Welding Tips and Tricks

I got into welding in the first place for auto restoration work. Lots of painfully thin and old sheet metal 12ga or more often 18ga. Lots of butt welded patches and plug welded replacement panels. Access and out of position always a concern. I upgraded to the Everlast 251si because I wanted to try both low amp TIG and pulsed MIG for the various welds I have coming up on the rust repair on my 1965 Porsche 912. I have a nice 17 and 26 air cooled torch and want to add a 9 to the mix. My default was gonna be the CK9 Flex but I'm wondering if any of the super specialty ones would be suited to the very low amp tight quarter work that happens in a small sportscar ?

Thanks crew. Great advice here.

The WP-24/24W is quite compact




So is the CK microtorch

For work on vehicles a CK flex lock can come in very handy.


Jody has a video from a while back showing some of the things it can do.


Pretty sure he welded a doubler inside of 2" square tubing with it.


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I find a #17 with a short back cap and a stubby lens capable for nearly everything I've encountered. When it's not, I might switch a long nose cup, or a large cup and a lot of stick out.

Thanks for the opinion guys. I guess I should have said since I just bought the 17 I was thinking another torch which uses the same flexible line would be an economical approach for me. I know the 9 does.

I do lots of odd and tight position work. Piping, industrial repair, confined space pressure vessel repairs. I can think of 1 time I couldn’t make a 9 flex head work. Don’t buy a smaller head set until you absolutely unquestionably have a project for it. Unless you do something over and over that it would save time on.

Thanks thats the kind of real world experience I was looking for.

I've posted links before here to the weldcraft convertible torch that I have. I don't often use the little tiny torch heads but when I want them all I need to do is screw one on. I think I have eight different heads prepped for simply screwing on to the flex torch. I tend to stick with only two for general-purpose work but I have used them all at one time or another. I know that setup seems expensive at first but when I look at some of the stuff other people have purchased I'm pretty sure mine was an economical choice. I would do it again in a heartbeat and I have yet to see anything posted by anyone that made me want to purchase another torch.

BugHunter,
That sounds interesting. Can you post pictures of some of the different setups? What is a ballpark price for the full package?

Rick