Reliable manufacturer of oxyfuel regulator/flashback arrestor/torch?

[Tokarev]

Years ago in a thread that I can no longer find even in my subscriptions someone mentioned one manufacturer who made the best quality oxyfuel equipment.
Now my son graduated from a welding college and is looking for his own equipment I can use that tip again.
Can't recall if it was Victor that they said... So who makes the best?

Thank you!

[dragon813gt]

Most likely Victor. I have them on three of my setups and have never had an issue.

[Vann]

Victor is a good brand, they hardly ever break or wear out. If they do most welding supply stores can rebuild them.

[M-Tecs]

Smith and Victor are the two big players. Both are very good.

[Tokarev]

Thank you! I am pretty sure Victor was originally mentioned.
A side question: what is better for cutting these days - an oxyfuel rig, or a plasma cutter?
I am not sure I understand plasma cutting process well, but it almost sounds like I can get away with using compressed air, whereas for oxyfuel I would need to buy 2 more cylinders.

[M-Tecs]

Oxyfuel rigs are portable. Plasma requires electrical power source and compressed air, however, plasma cuts cleaner and you can cut non-ferrous materials with plasma.

[JSnover]

A plasma cutter will cut any electrically conductive metal and can run on shop air. Oxy-acetylene gets hot enough to melt whatever you have but is best for steel or iron. It works by rapid oxidation. The acetylene flame raises the temperature (you can melt damned near anything with it) and the oxygen stream does the actual cutting.
You can also use an oxyacetylene rig for welding, brazing or soldering.

[Vann]

A decent sized plasma cutter will cost 1300.00 and up for something good like a Miller not to mention a limited cut depth. We run a Miller Spectrum 650 at work and once you get over 1/2 inch thick the cut quality starts going down. Where as a good cutting torch with the proper tip will cut 2" plate with ease and 5/8" like butter. Another option to oxygen/acetylene would be oxygen/propane. Propane is cheaper to burn but you can not braze with propane. Also it cuts a bit differently than acetylene so it takes getting used to.

Unless a lot of stainless steel and aluminum are going to be cut most welders can get by with just a good cutting rig.

[firebrick43]

Victors were good. Made in China now and service /quality is slipping. Smith torches are excellent as were the older victors. Smith regulators are better than victor but the best are the airco dual stages. If I was buying new torches they would be all smiths as they are still made in the us and their service is top notch. They still have an engineer on the payroll that can answer questions. Victor(thermodyne) does not

[Houndog]

I'll second the Smiths recomendation! I've had Smiths, Victor and Oxweld outfits at one time or another and the Smiths are head and shoulders above the rest! They aren't the cheapest, but when you buy quality you only have to cry once and you'll smile every time you use it!

[w5pv]

I have always liked Smith gauges and regulators,and a good Victor combination,torch,when I was doing the work.The main thing is proper procedure with any tool.

[Dutchman]

I bought a new Smith "Airline" oxy-acetylene set in 1979 for my home shop and have done a lot of gas welding, brazing & silver soldering with it ever since. I just replaced an ancient Harris oxygen regulator with a new Smith. I have nothing negative to say about Smith.

Dutch

[Dolton916]

I have 14 sets between the shop and service trucks, they all say Smith.

They are the best most durable torch sets I've found.

I use the standard duty cutting torch, and the heavy duty handle plus tips for heating, welding, brazing etc.

Keep out from under tracked equipment, yea my guys have done it, and they'll last a lifetime.

[Tokarev]

We finally bought a plasma cutter. This is a CUT50 machine from eBay, shipped directly from China for a tad less than $400 CDN. We could not afford anything more expensive so had to take a dive.

The only problem was that after about 3-4 uses the rocking power button stopped staying in the Off position (guess they don't expect you to ever stop work in Chicom?). I contacted the seller and he shipped me 3 more spare buttons at no charge. From that day on the button worked and the spares are still in the envelope waiting for this to re-occur.

We are using this machine with a cheap compressor at 90 Psi and it cuts through everything we fed to it. So far nothing really large, perhaps 3/8" tops and had no issues. It does not seem to go through the components as fast as we gathered from the posts on the web by the other users.

The only real irritant so far is that there are no rollers offered for its torch. I rigged something up from a thin-walled pipe of the similar diameter, but we would need lots of those standoff devices as as soon as the flame blows sideways it burns through the pipe in an instant. Need something with the legs straddled further apart. Mmm...

Our machine is the blue one, with a display, single 220V input and came with PT31 torch.

[fast ronnie]

I have a Thermodyne plasma and two sets of Smiths, one medium size, and one a little larger. Plasma and oxy-acy each have their uses. Torches seem a little more practical on dirty stuff than plasma. Thin stuff, I almost always use the plasma. It's almost like drawing with a pencil, but consumables can be expensive and sometimes have to be sacrificed to get the job done.

The proper tool for the job....