Hot take: The 12-inch extension on an autogenous weld wasn't BS after all

I spent three years swearing by a short torch setup for stainless. Last month, a retired millwright from Local 150 told me to switch to a 12-inch extension on my autogenous weld for tube and sheet. He said it gives you a cleaner puddle and less filler wicking. I tried it on a 304L stainless tank at a plant in Gary, and he was dead right. Anyone else got a trick they fought against for too long?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas_price1mo ago

Only took me ruining a few hundred bucks of tube to figure that out myself.

brooke_jones1mo ago

I read somewhere that the longer extension lets the heat spread more even.

dylan4631mo ago

Brooke said "let the heat spread more even" which is kinda true but I feel like that's only half the story. Longer tubes mean more surface area for the heat to move across before it hits your bowl, but if you're using a torch instead of a lighter it barely matters. How much of a difference did you actually notice in the flavor versus just the feel of the hit? Because I've swapped between short and long rigs and sometimes I can't tell if it's the tube length or just the water level tricking me.