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Thread: Upgrading from a microtorch

  1. #11
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    I would think that the Cookies one was a lot less cumbersome. My big one is a GoGas, which has a 635ml capacity so quite tall (not sure if its Gas or Gaz) bought in B & Q I think, which is like a furnace if you have really big things to solder, melts in seconds. The other hand helds I have are ones similar to the one in Cookies but I think I got mine on the internet, but Lakeland have the same one but more expensive. I have one Colourcraft one which is small, and a Cooks Craft one which is the same size, also one from my local Calor Gas company which is similar to the Sievert which runs from a bottle under the bench. Making 5 in total. Pat.

  2. #12
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    It seems that buying torches can become addictive, Patstone!

  3. #13
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    Hi Dennis,

    I'm actually an expat living in France, so I can well imagine what would happen if you were to approach a French company with an imaginative idea. If you emailed them they simply wouldn't reply. If you phoned, they'd expect you to speak French (fair enough), but if you did they'd switch to English just to show how much better they were in your language, than you are in theirs! If you wrote to them, your letter would enter a Kafka-esque processing system and ultimately be filed when someone was bold enough to take such action after deciding that it didn't fit any of their procedures. You, of course, would never hear anything, but you could at least be satisfied that you had kept lots of over-protected, paper-pushing types in employment.

    Actually, I do love the French, but their bureaucracy - Ooh la la!

    Karen

  4. #14
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    Thank you, Karen. Glad to have that confirmed. Dennis.

  5. #15
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    the Cookson's max flame hand held one is the biggest torch I have, and I only struggle if doing very big pieces (say soldering a piece onto a 4cm wide 1mm thick cuff - and then I use two :-)
    It's much, much easier to control than a campingaz one (I've tried 'em). I use it for everything apart from bezels, wire, earring posts etc, when I switch back to my little torch.

  6. #16
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    Thanks, LydiaNiz. It sounds like that set up will be fine for me (for a while at least :-)). Especially if I build myself a little furnace, too. I hate to go out and spend more cash, but I'm really not happy with the Campingaz dragon breath effect! I'm just not Saint George material, I guess

  7. #17
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    Feb 2014
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    I'm on the point of buying a bigger torch than the Proxxon minitorch I've been using up to now. This one from Hamilton Gas looks like a good deal.


    I've got a few questions I can't answer. If anyone can help with any I'd be grateful.


    Firstly, would it be sensible for me to get an additional and bigger burner with this at the same time, such as the 3938, 3939, 3940, or will the burner supplied (the 8842 needle flame) be adequate for most purposes?


    Also, I see quite a few people say they use the Bent Neck Tube (code 3511, I think). Could anyone tell me what advantage that gives over the standard set-up? Does it make the torch a bit easier to use in confined spaces or something?


    I know the torch takes its oxygen from the air via a hole in the burner but there is no way of regulating the air flow, so the flame is always an oxidising flame, never a bushy one. I take it you just hold the torch further away from the workpiece if you want a gentler, bushier flame? Dennis mentioned he'd made a clip that he could slide across the airhole to regulate air intake. Is this as straightforward as it sounds, Dennis, i.e. just a case of making a snug-fitting open ring of brass or copper, preferably with some "wings" on the end so you can get hold of it easily to slide it back and to?


    The last thing I can't find an answer to is do I have to get the biggish propane tanks (on a contract) from the outset or can I make do initially with the sort of small propane tanks sold for plumbing at places like Toolstation? I suppose the crucial question is whether the fitting on the end of the tank is compatible with the Sievert hose.


    Lastly, I'd be just as happy to buy an Orca, which I see some members have been happy with, but I'm unsure what items I'd need to buy in order to use this out of the box. Any help here would be appreciated.


    Many thanks!

    Mark.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aurarius View Post
    I'm on the point of buying a bigger torch than the Proxxon minitorch I've been using up to now. This one from Hamilton Gas looks like a good deal.


    I've got a few questions I can't answer. If anyone can help with any I'd be grateful.

    Firstly, would it be sensible for me to get an additional and bigger burner with this at the same time, such as the 3938, 3939, 3940, or will the burner supplied (the 8842 needle flame) be adequate for most purposes?


    Also, I see quite a few people say they use the Bent Neck Tube (code 3511, I think). Could anyone tell me what advantage that gives over the standard set-up? Does it make the torch a bit easier to use in confined spaces or something?


    I know the torch takes its oxygen from the air via a hole in the burner but there is no way of regulating the air flow, so the flame is always an oxidising flame, never a bushy one. I take it you just hold the torch further away from the workpiece if you want a gentler, bushier flame? Dennis mentioned he'd made a clip that he could slide across the airhole to regulate air intake. Is this as straightforward as it sounds, Dennis, i.e. just a case of making a snug-fitting open ring of brass or copper, preferably with some "wings" on the end so you can get hold of it easily to slide it back and to?


    The last thing I can't find an answer to is do I have to get the biggish propane tanks (on a contract) from the outset or can I make do initially with the sort of small propane tanks sold for plumbing at places like Toolstation? I suppose the crucial question is whether the fitting on the end of the tank is compatible with the Sievert hose.


    Lastly, I'd be just as happy to buy an Orca, which I see some members have been happy with, but I'm unsure what items I'd need to buy in order to use this out of the box. Any help here would be appreciated.


    Many thanks!

    Mark.
    I've recently bought this and I don't like it - I'll say why in a bit, but, to answer your questions.

    The supplied burner has been adequate for everything I have needed it to do - general soldering, torch enamelling and melting small blobs of silver when I'm bored. I did also buy a bigger burner at the same time - may as well as it's cheapish and won't add to carriage. May come in handy if you want to anneal large pieces or something. I've never used it yet.

    Don't know about the bent neck bit.

    The flame is not what I would call madly oxidising (you are not adding any extra oxygen into the burn), It has the usual blue cone and depending on the gas pressure setting, a bushier flame of varying size at the end of the flame envelope, as you said. You can't get it any more oxidising than an air burn will produce but I suppose if you 'do a Dennis', you will get a more reducing flame.

    The fitting is a pol fitting and I'm not aware of small hand held canisters with pol. You don't need a huge propane cylinder, the small 3.9kg fits fine. I'd imagine you could remove the pol fitting and replace it with a different one if you really wanted but you'd need some sort of pressure regulator somewhere along the line. Calor cylinders are not on contract as such in the same way as other industrial gasses, you just have to pay a deposit on the first cylinder, and then it's one in one out. I've always managed to find one somewhere to exchange the first time, they are often on ebay and I once got one which was left behind after travellers moved on from a car park.

    I don't like it because - It won't light from my lazyboy battery operated torch lighter - the sort you operate the switch with the burner nozzle, no matter how hard I try. I have to spark up my small proxon and light it from that!! My little torch knock off lights fine from the battery sparker.

    When you turn it off it gradually burns out taking what seems like an eternity (probably only 3 secs or so), but it means you have to be thinking about what you are doing with it when you are wanting to be moving onto the next procedure.

    Having said that - I don't find it as cumbersome or heavy as it looks it would be, and once it's lit I find it easy and controllable to use and capable of surprisingly fine detail soldering

    Don't know about orcas.

    I got mine from Hamilton and it was delivered from Ireland in a day or two, it does have a usefully long hose too!!
    Last edited by trialuser; 28-04-2014 at 01:07 AM.

  9. #19
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    I used a Sievert for years, at the college I attend Mark, until the workshop was moved. Yes, I did melt a few things but eventually I learned to keep the torch on the move. Also for larger items (notably a spoon) it was not hot enough. Eventually they got a larger burner. Oh and they did have bent necks.

    I did not note the numbers, as at home I used the hand held Campingaz and still do. Two things I will say:

    Both burners need to be connected to your tank, simultaneously and ready to use, as needed.

    I did see Andrew Berry close the air holes with his fingers in an early video (ouch). That seemed to justify my sneaking one of my clips in to college and using it surreptitiously. For health and safety reasons, unauthorised modifications are frowned on, in case the gas burns back and causes an accident. That said I have not had any problems (yet) except touching one once when it was hot. Dennis.
    Last edited by Dennis; 28-04-2014 at 01:06 AM.

  10. #20
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    I have three hand held torches of varying sizes, one big plumbers hand held which is more like a flame thrower but it is for heavy work like 2mm thick silver bangles, and is a bit scary if you are using it in a spare bedroom like I am. The two little ones are for kitchen use initially, one is quite small, the other a little bigger and one that I use for most smaller jobs like posts on earrings.
    However the main one I use is similar to a Sievert but a Bullfinch 1185, and I find it very useful, it is used most of the time and connects to a propane tank which is about a foot high and 10 inches diameter at a guess. I bought a pendant motor stand which is screwed to the edge of my bench which I hang mine on when not in use and while waiting for it to cool down, the stand is sturdy enough to hold it and height adjustable, I paid about £12 for it, I think it was from Walsh's.
    I have found if I hold it further away from what I am soldering it has the same effect as a bushy flame, beyond the pointy blue flame its yellow. I suppose really it depends on what sort of stuff you are making, bigger size things will need more heat, or two torches etc. I went into our local gas supplier for a Sievert and he showed me this one as well, which was half the price so as I paid £40 I thought if it wasnt any good, put it on ebay and buy another one. It has been in constant use for 4 years and the gas container is the original one. Mine has a bent neck by the way, I should think it makes it easier than a straight one.
    Last edited by Patstone; 28-04-2014 at 05:42 AM.

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