turbo torch tip sizes

For most residential & lite commercial plumbing the Turbotorch A-3 covers a wide range of pipe sizes. The A-2 (baby tip) is nice for super tight spots & close to wood joints. I own one Big Boy that I can soft Solder up to 4" copper with. Couldn't even tell you the Tip size, but its as thick & long as a Cigar...The A-32......Mad Dog

50 years hot rod? That's only 1975! My dad's from that era looked much newer. Is that a bakelite handle??

looks like wood stained very dark like on an american beauty

if you use thoseTurbo or any swirl tip, you want to run the full speed. When you choke them down, notice the tip gets red hot. That is what causes that swirl plate inside to burn out

As @Big Ed_4 mentioned, those large tips really go through the gas quickly

Have a spare tank so you don’t end up with a 1/2 soldered joint

I found the heat paste or heat clay works much better than a wet rag

I've used the Hot Dam product, use it over and over

I use the Turbotorch A 32 to melt out large Cast Iron hubs full of lead. Also use it to heat up a pouring ladle if I only have one lead joint to pour. Ive used Rosebuds with oxy-acetylene for silver brazing 4" Copper up to 12" Copper. 3" copper & below I just use acetylene....much less cumbersome to drag around. Mad Dog

I like oxy for brazing as well but if you don't have too many joints you can get away with the turbo. Not worth hauling tanks up a ladder to an RTU for a few joints if you can avoid it.

I usually use a wet rag instead of the heat block but have use both.

Agree with @hot_rod hate the turbo screaming. Prestolite tips (same as Goss)if I can.

I used to soak the wet rag but it is a heat sink but sometimes you have to protect a valve or TXV. For regular fittings nearby you don't want to melt out a rag and a spray bottle you only have to keep the normal fittings a few degrees cooler.

The bigger the heat sink the more heat you need so it's a balancing act. You keep tha TXV cold then it takes longer to heat and risks damage.

I installed a few units for Trane and they were doing the start-up. They were split systems. They had ball valves on the condensing unit and it was 404A.

One ball valve the side of it was up against a metal partition.

I told Trane Service Tech "there is no possibility of brazing this thing without cooking the valve and on the other side of the valve was the factory charge" You couldn't get the torch tip around the valve and it was 1 3/8OD

I said" we either take the charge out or I am going to Stay Brite it unless we take a sawzall to the partition which would be a hack job"

He looked at it and agreed. Gotta pick your battles.

@ChrisJ

Like we used to say, "that's what the filter drier is for". Don't need much flux and most runs outside. Stabrite #8 flows better. Regular StayBrite and 95/5 both go from solid to liquid real fast making them more difficult to work with never liked either one.

According to JW Harris a Staybrite joint is stronger than brazing because the copper does not get annealed.

No nitrogen needed for StayBrite

I still prefer brazing but there is a place for both

flux the pole not the hole!

I worked at an HVAC shop for a year. The techs that preferred a welding torch had these small Oxy Actylene torch kits. Always extra tanks in the truck.

I like the welding torch with a small tip for T-Drill silver soldering. As @EBEBRATT-Ed mentioned you don't soften as much tube with a pinpoint flame.

weren't cfc systems a lot more tolerant of this than modern systems?

In Ye Olden Days, Dad used oxypropane at the scrapyard. He said it was the same as oxyacetylene, just a little slower heating up. I'd have to imagine that it'd work fine for silphos.

I use a kit like the one @hot_rod showed above (except with a nice metal carrier and a replacement O₂ regulator from when I was going up the roof ladder a smidge too fast…), IIRC it comes with a #1 & #2 tip. Forget which one I use, they're about the same to me. For larger sizes I have a rosebud or a https://www.uniweld.com/product/capn-hook-tips-acetylene/ . I had to use a B tank with a #32 tip once, to unsolder a 2⅛ king valve, it was like 4-5 lbs of brass. Even with that, I had to get pissed at it before it came loose!