Changing to a gas lens what do I need.

[PeterA]

yep drilled it out and seems okay.

But looks like I will need a longer white ceramic insulator collar/bush thing though. There is a gap between the screwed on gas lens and the existing white insulator.

[Rambozo]

yep drilled it out and seems okay.

But looks like I will need a longer white ceramic insulator collar/bush thing though. There is a gap between the screwed on gas lens and the existing white insulator.

The gas lens does not contact the insulator (Teflon BTW). Just like the standard collet body doesn't contact it either. Only the ceramic cup or nozzle hits it and presses it against the torch body. There are two sizes of gas lens insulators depending on if you have the standard gas lens or the jumbo version. Some brands have a single large insulator and others have you stack the gas lens version on top of the standard one. Also the ceramic cups are different because the thread sizes are different. The maximum size depends on the brand you use, and there are some brand to brand differences in the really big parts, so try to stick to one brand. In the small size you can go to #8 in WeldCraft, and the big one goes to #12 plus a special short jumbo that is almost an inch across. CK has some even bigger versions for titanium in their gas saver line. There are other brands that offer "champagne" cups, mostly for titanium and other reactive metals. One thing to keep in mind is that the larger the cup the more gas you will need to make it work properly. For most welding a #7 is a good general size.

The two piece...



And a single piece version.



It really helps to learn the proper names for all the parts so people know what you are talking about. The metal part with the screen in it is the gas lens, they come in different sizes to fit the tungstens. The collet goes inside that to grip the tungsten and is also sized by the tungsten. The ceramic cup or nozzle screws on the front and has a number size that is the number of sixteenths of an inch the opening is, so a #7 is 7/16" and a #8 is 1/2". The insulator goes between the cup and the torch body and seals the gas, so some makers call it a cup gasket as well.

Here is a nice diagram of the different parts.

[Kempy]

It is the way to go it save money on gas. This what I have gone now and like it CLEAR.