Water cooled torch woes

    --OK I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit of a slacker and it took time to get it organized so the box the torch came in is long gone. Anywayyyy yesterday I finally hooked up the torch to my little Miller CoolMate and gave it a test. Imagine my surprise when, after turning on the circulation pump, that coolant started leaking out of the gas intake fitting! Now this can't be normal. The fittings on the three hoses going to/from the torch are crimped on: two fittings sized for coolant and one biggie for gas/electric for torch so there's no way to mix 'em up. I'm a bit befuddled at this stage; anyone seen anything similar?     --Confused,

On Fri, 03 Jun 2011 19:59:52 +0000, steamer wrote:
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See if you can find a manual for it on the web. Almost certainly the line with the electric connection is water supply (keeps the rather small wire cool) and one of the two other connections is for gas. The one water does not come out of when run in to the water cooled wire connection, is the gas (should have a different thread too).

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Ed, on a water cooled torch the Large line is for power to the torch and the return line for the coolant. There should be 2 small lines. One is gas in, and one is coolant in. It should be pretty easy to tell since one has a left hand thread for coolant and one has a right hand thread for gas.
Only on an air cooled torch is the gas fed through the power line.
Any time you see notches in the corners of the hex section it means a left hand thread. Left hand threads are only used for fuel gasses and water lines.
I have seen a torch where the factory accidentally switched the gas and coolant "in" lines. If all 3 lines are black vinyl it can be done. I use superflex cables now which are silicone and color coded. Much harder to mix them up.

    --Yes they are the black vinyl variety; I'm thinking they got fittings switched because the threaded bit that coolant is coming out of can only be screwed into the welder, not the coolant unit. Still a bit confused; if this one *is* supposed to be a coolant return line then I'll have to get a different brass fitting that's plugged on the end that goes into the welder and that has a side hole so that coolant can be diverted back to the tank. Hmmm yes a manual would be nice; still digging! :-)

On Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:41:43 +0000, steamer wrote:
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My old CK torch is hooked up as follows: coolant unit discharge to welder water solenoid in torch coolant in line to welder water solenoid out torch coolant out fitting (on power cable adapter) return to tank - all water connections at torch & welder are 5/8-18 LH (Note I got the water flow direction backwards last post)
Torch gas connection is 5/8-18 RH, to welder gas solenoid outlet
My coolant unit has 1/4" pipe threads so I had to make up two 1/4 pipe to 5/8-18 LH male hoses for it, this mat not be standard.

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Your machine I believe has a DInse connector If it feeds gas through the power connector then "yes" you will need a different connector. To hook up a water cooled torch you need a breakout connector that splits the gas off of the power lug and allows the coolant to pass through back to your cooler.
CK sells them.
Try this page and scroll down to the last diagram
http://www.ckworldwide.com/safe_loc.htm

    --Thanks for the link; all has been revealed and I think I get it now! :-)

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Go in peace my son.

    --Uh, almost made it but... If you look at that webpage with the photo of the DINSE widget opened up the logical mind would conclude that the argon comes out of the middle and the water circulates thru the two hoses on top but it ain't so! The argon path is in thru the central hole in the machined main piece on the left side and out thru one of the two brazed on fittings on the body! That means that the hose that carries current to the torch and also ferries argon to the tip is connected via this wimpy little brazed on tube rather than thru the centerline of the main brass thingy. Does this sound as kattywompus to you as it does to me? I'm now thinking the torch was made correctly but the Safe-Loc wasn't. Opinions?

steamer wrote:
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On a water cooled TIG torch, the tube with the power lead is absolutely part of the coolant loop, not the shielding gas loop. Those power leads are much too small to survive the torches rated current without water cooling. No water circulating in the power lead tube = destroyed torch in short order.

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    --OK that makes sense; so the argon isn't going thru the power lead line but thru one of the other two. Will noodle further tomorrow; thanks for the explanation of routing...

steamer wrote:
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What you are looking at in that opened up picture is a bit confusing without some dotted lines showing the flow paths. The argon feed through the center of the DINSE connector is being routed out to one of the two hoses seen at the top and connects to the gas supply tube to the torch. The other hose seen entering at the top of the DINSE plug block is the water return line which connects to the water cooler. The center lead that connects at the back through the fuse block is the water cooled power lead from the torch which feeds the water out via that top return line. Not shown is the water supply line to the torch since it doesn't connect in the DINSE adapter, but rather to the water cooler.

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The reason that the gas needs to connect to that little brazed on fitting is because you have a baby TIG machine.
Larger machines never feed the gas through the power connector. That only exists on small machines that shipped with air cooled torches, because it makes it really easy to hook up.
All the larger machines have a separate gas out connector to feed the torch.
So the point of the safe-loc adapter is to allow you to use a water cooled torch on a machine that wasn't shipped with one as standard equipment.
At least you can buy one now. Back when I owned an Econotig I had to kludge my own together.

    --Thanks gang; got it figured out at long last and working correctly and leak-free yesterday afternoon. Hey Ernie next time you're in town maybe we can concentrate on aluminum now! :-)

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Happy to.