[Jewelry making - Article 00116] - Re: [Orchid] [Source] Water Torch

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>     Has anyone made or found a supplier of water torches? I am very
>     interested in this new technology and would like to try and build
>     my own torch. 

    Beth, please be careful if trying to build your own. This isn't
    simple kitchen chemistry of cobbled together parts, if you want a
    torch that works well, and is safe. Remember that what the torch is
    doing is taking a substantial amount of electricity, which has it's
    risks and considerations all on it's own, and using it to generate a
    mix of oxygen and hydrogen. Handled wrong, that's a rather potent and
    explosive mix. And to make the water electrically conductive, it's
    mixed with highly corrosive chemicals. And don't forget you can't
    just burn the oxy/hydrogen mix as is. Too hot, too combustible. The
    torches all run the gas mix through a vapor fluxing unit to mix in
    the fumes of one of several common solvents, either with or without
    added boric acid flux. The result of all that is your nice usable
    clean flame. The commercially made torches do it right, and do it
    safely. But getting there is not as simple as describing what the
    things do. 

    Also, for the record, this is hardly new. The first one I ever used
    was in the mid 70s, not long after I first entered the commercial
    jewelry world after college. They'd been around for quite a while
    before then. The torches HAVE, however, been refined since then, and
    one can get decent units for less money, that work better, than the
    earlier ones. There are quite a number of different brands and
    versions around for your purchase consideration. L&R makes a great,
    though somewhat costly, workhorse of a torch. Spiraflame makes
    several versions, even costlier if I recall, but very high quality.
    Krohn industries makes one, I think, and those three are just the
    first names to pop into my head. There are at least three or four
    others I can think of, but who's names escape me as I type this. A
    bit of net searching should be able to find you a number of choices,
    and I'll bet you that buying one, at least one of the smaller units,
    would be a good deal cheaper than making one, if you value your time
    at all reasonably as part of the cost... 

    Just as an illustration, consider the humble electric motor. A good
    polishing motor costs perhaps a hundred fifty dollars. You don't
    really even need to know how or why it works to copy the obvious
    features of the design of one if you've got one to take apart. But
    getting it right, so your own home built version of a buffing motor
    runs, develops power, doesn't short out, burn out, or make too much
    noise? Try building your own for less than buying one. I doubt even
    the geekiest among us could do so. 

cheers
Peter Rowe
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