Hey, we have a handy new tool that can help improve your welding operation– the Shield Gas Flow Tester.

Now you can accurately and conveniently measure the actual shield gas flow rates at the torch. This easy to use device will take the guesswork out of optimizing your welds, and save on shield gas cost.

For production applications the benefits of documenting flow rates – at the torch – will pay off with reduced weld variations and lower gas usage.

The Unit Measures Argon and Co2 Flow Rates up to 25 LPM (52 CFH)

Measures in Liters Per Minute. To Convert to CFH Divide - LPM/.472=CFH

Lisa in Alameda emailed Arc-Zone.com with the following question:

I have a Miller Dialarc welder with a Weldcraft water cooled torch. I have been hooked up to city water and it’s worked fine for years. But I am moving my business to Klamath Falls, Oregon and my shop will get below freezing at night so I’ll need a self contained unit to cool my torch. Could you send me more information on just the cooling system/cool kit without the torch kit included as I have that….

Since Lisa already has the water-cooled torch, getting her set up with a water cooler should be pretty simple; all she’ll need is the cooler itself.

The water cooler that comes with the Cool Kit is our Tig-er cooler. It retails for about $500 plus shipping. It is a nice little cooler that runs 2 gallons. It’s solid and compact and would be a great addition to a small weld shop.

Lisa may need a water hose, and AW-431 fittings. She’ll also need the coolant which you can get from us, or from your local welding supply shop.

Those of you of a certain age will remember that 70s era jingle from Burger King. At Arc-Zone.com we get special requests fairly often. And we’re pretty good at getting our customers what they want.

Case in point, Armando in Texas writes:

I need a TIG torch Package WP-26, but needs to be 75′ long, include a torch and hand-held amperage control and a cable cover to be used on a Miller Synchrowave 250.

Please quote and time of delivery

Although the WP-26 TIG Torch package from Weldcraft does not come with a 75′ Cable, and you can cobble together 75′ worth of cable, a better solution is our custom-length cables. Turnaround time is generally 5-7 days. You’ll still have to put together two cable covers, but that won’t affect performance in the least.

The Miller Synchrowave 250 has a threaded stud connection for the TIG torch, rather than the DINSE style plugs more common in newer machines so we recommended an upgrade. With a 45V62 Power Cable Adapter, he could adapt his machine to accept a TIG Torch with a DINSE connector. The benefit being that you can easily switch out one TIG Torch for another. Also, you can standardize all your machines and torches to one connector so that any torch you have can go on any machine– a great benefit for a company that needs be as flexible as possible.

But before we could put together a realistic quote for Armando we needed to know which hand held amperage control he wanted– at Arc-Zone.com we offer two different styles of hand held amperage controls: one with a side-to-side (east-west) dial, and one with an in-line (north-south) rotary motion control.

Once we clarified exactly what he needed, we were able to put together a quote, with a realistic delivery date… special orders really don’t upset us.

Ron in Lindenhurst, New York asks:

I have an HTP invertig 201 and a Bernard 3500ss water cooler. I’m interested in ordering an SF-225-25 Water Cooled PRO torch package. It says it does not include power cable adapter. Which one do I need?

My tig has a dinse non-gas through connector. My air cooled torch has a dinse connector and a separate gas hose.

Thanks for your help, I’m a newbie to tig and all these parts are a little confusing

We get asked all the time about how to connect a TIG torch to a particular power supply. There are a lot of connectors, many you’ll find in the Arc-Zone.com webstore. Often our customer doesn’t know which kind of connector he or she needs (we have a handy reference chart, so give us a call if you don’t know what you need). In this case, Ron knows he needs a dinse connector, and he knows its a water cooled TIG Torch. Which would bring him to the Water Cooled TIG Connectors, but even then, there are a lot of choices.

Ron will need a Weldcraft Q5W which is the large water-cooled DINSE connector.

We also recommended that he go quick release all the way, and get two of the QRW water connectors and one of the QRG gas connectors.

We got one of the New Weldcraft® Triad™ tungsten sharpeners when they first came out and looked it over to determine if we wanted to add it to our line of tungsten grinders. It’s a nice machine well engineered and produces a true precision ground tungsten electrode ideal for orbital and other demanding TIG/GTAW applications. The pricing is restrictive for the hobbyist, but if you have some coin to spend on fine electrode grinding tools — this is one!

Weldcraft® has added a new double decker kit to the options available for the grinder — and it’s a well made precision machined set-up. Check it out (at the left) and read the press release from Weldcraft here…

And by the way if you want to try any of our tungsten electrode grinders — we offer a 7-Day trial — to make sure you get the best machine for your welding application. Restrictions apply — Purchase order or credit card at time of order!

Legacy is Weldcraft’s “economy series line” which is going after all the reverse engineered knock-off torches that are sold on price. You can read the official Weldcraft press release about the Legacy TIG Torch here.

This unit is a basic WP-17 torch body with the new Red rubber molding and features a very nicely made and well designed amperage control built into the handle!

We checked one out recently and had an opportunity to play with it — the handle features a comfortable design with built in amperage control and cable strain relief on the back end to improve flexibility and torch control.

It’s another example of how good design engineering and manufacturing practices add value to the market and continue to establish Weldcraft as the market leader in TIG welding torches!

I got a call from a customer TIG welding high-end aerospace parts. He bought a complete setup from us a few years ago that featured the Weldcraft® WP-20-25-R TIG torch customized to a WP-20-25-Pro™ package by Arc-Zone.com® with all the goods needed for his new TIG machine.

The reason for the call was that the customer has now spec’d out a TIG torch with vinyl plastic gas hose.

I was a little perplexed. We generally recommend the rubber leads as opposed to vinyl. They are more flexible and easier to handle. The plastic hoses are stiff and are susceptible to damage from heat– like when a hot TIG Torch gets placed on top of a hose inadvertently.

The WP-20-25-Pro™ package that he received features the rubber lead set. And that can be problematic — it seems that the rubber hose, in certain conditions, can absorb moisture from the atmosphere and it can cause impurities in the weld. This may show up when welding reactive metals such as titanium, molybdenum, nickel-based and aluminum based alloys as well as non-reactive metals like stainless steel.

I would be interested to know what your thoughts are — do you have an experience with this issue –let me know by commenting below — first commenter get a free Arc-Zone.com® T-Shirt!

I wrote a post a few weeks ago and made some pretty pointed comments about some of the manufacturers/re-sellers in the TIG business. I immediately got a letter from an Attorney claiming that the comments were out of line and not necessary. While I understand the concern, what I was trying to say is that many companies have no ENGINEERING expertise and no Electrical or Mechanical Engineer on staff.

It’s not like back in the 1970s when you could simply tinker with a few parts and market it as better– who would know. Today it’s different. Equipment has improved greatly; machines are far more sophisticated and complex electronically.

In business you have to make many choices — As you know we chose to tie our wagon to the Weldcraft® brand of TIG torches. I have an extensive history with that company and was instrumental in establishing Weldcraft® as the undisputed world-wide leader in TIG and for a short time Plasma Arc Cutting torches. A lot has changed since I left the company: new ownership, factory relocation, management changes…. Weldcraft has gone from a business run out of one guy’s garage to being a part of ITW, a publicly traded, well-respected multi-national corporation.

That brings me to my point. What’s the Difference?

We just received a shipment of the new Weldcraft WP series TIG torches and they are nice. They use a new, patented scalloped or textured ergo style torch body with improved design features. You can’t miss them, they are Red!

Another huge differentiator is the collateral material included with each New Weldcraft TIG Torch. The information is very well laid out and includes great technical information, hook-up instructions, welding techniques, welding symbols, duty-cycle ratings, grounding information, amperage ratings for different tungsten sizes and more. This kind of information comes from having a full bank of engineers on staff, and sharing technical information with sister companies like Miller Electric.

When you compare what you get from other companies it is clear that Weldcraft® is on solid ground and back on their way to being the TIG Welders Choice™

Got a call from Bob who is the welding engineer at a plant in Georgia that manufactures interior and exterior automobile parts (seat recliners, window regulators, door locks, door frames and molding). This is a super high volume production line and as part of the manufacturing process, in addition to roll forming and stamping, they TIG weld utilizing 4 robotic work cells with 4 TIG robots in each cell.

Bob graduated from Ferris State University where he learned about TIG welding, but the bulk of his real world experience to date has been in resistance welding. He’s been working in the plant for the past year, learning more hands-on TIG and one aspect of the job has been to make improvements. The plant has been having some consistency problems from arc starting problems to inconsistent arcs. Plus, they have been and going through quite a bit of tungsten– changing tungsten electrodes once for every 12 parts.

“I did some research on the internet and found your site,” he said. He told me he read our articles about tungsten electrodes and the first thing he realized was that even though they have a dedicated tungsten sharpener, it is set up to grind radially, not longitudinally.
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I’m a big fan of Jeopardy and even have the show set to record on my DVR. I watch it virtually every night– so much so that my five-year-old daughter does a special dance during the music portion on Final Jeopardy.

Last week for the 2008 Teen Tournament Champion show, Alex Trebek asked about TIG welding, specifically what the ‘T’ stands for. One contestant answered “titanium” which is incorrect. It’s actually a pretty good guess, since the symbol for Titanium is Ti, but as you probably know (and I”m sure that contestant will never forget!) the answer should have been Tungsten, for Tungsten Inert Gas.

So if you’re planning a stint on Jeopardy, you may want to check out our glossary of welding terms– you never know!