good brands of cutting torches?

I need to replace my oxy-acetylene torch. I have one of the small "IOMagic" sets, probably made in Taiwan. It leaks between the handle and the head.

I'm sure I could get it fixed, but I think I'd rather just buy a good brand on ebay.

I also have a very old Smiths cutting torch with many tips. It is rusty and also leaks between the handle and the replaceable head.

I was thinking of buying a used Smiths torch, in hopes of being able to use the many tips that I have. Or should I just buy a Victor, which seems to be much more common. What about other brands like Goss, Uniweld, ESAB...

I also see on ebay the apparently great "Henrob" torch kits for $300. Maybe great, maybe hype??

Anyway, I want something professional quality. I'd love to get a plasma cutter someday, but until then a good cutting torch will have to do.

Thanks-
Lynn Kasdorf
Leesburg, VA

Smiths made what many consider to be the top of the line oxyacetylene torches and regulators. The modern oxyacetylene torches made by companies you named, or for sale by the likes of Harbor Freight or Northern are lighter weight and not made to the quality of the older US made torches. The claim is that these torches use the same tips as Victor torches, but that is where the similarity ends.

If you have tips for the Smiths torch, you could do one of two things:
-ask your local Smiths dealer if they can recondition the torch you have. In heavy construction, torches and regulators are reconditioned regularly. The process includes some sort of acid dipping to clean carbon soot and dirt out of the passages in the torch mixer and valves, replacing all the O rings, and possibly touching up the seats where the cutting tips seat in the cutting head. I personally sent in some heavy Airco burning torches that ironworkers and boilermakers beat pretty hard. They were reconditioned by the local distributor and came back in escellent condition.

-Go to your local Smiths dealer with the numbers on the torch mixer and cutting head you now own and get the current equivalent from Smiths.

I have had the same Victor cutting outfit in my shop for 32 years. Two stage regualtors, torch, cutting attachment, welding/brazing tips and rosebuds. It was all "Made in USA" and the guages had the heavy brass bezel rings. recently, at work I had to buy four new Victor torches. The current Victor equivalent to my old torch was made in a combination of the USA and Mexico and had been cheapened up. Still a good torch, but you could see the difference.

I have used Smiths torches out in the field and would say they are about the best. If you have an investment in tips, particularly welding/brazing tips or rosebud (heating) tips, then don;t change torch manufacturers as you will have to start fresh buying a mess of expensive tips. If your old SMiths torch hasn't been run over by a dozer or used as a hammer or pinch bar it is probably worth having reconditioned.

Joe Michaels

I could be mistaken but I think smith torches have lifetime warranties.. You may want to check

Lynn,

I just recently got a brand new Victor torch, I'm very happy with it. It is the $250 Firepower model and I'll say this is one to buy from a welding supply. The reason being is the tanks usually wind up being the most expensive part, and no catalog will sell these. I think the two tanks were going to cost me $175 or more each. Before I bought this, I had a used set I bought. Both regulators needed rebuilding, hose needed replacing, and it just didn't pay to fix, so I ebayed it to a regulator rebuilder.

But anyways most of the welding supplys will have "manager's specials" for $500 at the time I got the fire power set, and the two tanks, and while I already had a cart, they would have thrown that in for $50 more. So my suggestion is buy everything from one place and see what you can do on price. Stay away from that chineese stuff. Sometimes its ok to go cheap and save $100, but here you're dealing with high pressure gasses, and I know I sleep better knowing I'm not using the cheapest thing I could find.

Adam

Don't have any experience with new VICTORS, but my 18--20yr old set is most excellent.

I got the Home Depot Harris kit a couple years ago, I think $149 (??) I suspected China made & badged Harris but it seeems heavy enough and doesn't leak.

The regulators are single stage and the hose cheapo but it'll get dang near anything red hot (within reasonable size). The torch doesn't have the feel and heft of the expensive models but I'm not complaining.

This setup is really perfect for what I need, which is 90% heating and 10% cutting where there is no electricity. I don't have the tank size to support using a rosebud tip.

I think the tanks ran about $75 each from Holox so I was in business right around $300.

-Matt

I agree with the advise to stay with Smith. My Smith is at least 40 years old(I bought it used)and would not trade it for any other torch, even if new! Especially with tips for a Smith, no reason to look at any other brand

I teach sculpture students and they are the roughest group of people in the world on tools. We use Victor because every welding store has victor tips, and parts which we go through like crazy.

The best deal I have found, if you have a Praxair dealer in town, is their refurbished/relabelled Victor units. I can hardly find any parts except Victor parts,Purox and Harris are hard to come by, and I can only find dusty, new old stock smiths equipment in my town. The way they price repairs and parts at welding suppliers makes it cost DE-fective to buy even one regulator or have any part fixed. Praxair refurbishes victor units and resells them well under victor prices. They give a discount for trade-ins.

Maybe other companies may sell these refurbs?

Smith has both a lifetime warranty and a website. Have you checked the o rings on your Smith? Deteriorated o rings may be the source of your leak. Mike

Quite simply, the best torch you can get is the one at the local welding shop, where they'll have all the parts and cutting tips in stock. Go for what is popular in your area and put down the HF catalog!

-Damon

By that logic, if the local car dealer sold only Yugos, that would be the best car to have. Or if I could buy a top quality product 100 miles away, I would be better off buying junk next door, even if the junk was more expensive. Of course, I would also need them to have a supply of junk parts in stock. That way I could spend my time at the junk shop getting my stuff fixed, rather than being able to use the good product I purchased 100 miles away.
That brings up a question, what if HF is my local welding supplier? Mike

I vote for getting the Smith fixed, by a reputable repair shop. If your welding supply store fixes them, make sure they are the ones doing the work, and not a different shop. One guy here does the work for about 6 welding supply stores, which add markup and he doesn't warranty the work that goes to them, just his own customers.
Make sure you have flash arrestors on your torch, have you looked over your torch to see if the o-rings are burnt or dry rotted? Also look for hard o-rings, they don't seal very well.
David from jax

I gotta go with the Smith also.Used them for years but the Victors run a close second.Airco,forget it.It's cumbersome,it leaks,and the tips don't seal well even when new.Harris used to be a good brand but I haven't used any of their products lately.I just had a baby Smith rebuilt and if I remember correctly it was around fifty bucks.Looks and works as good as when I bought it 20 years ago.Now...if someone out there just made decent hose I'd be set.I have bought at least 200ft. of various length hose sets and everyone of them leak down.All were name brand too.

[This message has been edited by ray french (edited 07-11-2004).]

[This message has been edited by ray french (edited 07-11-2004).]

From what everyone is saying it sounds like Smith is the leader of the pack. Would anyone care to recommend one of their current models? I have used torches since I was a kid, but they were my fathers and I never paid attention to who made them or what size they were. I would really like to get a torch for home shop use, but am at a loss when it comes to chosing the right model. I expect to do more heating and gas welding than cutting, but I would like to be able to do all three. Basically I'd like a good all around torch for the home shop. Any model specific recommendations to help me out? Thanks.

"Student metal sculptors are the roughest group of people int he world on torches..." You never got down to the local scrap yard, watched a demolition crew burn apart an old bridge or hung around with the wrong gang of ironworkers or boilermakers. I have seen all these types use cutting torches and they were often brutal. Typical manuvers common to all of these types: Burn a lifting hole in the web of a scrap beam or similar. The slug of steel doesn't fall right out, so belt it with the head of the torch. Burn a smaller lifting hole for perhaps a 1" shackle pin. Slug of steel doesn;t fall out and is too small to knock out with the head of the cutting torch, so hit it with the tip. Tip is now peened over, so preheat flames either don't form correctly or not at all. No tip cleaners on site, so touch up face of tip with angle grinder and re-open preheat and cutting jet holes with tip of Buck knife. Tip is now several sizes larger, throwing all sorts of jagged and irregular preheat flames. Now, having burned in the lifting holes, the guy goes to put in the shackle and discovers pin is tight in the shackle. No spud wrench or other tools handy up where he is at, so..... take the cutting torch and beat on shackle pin with the back of the head of the torch. Pin doesn't loosen, so stick cutting tip into eye of shackle pin (if it fits) to break it loose. If not, keep beating on the pin with the head of the cutting torch.

It is amazing what some people will do to good tools. More amazing is that the tools hold up and the work gets done. As I wrote previously, I have had the same Victor oxyacetylene outfit for 32 years. If you take proper care of a cutting outfit, it should only need some light maintainence (replacement of stuff like O rings that break down with age) to last as long as you do. One thing I was taught to do was to always back off the screws on the regulators when not using an oxyacetylene outfit. This lets the springs and diaphragms relax back to their original dimensions. It also avoids slugging them with load when you crack open the valves on the bottles. Unfortunatley, most field guys never back off the regulator screws and just leave them where they are. I did a job in one place where I used the cutting outfit they had on hand. I backed off the regulator screws when I was done using their oxyacetylene outfit. The regular guys there saw me do that and started to holler, telling me I was going to "lose the settings". You would think anyone using an oxyacetylene outfit would know how to set the regulators for the job and adjust their flame. These guys were an accident waiting to happen. I do not imagine the metal sculpting students are THAT bad.

I have never seen a local welding supply shop that would sell Yugo's- there is a big difference between a welding shop, which has to deal with hardheaded welders and fabricators over and over again, and gain their confidence, and a car salesman. My local welding supply stores over the years will only carry solid, mostly american made equipment that they trust and can get parts for.
Victor and Smith are both equally reputable, and in both cases a good $300 to $500 set will last your lifetime. I have owned both, and currently mostly use a victor, for a couple of small picky reasons-
Smith chrome plates most of their current line- and over the years, chrome chips and peels, plus, its silver, of course. While victor torches are all a natural finish bronze alloy. And I like the way they look better.
The other thing is the male/female designs of the interchangeable tips. Smith has a female torch body and male tips. Victor is the opposite. I find the the female tips are less likely to get damaged on my welding cart than the male tipped smith versions. Since one tip is always on the torch, I dont have to worry about dinging up the threads on the torch body itself. But if you drop a smith tip on the ground, you can ding the threads. Drop a victor tip while you are changing them, and it only dents the coupling nut.
Small thing, but when you use something all the time, it makes a little bit of a difference.
I would stick with either smith or victor though- both of these companies are in it for the long haul, and stand behind their products.

I have a Smiths setup with the yellow "hardhat" guages, the setup is regulates perfectly and I belive Smith's to be about the best there is. I have a large cutting torch and a smaller type welding/ brazing torch. I did go to my local Smith's dealer and purchsed some additional size tips for the small torch - not cheap. So, since you have them already, I would see about having that torch re-conditioned, might not be that much. Keep in mind, a new Smiths cutting torch alone can push $500! You get what you pay for.

I live near Houston Texas and have found that Torch&Gauge in Grand Prairie TX does a super job at reasonable price,,have sent them Victor heavy duty 2460 cutting attachments and the 315 FC handles and they come back as new,,they are completely taken apart cleaned all needed parts are replaced etc,,sent them several sets of the 400 series two stage regulators and same thing ,,all seats replaced , O rings etc,,on torch handles even the seats are dressed up to better seal the o rings of the cutting attachment or welding tip etc,,they do work on all brands,,read about the owner of the Smith equipment,,would not hurt to contact them!

duallydondon said:

I live near Houston Texas and have found that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfWR45UBNXwdoes does a super job at reasonable price,,have sent them Victor heavy duty 2460 cutting attachments and the 315 FC handles and they come back as new,,they are completely taken apart cleaned all needed parts are replaced etc,,sent them several sets of the 400 series two stage regulators and same thing ,,all seats replaced , O rings etc,,on torch handles even the seats are dressed up to better seal the o rings of the cutting attachment or welding tip etc,,they do work on all brands,,read about the owner of the Smith equipment,,would not hurt to contact them!

Click to expand...

Qty (2) post's and both give advice to send your torches to certain
repair company....SPAMMER