The hose is made in USA. The goggles are made in Taiwan. Everything else is made in China.
Funny how they never show you that side of the box.
I started tracking down the COO of the various parts. The handle and the cutter are both "Peoples Republic of China" and I lost interest after that.
There must be some kind of personality defect that I have. I am not a USA tools only person. In my toolboxes there are also German, Swiss, and Japanese (Ko-Ken). I even have quite a few Taiwan made tools that I really like. On the other hand, I can't hardly tolerate a China made tool unless there is no reasonable way around it or I am planning on trashing it.
I started tracking down the COO of the various parts. The handle and the cutter are both "Peoples Republic of China" and I lost interest after that.
There must be some kind of personality defect that I have. I am not a USA tools only person. In my toolboxes there are also German, Swiss, and Japanese (Ko-Ken). I even have quite a few Taiwan made tools that I really like. On the other hand, I can't hardly tolerate a China made tool unless there is no reasonable way around it or I am planning on trashing it.
It's not a personality defect.
The problem with China isn't quality. After all, they make just about every turbocharger on the planet, ball bearings, nuclear power plants, nuclear subs, missiles, and advanced fighter planes. They make things to a price point, determined by the people who are going to sell it. If you want to sell cheap junk, they'll make it for you.
I try really hard not to buy anything made in China for several reasons. One is severe human rights abuses. One is that they're the largest polluter on the planet. Why is it that the US and other western nations have to meet strict environmental regulation, but our companies can just ship the work to China, making any regulation not only worthless, but actually making things worse, as they really have zero regulation. Whether or not one subscribes to climate change, or not, no one wants to breathe dirty air. Here in Japan, we deal with the polluted air blowing out of China. It's that bad. Then there's the military spending angle. A part of every dollar you send to China goes into bolstering their military, and they ARE a military adversary of the US. Then, as a US tax payer, you get to spend that dollar again in US military spending to counter what the Chinese are doing.
Pretty simple. Where I can, I stopped giving them my money. Full disclosure, two of my seven welders are Everlast. Highly disappointed in the welders, as well as in myself for being suckered into buying them. So much so that had I known what I do now, I would have paid the $3k for the 300A Panasonic inverter DC stick machine I was looking at instead of the $1k I paid for the Everlast Powerarc 300ST.
Open the cover on any of those machines and you know where the inner components come from, but like you say, there's reasonably good Chinese and there's junk Chinese. I like name brand too, but it's getting hard to avoid when companies like SnapOn are outsourcing from them.
250 amp Miller DialArc AC/DC Stick
F-225 amp Forney AC Stick
230 amp Sears AC Stick
Lincoln 180C MIG
Vevor MIG 200A
Victor Medalist 350 O/A
Vevor Cut 50 Plasma
Les
Open the cover on any of those machines and you know where the inner components come from, but like you say, there's reasonably good Chinese and there's junk Chinese. I like name brand too, but it's getting hard to avoid when companies like SnapOn are outsourcing from them.
HF 170 welder
HF 4x6 band saw
South Bend 9N
Mill
B&D mag drill
Victor torch
I vote for gradually buying quality stuff off craigslist or whatever other classifieds. I personally used Airco products for 10 years in Seattle's shipyards back in the day, so I have collected Airco stuff. But I have some Victor 400 series regulators I use on my pattern torch and I have a Harris machine torch on my Bug-O track burner. Harris is good stuff. Older Victor is good stuff - best valves in the industry. Good parts support.
Buy quality and pay for rebuilds as needed.
You can save a lot of money buying used. I used to buy and sell O/A gear just because I could. Several times I got a whole set of tanks, torches, hoses, spare tools/tips and all for less than $100. Just the other day someone gave me a pair of Rego regulators. They didn't work and parts aren't available but there's a lot of brass in them. A bucket of brass bits brings do-re-mi at the scrap yard these days what with copper north of $4.50 a pound.
I vote for gradually buying quality stuff off craigslist or whatever other classifieds. I personally used Airco products for 10 years in Seattle's shipyards back in the day, so I have collected Airco stuff. But I have some Victor 400 series regulators I use on my pattern torch and I have a Harris machine torch on my Bug-O track burner. Harris is good stuff. Older Victor is good stuff - best valves in the industry. Good parts support.
Buy quality and pay for rebuilds as needed.
You can save a lot of money buying used. I used to buy and sell O/A gear just because I could. Several times I got a whole set of tanks, torches, hoses, spare tools/tips and all for less than $100. Just the other day someone gave me a pair of Rego regulators. They didn't work and parts aren't available but there's a lot of brass in them. A bucket of brass bits brings do-re-mi at the scrap yard these days what with copper north of $4.50 a pound.
metalmagpie
That is really good advice.
Miller Trailblazer Pro 350D
Miller Suitcase MIG
Miller Spectrum 2050
Miller Syncrowave 250DX
Lincoln 210MP
I have a lot of Harris and Airco torches, Harris or REGO regulators. All were purchased used here and there. I send them out for refurb after I get them. They come back looking & working as good as new at half the price. In my opinion the older equipment after refurbishment is better quality than new stuff.
It's too bad the parent company that bought Esab discontinued the original Purox, Oxweld and other torches originally made by the Linde division of Union Carbide. In my opinion Purox made the most comfortable torch to use. I like the shorter turned up cutting lever that can be flipped back. Victor are OK but I don't like the long basically straight cutting lever. Original Canadian Liquid Air torches and regulators made in Canada were very good and very popular too. They shut the plant down and now source from Concoa. Not nearly as nice or as good. Even the original Victor style torches got tweaked so some designer/engineer at Esab could take some credit for them. They didn't need tweaking and were the best selling on the market. Sometimes technology goes backwards. Never used Harris much. Smith is a very well made torch but I don't find them comfortable to use. Sometimes it's personal preference.
It's too bad the parent company that bought Esab discontinued the original Purox, Oxweld and other torches originally made by the Linde division of Union Carbide. In my opinion Purox made the most comfortable torch to use. I like the shorter turned up cutting lever that can be flipped back. Victor are OK but I don't like the long basically straight cutting lever. Original Canadian Liquid Air torches and regulators made in Canada were very good and very popular too. They shut the plant down and now source from Concoa. Not nearly as nice or as good. Even the original Victor style torches got tweaked so some designer/engineer at Esab could take some credit for them. They didn't need tweaking and were the best selling on the market. Sometimes technology goes backwards. Never used Harris much. Smith is a very well made torch but I don't find them comfortable to use. Sometimes it's personal preference.
I started collecting torches some years back and have examples of all the classic Oxweld/Purox/Linde/L-tec/Union Carbide/ESAB torches and really like their quality and ergonomics. I have piles of Victor 450 series regulator bodies from an auction buy so any time I want another (I even use one on my BBQ grill since the stock part failed) I rebuild one. Also have Smith, Concoa, Airco, and Harris because why not?
I've never bought a new torch or regulator and have no desire to especially after seeing current prices in this thread. It's easy as it could be to grab regulators ya like (Victor parts are easiest to source but Seal Seat covers most makes) and a variety of torches. If ya don't trust yourself to rebuild a regulator to oxygen safe conditions send 'em out as it's cheap enough I sometimes don't bother if I don't feel like polishing the body or extracting a busted nipple.
For what a new outfit costs I'd only buy them with someone else's money on the job.
Nowadays many sellers have no idea how handy torches are. I lost count of how many cylinders I own as I scoop 'em up at estate sales then exchange at my LWS. Having oxygen, acetylene, argon, 75/25, CO2, and nitrogen (pressure testing car and truck air conditioners works better finding leaks than pulling vacuum but ya can pressure test HVAC with shielding gas too since the regulators use the same nipples) is insanely handy. I buy new hoses, tips and minor parts but that's about it.
ReplyOriginally Posted by whtbaron
Master Welder
Master Welder
scsmith42 liked this post
