY reducing!  Only just recently graduated to a big girls torch and still getting used to the flame so maybe I haven't got it quite right yet 

[flame n fuse]

This also happens with my bobcat. I think it's carbon building up from the gas, not glass. Sometimes I need to clean the jets out with a wire, sometimes just rubbing across the face of the torch with something metal fixes it. It seems to need a clean practically every time I use it, and I only run it for an hour or so. Like you, I'm not consciously doing any reducing, but I wonder whether I am running the flame too small / cool. Would be nice to have more info on this, is it normal? 

[binty]

Same happens to my new bobcat too, wondering if I've not got my flame adjusted right?

[Kaz]

It's just a bobcat thing. Get yourself a wire brush and periodically give the face of the nozzle a quick once over! I think it's because they like pure oxy better than one oxycon - when I had mine hooked up at home it was the same, when I took it to Oz and fed it pure oxygen it stopped.
Kazx