[Mr. Smiley]

Originally Posted by kbinkster

Have you ever replaced a valve assembly, yourself? Does this void any warranty that Carlisle may have on the torch? Do you know how much Carlisle charges to replace a valve assembly?

No, I haven';t done it, but I did call Carlisle once and asked how much one was. They told me... I'd hate to quote a wrong price and have you correct me... so we'll leave it at "reasonable". They did tell me I could do it myself. Have you looked at a CC and seen how easy it would be? Kind of a no brainer.

The question is not about how much quartz a torch can melt, necessarily, it is about how the torch (the face in particular) holds up to those conditions.

If you aren't going to expose the torch face to those conditions, why does it matter? If a CC can burn for thousands and thousands of hours in a studio situation, I'm sold on the depandability of it.

And, yes, traveling with a torch is very important to many people - especially teachers. That is why some people absolutely love to teach/travel with their GTTs. After a class, they are able to just pick up the torch and pack it away... no need to wait for it to cool down.

I suppose if your flight is an hour or two after the class ends or you aren't very social with your students, this would be a plus...