Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi guys, just looking for some advice. I'm in Ireland so I can't just walk into a local supplier and get what I want. Our shops are pretty small here and don't carry much stock plus they are pretty clueless. No joke, I only just bought this welder after having another Lincoln inverter for 8 years. I was hoping to get my old one repaired but over here they just want to sell you new stuff and are terrible when it comes to repair or servicing. There is only 2 Lincoln suppliers in the whole of Ireland. They had no interest in repairing it. I then went to the biggest supplier in the South of Ireland and talked to the guy who actually does the electrical repairs himself, he had never heard of a Lincoln. They stock EWM and Esab machines. Sorry for the rant but now you see what I'm dealing with.
Anyway back to my question. I want to get a CK torch with a super flex lead for my Lincoln. I know I need to buy the adapter to go to Dinse 35, but then I need to go from the gas connection on the adapter to the quick release on the front of my machine which I think is a 1/8 quick release. What's the best way to do this? They have adapters on their catalogue for quick release but they are only 5/8 to 9mm.
Also it's a CK 17 torch I'd like to get but what is the difference between that and the CK 150 master Tig torch? They are. It's the same size and weight so what makes the 150 better?

I'm in the UK so I understand your pain - Lincoln here is largely sold my flash reps but has almost no support so I would never buy from them - the easiest connection which is always available on a torch hose is 3/8" BSP & Ebay has loads of cheap dinse > 3/8" in both 25 & 35 sizes - the gas connect I've not seen in person so don't know if it's available here but in the past I've replaced them for what is local for ease - either get a gas one sold by most plumbing places for hoses on propane blow lamps used on Calor bottles or get a push fit from a lorry spares place designed for plastic airlines - most of the adapters have 6mm plastic pipe on & push fit for these are easy to find - if you really want the right one then try Rapid Welding - they are UK & will ship anywhere - they deal with Lincoln & are the only CK dealer I know of but I have found them not that knowledgeable / helpful & over priced - once your up & running I'd be interested in your opinion on you machine - I recently needed to replace a little site carry welder & went with a 200 amp Parweld - next one I will give Rtech a try - they're all Chinese anyway !

noddybrian wrote:I'm in the UK so I understand your pain - Lincoln here is largely sold my flash reps but has almost no support so I would never buy from them - the easiest connection which is always available on a torch hose is 3/8" BSP & Ebay has loads of cheap dinse > 3/8" in both 25 & 35 sizes - the gas connect I've not seen in person so don't know if it's available here but in the past I've replaced them for what is local for ease - either get a gas one sold by most plumbing places for hoses on propane blow lamps used on Calor bottles or get a push fit from a lorry spares place designed for plastic airlines - most of the adapters have 6mm plastic pipe on & push fit for these are easy to find - if you really want the right one then try Rapid Welding - they are UK & will ship anywhere - they deal with Lincoln & are the only CK dealer I know of but I have found them not that knowledgeable / helpful & over priced - once your up & running I'd be interested in your opinion on you machine - I recently needed to replace a little site carry welder & went with a 200 amp Parweld - next one I will give Rtech a try - they're all Chinese anyway !

Thanks for the reply. I'll track down a fitting somehow or worst case senario I'll take the fitting off an old torch hose I have and fit it to the new one. I thought it would be a common enough adapter since Lincoln use it on all there invertecs. Surely someone is running a CK super flex lead on a Lincoln machine.
I already am up and running as a lead came with the machine. I probably should have gone with an Esab because there is a supplier close by and we deal with them for consumables and Metabo power tools and they are great for repairs.
But I couldn't turn my back on Lincoln after the service I got out of my last inverter. It was a 160-T model and it worked flawlessly for 8 years and no doubt still would be working if it wasn't for my apprentice tipping over the cart it was on and crushing it with the Argon cylinder. It still worked for 2 weeks after and then went tits up. The new machine has a few nice new features but none that I'd deem necessary. The extra power will come in handy now and again though. The old Lincoln put up with some abuse over the years. Thrown in and out of my van day after day, outside on site in the rain regularly and sucking in grinding dust without ever being blown out for years at a time. It was a beast. In the 8 years it was around countless of my co workers killed many an EWM and Esabs. It cost €1650 plus Vat and was worth every cent. The TPX has a lot to live up to.

If you buy directly from CK, they have outstanding customer service, and will make sure your torch is "plug and play", so you don't have to adapt fittings. They can set up your torch for any of the major makers, and most of the smaller outfits, including the Chinese stuff.

If you buy from e-bay or weldfabulous or similar, the research for compatibility is on you.

Steve S

Kranob, do you have the same username on Instagram? You just popped up today as a "suggestion" there. Nice stuff!

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:Kranob, do you have the same username on Instagram? You just popped up today as a "suggestion" there. Nice stuff!

Steve S

Hi Steve, thanks for the reply. Yeah that is me on Instagram, pretty new to it. I didn't think CK sold stuff directly to the public? There is no distributer in Ireland but Rapid welding in the U.K. Are stockists so I'll drop them an email and see what they can do for me.

I've called CK before to get a torch specifically made. They created or gave me a part number for what I wanted then I was able to get that number ordered through there local distributors. The guy I ordered from didn't even need to know or understand what I was ordering. He just had to copy the number right.

Kranob wrote:

Otto Nobedder wrote:Kranob, do you have the same username on Instagram? You just popped up today as a "suggestion" there. Nice stuff!

Steve S

Hi Steve, thanks for the reply. Yeah that is me on Instagram, pretty new to it. I didn't think CK sold stuff directly to the public? There is no distributer in Ireland but Rapid welding in the U.K. Are stockists so I'll drop them an email and see what they can do for me.

Yeah, I spoke too fast when I said "buy" directly from CK. I should have remembered CK does not retail directly to consumers. They do, however, do what Poland308 said. The customer service is awesome. They're also on IG, as @ckworldwide naturally.

Not the first time I've posted bad info, and not likely to be the last, I'm afraid, but this community will call me out and get the story straight.

Steve S

Not so much calling out as translating. Understand what I mean, not what I typed. I love how this place works. Others always smooth over the forgotten bits.

Just an update. Got sorted anyway thanks to Gary from Rapid welding in the UK. I got a CK 17 flex head and a superflex cable. Also got the CK Dinse 35 adapter and the guys at Rapid put the quick connect fitting for my Lincoln onto the gas hose of the adapter. It's called a Rectus 20 quick release fitting too just in case anyone is interested. Got a stubby gas lense set up too and it feels great, so neat compared to what I had.

Kranob wrote:Just an update. Got sorted anyway thanks to Gary from Rapid welding in the UK. I got a CK 17 flex head and a superflex cable. Also got the CK Dinse 35 adapter and the guys at Rapid put the quick connect fitting for my Lincoln onto the gas hose of the adapter. It's called a Rectus 20 quick release fitting too just in case anyone is interested. Got a stubby gas lense set up too and it feels great, so neat compared to what I had.

Good deal, post up some pics