Thread: Gas Torches Yet Again

Hi Dean,
I take it you mean this one? Rothenberger Australia PTY LTD - Product Catalogue
Sounds too good to be true to me, brazing to 28mm with LPG? That is a big ask.....but if it does it i want one!
Ew

Originally Posted by Ueee

Hi Dean,
I take it you mean this one? Rothenberger Australia PTY LTD - Product Catalogue
Sounds too good to be true to me, brazing to 28mm with LPG? That is a big ask.....but if it does it i want one!
Ew

That is the one. There is no real information about it as far as I can see but I made enquiries by email to my nearest Reese store and have received a PDF file which gives a little bit of info. About what I have given I think. The price is what they quoted although I have just remembered that it may include some discount due to telling them where I work.

The temperature is a big ask too if you ask me, which you didn't.

PDW said he has a Sievert Promatic which I believe is about double the price of the one I listed. The site I was looking at has all 3 brands but is in UK so I was just using it for comparison. The Sievert Promatic torch handle is dearer than the Pro 86 and does not include the nozzle or hose, just the hand piece.

I am thinking of giving the Rothenberger a try but I will have to wait for the money as I have just spent up big again, on my welder. I will save the cost within just over a year tho.

Dean

Hi Dean, a couple of weeks ago I was up at the Paskeville field days particularly looking for LPG torches. The Bullfinch agent was there & offered me the kit for $300.00 (Fifty off) I haven't bought one but you might be able to barter. I also emailed a company in Ireland who sell Bullfinch I think about $140 Australian, leaves a lot of room for postage, unfortunately 2 Emails and NO reply. (still coming Sunday?)
tinkera

I contacted Bullfinch int eh UK last week asking if they sell direct and if they post O/S.
After a couple of dyas they replied tha they have an agent here in Aus (they supplied details) and that I should contact them.
I emailed the agent on Monday this week and got a reply telling me that the torch they had attached to 4.5 KG cylinders not disposable and asking if that was the one I was looking for. Also supplied a phot of the Bulfinch torch on a cyclinder but with an adjustable reg.
I replied "looks like it but the ones I've seen have a non adjustable reg". That was on Monday and so far I haven't had another reply. Pretty typical of a lot of Aussie companies unfortunately.

I'll probably look at buying for a dealer in the UK and getting it posted out here. I have seen another place here in Aus that has them for $350.
You can get them in the UK for as little as 93.47 UK pounds which at todays rates = $156 AUD. Even if it cost $100 to post it here (which I doubt it would) you would still be saving $100.
here the dealer I just found. I haven't enquired about it from them yet.
PROPANE TORCH KITS & ACCESSORIES its a fair way down the page under the heading "Brazing"

bollie7

I have the Rothenberger

Rothenberger Australia PTY LTD - Product Catalogue

I have brazed copper up to 1-1/8 using brown tip (15%)

but if cold and in the wind one needs to shield to get to temp.


and.....darn..i missed all the fun....lots of closed threads

Light bulb.......
As these units are for plumbing they mean brazing pipe up to 28mm, not solid.
Not such a big ask then. And they are not talking hard brazing, ie manganese bronze rods.

Ew

Originally Posted by Ueee

Light bulb.......
As these units are for plumbing they mean brazing pipe up to 28mm, not solid.
Not such a big ask then. And they are not talking hard brazing, ie manganese bronze rods.

Ew

yep...one needs to fully evaluate what they are really saying
ok for copper pipe, but not for solid

I don't know if this has been discussed previously but you can for next to nothing make an LPG torch from gal pipe and plumbing fittings. They work well for furnaces and forges, I often use mine to heat steel to red heat when case hardening with cherry red.

One downside of these torches from a brazing point of view, especially when trying to do delicate work, is that they produce a broad non-focussed flame. I haven't played with trying to focus the flame but it might be that a home made torch could be fitted with a tip to focus the flame. Its a fairly cheap experiment anyway.

g/day Bob, one question, what is the thingamogocker just to the left of the ball valve ?

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

PDW said he has a Sievert Promatic which I believe is about double the price of the one I listed. The site I was looking at has all 3 brands but is in UK so I was just using it for comparison. The Sievert Promatic torch handle is dearer than the Pro 86 and does not include the nozzle or hose, just the hand piece.

I am thinking of giving the Rothenberger a try but I will have to wait for the money as I have just spent up big again, on my welder. I will save the cost within just over a year tho.

Dean

Dean, I have the Sievert Promatic too. It is a beautyful handpiece indeed, with piezo lighter at the press of a lever. The nozzles swap in a breeze by a simple 90 degree bajonet action, no fiddling with threaded nuts, no tools needed. The Promatic is all superbly well built, more like a surgical tool than a torch. The downsides are, that both the handpiece and the many available nozzles are very expensive if bought new in AU. I bought my handle with one nozzle and hose and regulator used for around $100 from eBay AU. And an additional new nozzle I found from eBay UK for about $80. Else I could not afford/justify such a top of the range LPG kit for hobby use. The gas cylinder is the same as my barbie uses. If you are not in a hurry, I would very much recommend to keep looking at eBay until a bargain pops up. In the meantime, you could go by with a cartridge Butane. I got by for 20 years with a simple cheap French Camping Gaz blowtorch, before I stumbled across the promatic kit. You did not say what you want the new torch for, that may affect recommendations.

Chris

Originally Posted by shedhappens

g/day Bob, one question, what is the thingamogocker just to the left of the ball valve ?

There is a 1/2" to 1" gal socket, .6mm mig tip as the LPG orifice, and air intake with adjuster. I have an adjustable LPG regulator on the gas bottle which I normally set at 10 psi. The whole thing is basically just a large bunsen burner.

Originally Posted by tinkera

Hi Dean, a couple of weeks ago I was up at the Paskeville field days particularly looking for LPG torches. The Bullfinch agent was there & offered me the kit for $300.00 (Fifty off) I haven't bought one but you might be able to barter. I also emailed a company in Ireland who sell Bullfinch I think about $140 Australian, leaves a lot of room for postage, unfortunately 2 Emails and NO reply. (still coming Sunday?)
tinkera

At this stage I am still on for Sunday. Had a problem with the GPS tho. Got the route sorted but when I tried to connect the GPS I couldn't get it to connect properly. After about 6 emails it was decided that it needs repair. It is about 11 months old. I can still use it by manually planning a route or I can use the older one which appears to have the route copied to it. I tried that one after I had no success with the new one. I could also wing it as I don't think it will be to hard anyway.

For Bollie too.

I know the problem with not having emails returned. Been waiting weeks to hear from a solar company who sent me an email first. I don't know exactly when I sent it as it was their web based email setup and it did not send me a copy. I detest these things. I think it is so they can deny stuff cos you don't have a copy. I generally make a copy myself as text but did not this time.

Sent email to BOC re details of consumables for my new welder and a razz about the pathetic manual. Also on web composer but kept a copy. No reply yet.
Sent email as reminder the solar company.
Sent an email to local Reese store.

These 3 all on the same day.

Next day I had 3 replies from manager at Reese. One was to say he had requested the info I asked for and one to send me this info after he received it from Rothenberger. That is service. I have used this store a lot in the past and I will continue to do so. Their prices are good too.

Dean

Originally Posted by eskimo

I have the Rothenberger

Rothenberger Australia PTY LTD - Product Catalogue

I have brazed copper up to 1-1/8 using brown tip (15%)

but if cold and in the wind one needs to shield to get to temp.


and.....darn..i missed all the fun....lots of closed threads

Is the one you have the "Rothenberger - Contractors Propane Torch - $206"?

Shame you missed the fun.

Dean

Originally Posted by cba_melbourne

Dean, I have the Sievert Promatic too. It is a beautyful handpiece indeed, with piezo lighter at the press of a lever. The nozzles swap in a breeze by a simple 90 degree bajonet action, no fiddling with threaded nuts, no tools needed. The Promatic is all superbly well built, more like a surgical tool than a torch. The downsides are, that both the handpiece and the many available nozzles are very expensive if bought new in AU. I bought my handle with one nozzle and hose and regulator used for around $100 from eBay AU. And an additional new nozzle I found from eBay UK for about $80. Else I could not afford/justify such a top of the range LPG kit for hobby use. The gas cylinder is the same as my barbie uses. If you are not in a hurry, I would very much recommend to keep looking at eBay until a bargain pops up. In the meantime, you could go by with a cartridge Butane. I got by for 20 years with a simple cheap French Camping Gaz blowtorch, before I stumbled across the promatic kit. You did not say what you want the new torch for, that may affect recommendations.

Chris

What do I want the torch for? that is a good question. First I want it for domestic plumbing during renovations. I want to finish building a solar hot water collector. This needs ordinary plumbing silver soldering plus soft soldering copper pipes into pressed grooves in a copper sheet. I also want it for any silver soldering jobs that may come up in making stuff in the lathe/mill and maybe for hardening steel such as silver steel etc. I would like to try hardening chain saw bar steel as well. I do need to return my oxy bottle.

This is the site I was looking at Sievert Promatic Gas Blow Torch Handles and Burners.

About 115 pound for torch handle and medium cyclone burner. No hose/regulator with that but that is not a big issue. Still more money tho. As I already use oxy/propane I have a gas bottle besides the BBQ one. Which burners/nozzles do you use?

Dean