Over Heated Tig Torch

[SICFabrications]

now i understand why you want a cooler if youre draping the torch leads across your body... there is a tough reality, even with a cooler, it wont cool the torch lead, only the torch head... matter of fact, you will make the lead hotter by pulling heat from the torch down through the lead and only make it hotter.... i have a suggestion, fastest, stop draping the leads across your body, this is a very bad habit to get into....

both keith and dan are correct, the hi-freq can jump out of the cable, even jump from the ground or jump from the table and get ya... dan is correct, if you arent ground, you see the arc on yourself, but its virtually harmless... no here is the problem......... when you are welding and youre dipping filler, everytime you dip the filler, you become part of the ground, the hot leads across your back and arm gonna make ya a lil sweaty and water is an AWESOME conductor... gloves sweaty, shirt sweaty, pinhole in the torch lead jacket and shield that happen from a grinder spark gettin on there and all the right (or wrong) stuff happens and BAM! yer dead, cause ya just got hit with 125 amps of straight up alternating current (which btw, average person dies from exposure to 1/4 of an amp in the right (or wrong) situation)

[wkdivr]

Hello,
I'm new, and can't PM. Please PM me on your decision on your tig welder, and how you like it. Thanks

[tigqk]

You can change out the covering on the torch, and it should take some of the stiffness out of the torch and make it easy to weld without draping it over your back.

[Ken's Welding]

maybe i'm weird, but my water on my lil cheap thing goes down the middle of my conductor line, i just tried an hour and a half at 235 amps on some 3/4 inch plate just to try this thing, its a 300 amp rated cheapy torch, i use only fresh water, not a closed unit, anyway, my conductor line was nice and cool, back cap got "warm" but still able to touch it with my bare hand with no skin loss, and the torch itself was cool to the "lip test" cup was nice and red, so it was a lil on the warm side.. ha! anyway, maybe that will help....now, on the other hand, i have a 200 amp air cooled, and at 165 amps you cant touch a darn thing, even with gloved hands, after about 7 minutes solid....and after 11 min it starts to deform the handle on the silly thing.... water cooled is the only way to go for anything more than just a few minutes...

[Nick]

As someone who's gone out of their way to grab the ignition leads of a hopped up 400 Pontiac barehanded, I can understand getting zapped. Doing the "I'm not in control of my legs and arms" dance is only worthy of so many fun points. While I enjoy it more than most, it's not for everyone.

[arandall]

Wish I was there Nick!!