Miller TIG torch

I bought a Miller tig torch along with a Miller Dynasty 200dx back in the early 2000's when the Dynasty 200dx inverters first hit the market.

It was a Diamondback #9 air cooled miller tig torch.

I previously had a Miller Syncrowave 250 with a water cooled weldcraft torch and dynaflux cooler but I moved my shop from an industrial building with plenty of power ...to my garage where I only had a 50 amp breaker.

So I sold the Syncrowave ( really wish I had it back) and bought the Dynasty 200.

I was doing my side hustle welding business at the time and most of my jobs were small parts for machine shops and  could be handled by an #9 air cooled torch.

But occasionally I would get some production work on aluminum parts that maxed out all 200 amps...even with helium added.

I pushed that little #9 miller tig torch so hard that the silicone rubber neck finally broke down.

I could have just replaced the torch head but that wouldn't have fixed the problem of it getting really hot in my hand.

That's when I bought a used miller coolmate tig cooler along with a water cooled CK 20 style tig torch.

Why a CK and not a Miller Tig torch?

Why did I get a CK 20  tig torch and not a Weldcraft/Miller tig torch?

Because I had used quite a few ck water cooled tig torches at my day job and I really liked the super flexible hoses.

Both CK worldwide and WeldTec make high quality tig torches that work fine with miller tig welders as well as most other brands.

You are not locked into using a miller tig torch just because you have a miller welder.

These days, I have lots of tig torches... both air cooled and water cooled.

For general light duty tig welding, I still like to use a CK 17 air cooled torch with a flex head whenever I can.

I use a CK MT200 tig welder a lot and the 17 torch easily handles most of the type tig welding I do.

I also like to keep shop noise to a low level and the CK mt200 has "fan on demand" so when I am not welding, I dont have the extra background noise from a water cooler.

For higher amperage welding like 1/4" and thicker aluminum, I switch over to a dynasty 280dx with a water cooled tig torch..either a sw320 water cooled torch from WeldTec, a w-280 weldcraft torch, or a CK flex loc 360 water cooled torch....It depends on the project.

I will add just one more thing about a Weldcraft/Miller Tig torch...

On some of their air cooled torches, the rubber cable can be very stiff.

You really feel it weighing you down and it can feel like its fighting you.

But that can be easily fixed by switching to a super flex cable from CK.

you dont need to swap out the whole torch. Just make sure the super flex cable has the right threaded ends to fit both torch handle and dinse.

Weldcraft w280 tig torch being used on a 2g 2" schedule 80 practice joint