Henrob welding torch – welding zen

Known as the Henrob, Dillon, Cobra or DHC this oxy-acetylene torch represents welding zen.  The wiki definition of zen is achieving a meditative state – and that’s pretty much what you get with this torch, it’s not the fastest welding method but it is the most relaxing by far – and as a bonus it works a number of metals including steel and stainless.

I’ve had a Dillon for about 20 years and love it.  My first welder was a stick arc welder and I wanted to add the ability to work thinner steel and to be able to cut steel. It’s done a great job of that for me – and this past year has seen it’s use redoubled as I’ve discovered just how easily it welds stainless steel – really just as easily as regular steel.

The real reason for the zen feeling is the soft flame – the torch sees you set your oxygen and acetylene pressures very low – which means you won’t find yourself blowing out your welds.  This allows you to produce beautiful welds all the way down to very thin materials easily.

The torch also cuts your fuel use considerably compared to my victor set – this isn’t just a great financial benefit but its also a great time savings – oxygen and acetylene tanks are expensive and it’s usually a pain to swap them.  I started with a couple of Acetylene B bottles and the comparable size of oxygen cylinder.  I’ve found that this is about the right average for use.  These cylinders are the largest that my local gas supplier sells outright and will exchange.    Recently I also picked up a set of Q sized cylinders which are one and a half times the volume of a B from TSC stores, in part because they have much more reasonable store hours.

Other advantages – well these work great on autobody sheet steel.  I usually will do the bulk of my work repairing the sheet steel on the truck with my MIG, but then anyplace I blow out I do the repairs with the Henrob torch.  Oh and stainless – a real pleasure.

Another nice benefit comes from not having to wear a full face shield.  Here in the winter I find that it doesn’t take long for my breath to start condensing on the face shield when I arc weld – but OA torces only require glasses or goggles – making them cold weather friendly – which is pretty important to me.

Now, I picked up a plasma torch about five years ago that has the capacity of cutting right up to 1/2″ thick steel so I haven’t been using the cutting capacity for a while now, but when I did it genuinely did a nice job with much less gas consumption.  Sure, it is nowhere as easy to set up to cut as a conventional torch – which is basically twist and go, nor is it as easy to master but it does do the job very nicely once you get the hang of it – and again my gas savings seemed to be significant, but if you have plasma you’ll find it is beats anything else within it’s capacity.

Now, some folks will doubtless complain about the handle design – but I guess it all amounts to what you get used to, I like the pistol grip style handle.  Now, I wouldn’t go for this torch simply for the handle design but since it’s part of the package Iike it.

It’s also very nice to have an OA torch to heat up stubborn fasteners – and that capability can save you a lot of cash.  The Henrob saved me the ninety bucks that it would have cost me to replace the caliper assembly on my F250 when the brake bleeder valve stuck.  The torch freed it in under a minute – now that is handy.

So what’s the verdict.  I think it’s worth the four hundred dollars the torch kit sells for – though if you can pick up a used one as I did all the better.  You may want to also pick up a conventional Victor knockoff kit which often run around a hundred dollars simply as the cheapest way to get the regulators and hose – with the added advantage of being able to cut some really thick material with the included torch if need be.

Is it the first welder you should get?  Well if you are going to be welding a lot of stainless I’d say yes, otherwise I think a MIG is the easiest – both in terms of skill and finances – way to get welding.   But, if you have the means these torches are a great addition to your shop – and I think you will find using them to be an utter pleasure.