What is Your Dream Torch for Boro?
 

What do you work on now and what is your dream torch?

What is the torch you lust after that will melt boro with ease, have a bushy flame for big work and a pinpoint flame for detail, and strike gorgeous colors.

I'm on a Bethlehem Barracuda but I hear the Phantom is a powerful torch.

Dreaming . . . .:happy:

I'm on a Lynx. I'd like a bigger torch, but I haven't used many so I don't know what's good. I'll be interested in the answers, too.

I thought cudas were good for boro...

Cuda's are GREAT for boro, and I love mine! It has a center fire and an outer ring so I can get bushy and pinpoint, in fact a very precise pinpoint flame.

Just dreaming . . . of the future.

I'd like a delta mag. I got plenty of uses for the outer fire.Too bad there is a place that holds a contest here in Vermont every year and the prize is a delta mag, but they don't invite Vermonters for a chance to win it. I guess when the wait isn't 6months plus for one i'll have to buy my own because i aint one of the cool blowers getting the opportunity to win one.

I'm on a redmax now and it works for me. Ideally I think I'd like a Mirage, though I learned on a Carlisle bench burner that put out a pretty hefty flame, and had a pretty focused needle flame.

if money were no object and I could afford my own oxygen generation setup, I'd look into the delta mag. I'm on K tanks though, so something that'll suck one dry too fast isn't ideal :)

You can pretend to live at my house, but if you win I get to try it. :D At the moment I'm not going to get up to VT again until the kids are old enough to make the walk down Killington in the fall *sigh*

I love my Cuda for this size work... and I'll get another Mirage or larger GTT when I go bigger... maybe. I'm kinda leaning towards a Great White for larger work too, but we'll see at the time. :D

Killington is 15 minutes from here. If you ever get up this way your welcome to stop by.

I have a mirage and I love it I saw the new torch they made with kobukis name I would love that one.

i have a national 3b, & if i could buy any torch right now it'd probably be a phantom.

depends--if you are talking sheer fantasy, then I would love a Cobra or Python....and a flame suit and endless LOX.....and that Kiln that Marcel Braun posted on his site....

I love love love my Mirage but am thinking about either a Delta Mag or something that has 4 stages--Lynx,Cheetah, Mirage Delta.....sorry Mirage....I have wandering eyes.....but I really do loves you.....

I fell hopelessly in love with the Hellcat up at GS. I want one soooo bad! I used to like my Midrange just fine. Now...well I still like it for soft, but it's become "tolerable" for boro. I'm ruined for life. <sigh>

I recently got a Cheetah and LOVE it...but the torch piggie in me wants something with an outer fire ring too. I'mma' soooo bad! ;-D

I love my delta elite. I mostly use the inner fire, but that outer fire comes in really handy for doing spheres. I might get a Delta mag one day, but that is far in the future...

i really want a big GTT, bigger than my CC of course, but with the option of working small as well... but that is several thousand dollars down the road...

I'd love to have a mirage but for the studio I have right now (small space and no lox), I would be better off with a phantom. I love both torches. They are both fantastic for boro *dreamy sigh*

I'm probably getting a Mirage before too long. I love my CC, but I just want something a little bigger.

So what's the difference between a Mirage and a Phantom? And how do they compare to a Barracuda?

A phantom is about the same size as a cuda, but with a lot more heat in my experience. Plus, you have the lynx inner fire so you can get a lot more out of that, too. The Mirage is...well...bigger. I was actually a bit intimidated the first couple of times I used it, but the flame can be shaped and adjusted to so many different sizes and types (bushy or penetrating) that it's easy to get used to. I don't really think you can wrong either way :D

The size. A Mirage is bigger than a Phantom. Both are WAY hotter than a Barracuda. In fact, I found that a Lynx is hotter than a Barracuda.

I agree Chad...I've tried the cuda and it's a nice torch, but I would rather work on a lynx or cheetah. GTT has ruined me forever *sigh*

I "grew up" on a welding torch, switched to a CC in 1988, then to a Baracuda in 2007, and am now on a Phantom. Because I do relatively small pieces, jewelry and ornaments, the 'Cuda and the Phantom are the right size for me, but I absolutely love the flame control on my Phantom. A Mirage would be cool, but probably more than I need. When Zora and I were both working on Baracudas, there was a very clear difference in the shape of the center flame. You could see that the spacing of the holes and the holes drilled around them was different. My torch had a pointy, sharp center flame that we couldn't get on Zora's. Anyone else notice this?

-Don-

Definitely a GTT torch... I have a Phantom and DH has a Mirage. I think you have to think about where you are going with glass and plan ahead... don't under buy.... just my humble opinion and work what you paid for it... lo

GTTs might be a little hotter, but once you get the Cuda dialed in, it's a hot friggin torch. I like the flame atmosphere a little better for what I'm doing color wise. I had a Mirage and may have one again some day... but the Cuda rocks it for me right now.

i have a mirage and love it. i would love a torch with lynx center fire, phantom middle and mirage outer. i havent checked they may actually make one? sometimes i need a larger flame than the lynx center but not so big and hot as the mirage. so id like to have an in between also.
ro

They do make that now, Ro! It's called the kabuki, name after John. :)

Will the Phantom or Mirage run effectively on concentrators? If so, what qty and size?
Thanks!

I run a Barracuda and a Mirage and they are both wonderful. Barracuda is great for a medium flame that is very useful when I don't want the full (even minimum)power of the outer fire burning on the mirage. Pinpoint flame is easier on the Barracuda but it runs a lot hotter, wastes energy with that heat dissipation and is way noisier. The mirage would sleep at the foot of the bed if he really wanted to... Cheers!!

check out here:
http://www.sundanceglass.com/oxygen-concentrator.htm

there's a chart on what oxycons (atleast that sundance carries) will run what torches.

Thanks, Ruca!