Anyone recognize this torch

I have put my concentrator away for now. Mainly because of its abysmal output, maybe I was a sold a dud through one of the big jeweller supply houses. I just decided that it wasn’t going to meet my requirements and the noise was offputting after awhile. You have a little humming machine?? Mine is the size of a portable rolling air conditioner. I might be more inclined to use mine if it didn’t take up so much space and was quieter (and it worked, of course). Being a former nurse, O2 doesn’t worry me that much. Back in my younger practicing years smoking was still permitted on the wards, if you can imagine that, people on portable oxygen smoking. Nurses smoking at the nursing station, wall mounted cigarette ashtrays. Then when I worked in Occupational Health there was the welder that cut a hole in his respirator so that he could smoke while he worked. Crazy stuff. I hope your idea of serial O2 concentrators work for you!

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Yeah, I totally understand that. I’m actually under playing the noise and it is kind of irritating at times. I do use a wireless device system and when I get the time I’m going to move the oxygen concentrator to the back room and use my phone to turn the outlet on and off that runs it. It’s easy to run a long airline over to the bench.

You definitely might want to check on the filter inside of it as I always have to turn mine down as I’m getting too much oxygen generally.

I can’t wait to see your new Torch and also love old style technology!

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I love those wireless devices! They’re great! Had cleaned the filter but that didn’t seem to make any difference. Looking forward to trying the new torch. Fingers crossed that is also works with methyl alcohol or denatured alcohol. Then I would use it in the house.

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I am fascinated by this discussion. But I have to wonder just what is a reasonable melt of silver. I have no trouble melting all the metal I need for any project I have undertaken so far. Maybe from 20 grams on up to an ounce. Rob has mentioned larger melts and some of us sound like they are doing much larger casting projects.

Paige tips has a tip that is made for melts. Rosebuds are wonderful for heating but heating isn’t necessarily melting. How long it takes to reach the “hot enough” stage will vary based on the equipment and the manufacturing needs of each shop.

Don

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Me too! This has been an ongoing struggle for me with the gases not running on full regulated cylinders. Oxy/Acetylene - Oxy/Propane. So I was trying to melt two pieces of 14k gold (3.6g) together to make a single little ingot using my Orca torch and my Sondiko torch head on a Butane bottle, on a graphite block for over a minute, they never melted. Quenched it and then melted it about a minute with my Blazer butane torch on a charcoal block. So I’m not after any melts bigger than 12g, but I want to be able to melt them in a crucible, not on a charcoal block as my workspace is in the basement and after a few minutes on a charcoal block the CO monitor starts chirping at me. My best melting/casting set up was by far the the Oxy/Propane with a rose bud tip on the Little Smith. I was able to melt 3oz easily with that. This is why I’m so intrigued by that bellowed fuel torch, because he’s doing exactly what I want to do with it. Melt metal in small batches to put through the rolling mill. Not investment casting. I tried that too a while ago, it’s not my thing and sold off all my casting equipment, including the big fuel tanks :frowning:

I would never support Paige tips. I sure other companies have offerings that are more scrupulously run.

I usually melt 45 grams of silver at a time but I’ve been using an acetylene air torch.

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I kind of regret selling my Smith Silversmith torch. The #7 tip was also good for small melts.

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Yeah it’s got a big flame for that. I also use it to resize silver rings in water in conjunction with my little torch when I need more heat.

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For anyone interested. I’m still hunting around the internet for more information on this torch regarding fuel and lo and behold I found a post on Ganoksin from 2020! What luck!

Someone mentioned they are using white gas (coleman camp fuel) in their torch. Cheap and readily available from Canadian Tire and no odor like with gasoline. They also don’t use very much in the canister because it’s long lasting.

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Can you explain more about what you are saying about Paige?

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Just FYI, any of the fuels we use, from natural gas to butane, and the alcohols, burn into water and carbon dioxide, if there is enough oxygen in the mix. If not, you get some carbon monoxide as well. Acetylene is different and does produce soot; it has double bonds between the carbon atoms, and those compounds burn dirty. I’m not sure about methanol getting absorbed through the skin, though, since it evaporates very quickly on contact. Gasoline can also burn dirty, is volatile and explosive; too dangerous for indoors.

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This is where I explained everything:

I’m more than happy to give any more details. It was truly one of the creepiest, unhinged purchasing experiences of my life. Otto Frei has a product that does the same thing. Look for the Impgen tips.

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Completely agree. That sounds really outlandish. Did they also want you to sign a NDA?

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Haha no after I found out the were looking at my home address on google maps and telling on the phone we didn’t get the lawyers involved :joy:

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Speaking of crucibles, what was that incredible smith in the video using for a crucible? It almost looks like cement? I’ve also subscribed to his You
tube channel just because of this discussion. His skill and simple tool use is exciting!

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Right? I watched one of his videos and he opened a box load of them. He doesn’t pretreat them with borax, just adds a pinch of borax during the melt. I really admire his use of simple tools and his precision with the bending of gold wire to make everything fit. He’s a lot more liberal than I am with the solder, that’s for sure, but the end result is spectacular. Glad you subscribed, I’d like to see more traffic come his way. Someone asked him once if he sells his work and he said “No, he does it just for the content.”. Well thank you, Anif G.

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@milt Noted. I would feel very comfortable using the small amount of Methanol required to operate the torch in the house. Exposure to methanol by “consuming” it, is of course a really dumb idea and one would need to immerse their hand in a bowl of it for a period of time before it started defatting the protective fat layer of the skin causing contact dermatitis. Solution…wash it off or wear gloves. However, I found out from a very old post about this liquid fuel torch from over 24 years ago, that the torch also runs on White Gas or Coleman camp fuel. People actually use this to light and heat their winter camping tents, we have. Now when we have a power outage in the winter, we pull out the Coleman stove running white gag and run it in the house to add some warmth because it sure pumps out a lot of heat. I definitely wouldn’t use any size of Propane canister for this purpose. Too many stories in the media about the dangers of this of late.

Hi Sonya, good luck with your new torch.
Everyone seems spot on with there experiences and results. I might add that you try covering around where you are soldering to keep the heat in when you are melting. I worked for six months with a top apprentice from Gearge Jenssen who had his foot bellows. He’d soldered up an 18 ct. white gold double circle cluster ring with foot bellows and LP gas. From memory there were fifty four pallons of solder and only one pallon that did not run into the solder joint.
I have been looking for a Seivert Torch that we used in the watchmaking school in Switzerland. Unfortunatly it had been modified and the reference number machined out. The closest that I can find is a “lead workers” torch to his foot bellows. Any leads would be very welcome.

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Hi John, thank you for posting! To add to your comment, I forgot to mention that I also built a little melting “hut” out of fire bricks to keep the heat concentrated as I have seen that removing the torch for only a second freezes every bit of progress, so keeping the heat contained is part of the process. The only torch I haven’t tried is just a stock propane torch from the hardware store. No fancy adjustments, tips, air, etc. Don Norris uses this torch almost exclusively and I think he manages to metal enough silver for water casting. I also have this torch, but with a separate tip connected to a hose which attaches to the tank. It actually looks similar to the Sievert torches I saw on their website. It’s supposed to have an output up to 3550F which should be ample to melt silver, but doesn’t. Anyways, I can’t wait to try the new torch with the bellows because Arif N is not having to mess with melting “huts” and I don’t either. Now I wish Alibaba (where I bought the torch from) hurrys up and sends the darn thing. :slight_smile:

The amount of solder makes my eye twitch while watching as well.

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