brewdexta
The biggest tool in the box
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- 5,535
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- UK
I bought an Rtech 40 with pilot arc about 18 months ago for a particular job knowing I would find other uses. However I haven't used it much, mainly because the torch is a bit crap, the switch moves around, the cages don't glide over any surface and I have burnt through a few of 'em. Also the air connector on the back was a pain and the cheapo Chinese circle guide doesn't fit.
So I have decided to sort the problems out so I can get some value out of it.
Firstly the air inlet, it doesn't seem to be quite PCL, not sure what it is however once replaced it works much better. The following picture shows the difference, the original is brass, the proper PCL is galv.
Next up is the circle guide I bought it for about 15 quid inc postage from memory, and took a couple of weeks to arrive from China and I wasn't 100% sure it would fit when I bought it but at that price I thought it was worth the risk and I could probably modify it.
Sure enough, it doesn't fit. The ceramic shroud is 26.3mm OD and the guide is 23.2mm ID. However I was quite impressed by the quality for the money so worth fixing.
If I bore it out to say 26.5mm, the OD is only 29.5mm so not much meat for the grub screws to hold the torch in place. The barrel holding the torch is held in place in the collar by a circlip, so the plan is to make another that will fit into the same collar and take the circlip, but with a bigger OD, about 40mm so it doesn't foul the wheels.
I had a look through the pile of stock my dad gave me and low and behold, a nice piece of brass, or at least I think its brass, my dad had a large collection of phosphor bronze, I've run out of workshop time today, I shall check it our tomorrow but I'm pretty sure its brass.
I'm hoping I will find time to do this tomorrow.
Cheers
Andy
So I have decided to sort the problems out so I can get some value out of it.
Firstly the air inlet, it doesn't seem to be quite PCL, not sure what it is however once replaced it works much better. The following picture shows the difference, the original is brass, the proper PCL is galv.
Next up is the circle guide I bought it for about 15 quid inc postage from memory, and took a couple of weeks to arrive from China and I wasn't 100% sure it would fit when I bought it but at that price I thought it was worth the risk and I could probably modify it.
Sure enough, it doesn't fit. The ceramic shroud is 26.3mm OD and the guide is 23.2mm ID. However I was quite impressed by the quality for the money so worth fixing.
If I bore it out to say 26.5mm, the OD is only 29.5mm so not much meat for the grub screws to hold the torch in place. The barrel holding the torch is held in place in the collar by a circlip, so the plan is to make another that will fit into the same collar and take the circlip, but with a bigger OD, about 40mm so it doesn't foul the wheels.
I had a look through the pile of stock my dad gave me and low and behold, a nice piece of brass, or at least I think its brass, my dad had a large collection of phosphor bronze, I've run out of workshop time today, I shall check it our tomorrow but I'm pretty sure its brass.
I'm hoping I will find time to do this tomorrow.
Cheers
Andy