[TheForge] Ronson Aero Torch

[Michael]

Bruce,
Ace Hardware in Seattle charged me $22.99; your prices may vary.
Of ordering from Ronson...be wary! 

They left me "on the waiting list" for six months last year, before a
secretary finally admitted they had a shipping problem and that I could buy
their Tech Torch at Wall Mart any day of the week for less money! Perhaps
they've cleared the problem up, but than again maybe not; you might have to
wait six months to find out the hard way. Unfortunately, the manager this
secretary works for seems to have a terminal case of "deer in the
headlights" syndrome; it's really a shame, since both of these torches are
very fine products for the money. I have researched all the butane
micro-torches presently offered and no other product even comes close.
Blazer pioneered butane micro-torches, but is busy pricing themselves right
out of the market; other products are so poorly built as to be dangerous. An
example of this is sliding valve on most of the Wall Lenk torches: The
LPT-200 looks like a good head on competitor with the Ronson Tech Torch,
until the rubber tube it squeezes shut--in the very same manner some workers
illegally shut off gas pressure when changing oxy-fuel equipment--tears,
spilling butane all over the torch; makes for quite exciting moments, as
shutting the valve then has no effect!

As to the Tech Torch: it is a well built torch, but only produces a 1/8" X 1
1/4" needle flame (about one-sixth the output produced by the Aero Torch). I
recommend both models in my torch chapter, but the size of the Tech Torch
flame is simply too small for any but the finest work (electronics, some
jewelry, or instrument repair) unless you back up the torch with a secondary
heat source like a laboratory type electric heater. This is often done with
things like aluminum radiator repairs, but can complicate your project;
also, the price of the heater would encourage most people to simply move up
to oxy-fuel torches. Only people who have appropriate bench work in mind,
and who don't want larger cylinders in the area, would choose to go this
rout. The Aero Torch is what I would choose for slipping under the house to
repair 1/2" copper pipe for instance.

Mikey

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Freeman
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 11:12 AM
To: 'Sponsored by ABANA'
Subject: RE: [TheForge] Ronson Aero Torch

Mikey,
That's the AEORtorch you mean, not the TECHtorch?  

Sounds like something I could use.
But I can't find it for that price on the ACE hardware site.  Ronson
has it on sale for $23.50 at
https://www.ronsonstore.com/products.cfm?cat=o
Bruce
NJ

>>> michael.a.porter at comcast.net 9/19/2006 1:38 PM >>>
Many of you know that I dabble in gas burner designs, and also that
I'm
researching torches, for a survey chapter in my next book. One of the
torch
chapter sections concerns blue-flame butane micro-torches. Most of
these are
poorly constructed and/or overpriced (Blazer for instance is well
built, but
priced in the same range as small oxy-fuel torches). However, Ronson
makes
two exceptional torch designs at low prices. One of them is a needle
flame
torch of no interest outside of instrument repair or miniature
engineering
(although very well built). The other one is an ingenious design that
incorporates every trick to make exceptional performance possible,
including
a copper heat-exchange tube to accelerate its low pressure butane gas.
The
result is a flame nearly the equivalent of a high-speed propane tube
burner
in 1/8" size, for about twenty-three bucks. You can order them through
Ace
Hardware.

Mikey


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