can you tell me if this needs replacing?

[Alistair]

hi guys, whilst welding the underside of some sheet a big blob of molten weld dropped down the shroud of my torch, i managed to remove the blob but it took a piece of the torch with it. will the neck now need replacing. sorry if the pics are not great.

 

[Sparkey]

Hmm...that's only your gas diffuser that needs to be replaced right? does it come off? or can you only remove the tip?

 

[malcolm]

They are normally part of the swan neck on fixed torch machines. You can normally buy a swan neck for about £10.

So long as the tip screws in OK I'd not expect the damage to cause any problems.

 

[Sparkey]

Thanks malc, guess i'm spoiled with my eurotorch, you can take the whole thing apart if you'd want!

 

[Alistair]

the tip screws in ok, it was a bit dodgy at first as it felt like it was cross threading but after inspection it wasnt. i havnt tried welding yet as im out of wire until the weekend. what are these euro torches everyone is raving about?? and can one be fitted to my machine?

 

[malcolm]

You've got a Clarke 150 so that'll have a fixed torch that is hard wired into the machine.

A eurotorch connects to the machine with a single screw fitting on the front making it quick to change. The torches tend to be larger than the ones on the Clarke, and better quality. But unless the change time is important there's no big advantage. Conversion kits are available, and you'd also need to fit a gas solenoid.

Sparks has a powerful torch! On my MB15 the contact tip screws directly into the swan neck. The MB25 and 36 (is the number amps at decent duty cycle divided by 10) have tip adapters.

 

[Alistair]

my head just exploded!! i will get to grips with duty cycles ect ect soon i promise! change time isnt an issue so i guess im ok with what the machine has already ... i love this forum never have i found so much help in one place.

 

[Sparkey]

That's great to hear Alistair, glad we could help!

 

[Shug]

Its a fairly easy job to replace that bit. I had to do it on my clarke when the thing got cross threaded. Just take out the screws on the torch handle and its pretty apparent how to remove that bit. Used a 'hobby welder service kit' which had 1 x New Neck,1 x Neck Liner,1 x HD Steel Torch Liner,2 x Gas Shrouds,5 x Contact Tips
which was only 22 quid.

 

[3Rs]

If you have no problem screwing in the tip, and ensuring that while your welding you dont get any porosity then i would leave it be.

 

[rodofgod]

Hi All!

I agree with 3Rs on this one!

Regards

 

[Sparkey]

If you have no problem screwing in the tip, and ensuring that while your welding you dont get any porosity then i would leave it be.

Very true! but once you have a gap like that it will collect more and more spatter...and it will be harder to remove...
But you're right as long as it works, he can just use it like it is!

 

[Justme]

Get a replacement ordered ready to fit once you get a tip stock in the damaged one. I am sure weldequip stocks them.