Originally Posted by
Peterpan1
In the welding comunity it is considered unsafe to switch hands with the torch.
A good safety point. It may also be against regulations in many places to even have welding gasses in the home. In my shop in California I had to build a fire proof wall with a double thickness of sheet-rock both sides between the framebuilding area and the paint area.
Originally Posted by
white folks
also, when i was in josh ahearnes' shop i saw his torch hoses run from the tanks to a little brass dome then to his torch, which hung from a wire rod poking for the brass dome thingy. It had a small pilot light on the other side...i was too embarrassed to ask what it was, I at first though it was some sort of gas-flux apparatus but now i think it was some sort of hanger-activated pilot light. anyone know for sure?
That's exactly what it is. Hang the torch up, and it cuts the gas supply off; pick up the torch and re-light it from the pilot light. This would be a luxury for the hobbyist, but it does save a lot of time, and is a must for any kind of production work.