This one? http://www.weldfabulous.com/p-21798-smith-equipment-aw1a-standard-duty-torch-handle-airline.aspx Or this little guy? http://www.weldfabulous.com/p-21473-smith-little-torch-23-1001d-jewelers-torch-jewelry.aspx I have the same concerns about the feel of the Henrob. Its alot different than what I have been using for 35 years.
Hey George; Sorry about the break-in. Check the pawn shops up around 108 and King George. If the tweakers are out of Whalley they won't be going far to dump the merchandise. I have a Dillon torch. If I had to do without a mig or tig I could use gas for everything with this torch(as I used to). Heat signature is way smaller than old torches. Anyone who says they are all the same has never used one. When they first came out I successfully welded up a hole in an aluminum beer can. They were thicker then, but you can't do that with a regular torch. I've got a Princess Auto gift card that is yours if you want it. Not much, but you need it more than I do right now. PM me. Doug.
Man that sucks, Just remember what most Henrob/Cobra dealers won't tell you is that you really need a good set of gauges that will regulate at 4psi..... They sell a single stage set at the swapmeets for $200-$250 a pair, but the nicer multistage units Mindover suggested can be twice that. (but you won't have any pressure drop) I bought a new Harris set just before buying my first Henrob. There is a fail safe setup for standard gauges but I've found this the largest reason people give up on them. With the right regulators they work great but I've never gotten one to work without them. For what it's worth I really like the cutting ability more than welding with the heavy pistol shaped torch vs an old aircraft Airco or Purox.
I'm using acetylene and my Victor gauges with my Dillon/Henrob and they seem to work fine. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
I just realized all my body hammers, clamps and dollys are gone too. At this point, it will take my entire car budget for the next year to replace the tools, and with the stuff they got, I really cant do fuck-all on the car till its replaced. Hmmm, I'm 50, I got a young kid, a wife and a mortgage, can I really handle going another year with no progress on the Chevy II? Its late and I am in a foul humour, but I am starting to think maybe its time to say uncle, and sell the cars off and take up knitting. And I have been at this for 35 years. Doug, I'll send you a pm in the morning. I was gonna try to make you an offer on that desoto motor this spring, I guess i can pretty much forget about that.
Another thing you might try is looking around for an older Dillon/Henrob unit. They are all the same, even the new ones. There are guys that bought these in the 1970's that put them on the shelf and didn't use them again. Check on Ebay too.
I sympathise with you, I had all my tools stolen many years ago, they were about all I owned in the world at the time... I have wanted to build a Rod since my teens and even had most of the parts at one time, A small business,two small daughters and a mortgage made me feel like I would never do it so I sold the lot. I am now building it. I am fifty two but I am gonna get it done!. (I have a build thread on here) The weld in the photo above was done by my employee James. I taught him how to gas weld. I have taught many people over the years both as an employer and as a lecturer on the restoration course at Colchester Institute here in the UK. David
Sorry to hear it, i hate tweekers! A few weeks late, i sold off 2 Smiths and a Harris i had laying around for years and they went cheap! look on ebay they come up all the time and most are priced pretty good. I picked up my henrob/cobra off ebay with a bunch of extras and it was only used once for 200 bucks. it welds 18 ga like no other torch i have used, but it does take some getting used to, but once you find the sweet spot it is great!
Sorry to hear about your break-in. Happened to us July 4th 1997 while we were away at a friend's camp for a few days. My dad was checking on the house and found the garage and house wide open and called us at the lake. The shock started a 4 week avalanche of events that ended with him dead, never recovering from open heart surgery. Our homeowners made pretty good on replacing most stuff. I, too, am no welder, but bought a "autobody lightweight" NAPA Welding/Marquette kit when I worked at the NAPA warehouse in 1972. I got a small, light (aluminum torch handle) set because in "Prepare to Win" the late, great Carroll Smith said something like 2 foot long bronze heavy duty torches were for welding battleships, not race cars." Even the hoses are scaled down, flexible, and light. I replaced the deeply cracked originals with full sized hoses, but replaced THEM with lighter hoses within a year. The single stage regulators drift especially in cold weather. Around Y2K All the o-rings started splitting from old age, but hardware store replacements are working pretty good. Used it just a few weekends ago. If I'm welding a trailer hitch or stuff much over 1/8" thick I drag out the Lincoln flux MIG or even the old red AC/DC 225. I hooked a TIG torch to the LINCOLN 225 a few cold weekends back. Should have the hifreq setup going this weekend. So I can try some aluminum TIG. First time in 20 years.
This set is on eBay. It's a two stage unit, and was made by Harris. One of the best Sears ever sold. It also has the "gas saver" option on the torch -- using the thumb wheel. It's the regulators that you really want -- top quality. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Sears-C...37?pt=BI_Welding_Supplies&hash=item3cc018ba7d
Guys, sorry about my outburst last night, I feel a little foolish. Last night when I was going to bed, I thought "well, at least I can work on the body while I am trying to scrounge up money for a new set of torches...THE HAMMERS AND DOLLYS!" Rushed out to the shop, looked inside the car where I had left them, GONE. Instant PANIC. Told my dad this morning. He says "Oh, I saw them laying there, and hid them, in case they came back." The ol' bugger has his moments...
I inherited a set of Smiths from my grandfather and I believe you can still buy today. Great made in the USA products. http://www.smithequipment.com/history.html
Hey, George; Sorry you got hit. I've been cleaned out, when I really didn't have much, & could barely afford what I had. It hurts. Texas-style justice is almost too good for these freaks. It's damn tempting to put out laced "stuff" for them, but then we'd get nailed. On well... . One more vote for the Dillion/Henrob/Cobra/etc. If you can find an old one, it's well worth it. Well, so's new, but why pay new price. As mentioned, all the parts old to new interchange. Only difference is the name on the outside of the handle. The low pressure regulators are the deal. Kinda hard to regulate w/std regulators. I do like mine, got it when they 1st came out - a long time ago. & was never sorry. Getting used to the pistol grip doesn't take long, & you can always change the way you grip it. I hold it, & a std-type torch different, anyways. It's all about comfort = control. The welds come out rather nicely, (fairly clean), even on the backside. Cuts are clean, too. At the very least, borrow one for a little bit, just to really make sure you don't like it. Doubt you'll want to give it up... . FWIW. Marcus...
I have no complaints about my Harbor Freight torches other than the hoses were a little feeble, so I swapped them out for USA made.
Watch the hamb for sale adds, i got an old never been used dillon mark lll set for like $90. i love it,,
In the scrap yard, we do a lot of cutting using liquid oxygen and propane and we use Harris cutting torches because the tips cost $8.49 compared to $25.00 and up for Smith or Victor. If you don't do a lot of cutting, it might not be a concern. We cut from 1/8" to 10" thick scrap material.
You know your gas apparatus, I took my Harris out thats why I have used, I went with Purox, all american made, drawn brass not some fake brass coated tin garbage, fantastic regulators and instead of Acetylene I run StarFlame C from Praxair...its like a propane with a CHemtane additive, Burns cleaner and hotter. Just need a 2 peice tip and some practice but Ive cut whole cars and still have the starflame in the bottle where the acetylene would have ran out. Good stuff.
Tell you what, this is turning into a really good thread, even if it started out with me getting burned. A lot of good discussion here, and I think I have learned a bit. I think at this point, my game plan is to team up with dad on a good set of two-stage regulators and a conventional torch, and watch for a dillon/henrob to pick up later when theres more money in the kitty. I'm not sure if it will be true love or not, but after all the testimonials on here, I GOTTA try one out FOR SURE. If I buy a used one, and I dont like it, I can always sell it. I dont do much cutting, mostly thin aluminum and sheet metal work. If I can adapt to the goofy pistol grip deal (Which may be difficult after 35 years with a conventional torch) from what I have read here, and on the website, and the pm's I have recieved, I think I might really like the dillon. It sounds like its forte is the kind of work I am usually doing.
I'm sorry about your shop... I just hope Santa takes care of you with some replacements...Sux and I'd want to shoot first ask questions later but then you end up being the bad guy.. no win situation.
Temporary freak-out there, Algon, The Chevy II still has a loving home. I dont think I could ever send that thing down the road. Man, I have had those hammers and dollys as long as I had those torches, and they were good quality stuff when I bought them. They are like old friends. When I thought THEY were gone, I kinda lost it. Its funny how you get attached to certain tools. I shouldn't be posting when I am that upset, should have waited till morning.
Nah, maybe you should post when you're that upset...know what I mean? I've had so many different kids working with my tools over the past decade, it's a wonder I have anything left...but yeah, I know what you mean about getting attached to them. The really good stuff nobody touches but me.
Thanks. We have a big family trip to Vietnam in January, we have been scrimping & saving for a couple years, so there wont be anything under the tree for me, but its ok. Hell, temporary set-back, just another squall to be weathered. Six months from now, I'll probably end up with better equipment than I had, and it will just take a little longer to finish the Chevy II, which means it will take a little longer for me to start moving forward on the hot rod I have been rounding up odds and ends for. Thats life. Getting pissed off and throwing a fit, or eating myself up planning a big revenge on someone I dont even know isnt gonna make new torches or a sawzall appear out of thin air, its just gonna upset everyone around me, and make me miserable. The loser tweaker that ripped off my stuff isnt gonna have a nice happy Christmas surrounded by thier daughter, wife and family, doesnt have a project car to work on, doesn't own a nice house with a shop to get broken into, and doesnt care about any of that. All they care about is getting more dope. I wouldn't trade places with them for anything in the world. Merry Christmas guys.
Hey, George; Kinda overkill, maybe not. I suppose you could invest in a *very high quality* gun safe, for your body tools. The "fire-proof" kind. They are available used - sometimes. I haven't, yet, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. If you lock up the cutting devices too, life gets difficult for the thieves. Of course, then all other valuables need their own space in a(nother) safe. Could get out of hand, real quick. & I suppose the GD tweakers would just ruin anything they could, in retaliation for you not "providing" for them... At that point, I think I'd just move - which has it's own issues... Marcus...
man...thats a shame. when i read the title, i was just going to mention that i'm looking for an old victor torch myself because i learned using a victor and love the way they feel in your hand! i pretty much hate everything else. i don't think i'll buy one until i find a good used victor honestly..so i'll probably never have a torch...but man that really sucks!
The Victors are still a good quality torch. My buddy in the machine shop at the local news paper told me he just bought a new set small set to roll around when he needed a torch out on the plant. He loves them. Glad you didn't loose the whitworth wrenches. I would have sent you mine if you needed them. The only limey I own is in Redwood City and I have access to another set out there. Got social security sorted out for the time being, we'll have to wait until after the first of the year to be sure. Not to worry, it is just a bummer that whenever they send me this stuff it always comes for christmas. If you can't replace your torch right away let me know, I'll package mine up and ship it. I can usually borrow one if I need one. Benno
Good to know Benno, hope you have a good Christmas. My daughter is so excited, and she is really getting me in the holiday mood now.
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