Welding Tips and Tricks

I’m sorry if this has been beat to death, I have searched but didn’t find what I was looking for. i am in the market for a new Tig torch setup and have always pretty much used 17 air cooled. Mainly with a flex head which for me is pretty much a must. My new machine is coming with a water cooled 9 and. 20 torch which are new to me since I’ve never ran watercooled. The machine will do 325 amps and I want a torch that can handle the heat and still have a good amount of flex or adjustability. I’ve been looking at CK flex loc heads and want some opinions on what people have ran and if they have ran this are you happy with it. Thanks for any input.

If you want to use it at machine Max and for longer runs I would say you need a 18 torch. Same as your 17 but water cooled.

The 9 you get will not hold long runs over 125 amps DC (it's not water cooled).
The 20 is water cooled and will do roughly 200 amps if I remember correctly.

9 and 20 use the same consumables
17, 18 and 26 use the same consumables

i have both size flexloc with super flex cables on them.
i've had them for years and not a single problem with either one.
the larger one is connected to a miller 250 syncrowave and the
20 style on my HTP. both have had a lot of use.
craig

AndersK wrote:If you want to use it at machine Max and for longer runs I would say you need a 18 torch. Same as your 17 but water cooled.

The 9 you get will not hold long runs over 125 amps DC (it's not water cooled).
The 20 is water cooled and will do roughly 200 amps if I remember correctly.

9 and 20 use the same consumables
17, 18 and 26 use the same consumables

Yeah I wasn’t sure if the 9 was watercooled but it says it comes with it. Along with a water cooled 20. I believe the flex loc I’m looking at will do 250 amps from CK. I know the 9 isn’t rated very high and I probably won’t use it much or at all. Most of the welded I do is under 100amps but occssionaly I get things that are thicker and obviously require more heat. I think a 20 would be ok.

Graveyard wrote:
I think a 20 would be ok.

The CK 20 is rated at 250 amps AC and DC at 100% duty, the few times you need more just change to the 18 torch.

LtBadd wrote:

Graveyard wrote:
I think a 20 would be ok.

The CK 20 is rated at 250 amps AC and DC at 100% duty, the few times you need more just change to the 18 torch.

That will serve you well

I've been using a CK flexlock water cooled torch with my 250EX without any trouble. I love the torch!