Question on Victor Journeyman torch outfits..

By rlitman (***)

Date 03-21-2011 20:21

There are several kits under the Journeyman and Journeyman II name, but it looks like the Journeyman II kits come with the old standby "315FC" torch, while the Journeyman kits come with the "H 315FC" torch, which has a newer body style and newly designed flashback arrestors for higher flow capacity.
Both of those kits come with the new style ESS4 Edge regulators, while the Journeyman Select kit comes with the classic style CSR 450 Regulators and the old style 315FC torch.

It's all here, if you look very closely:
https://www.thermadyne.com/victor/products/prodList.html?brand=VEC&searchword=Journeyman

By C6.7weldrig (**)

Date 03-22-2011 03:30

Thanks so much rlitman.... that is exactly what a needed to know.
Now that being said, which one would you recommend getting... Journeyman or Journeyman II?? I take it the regular Journeyman with the newer torch whould be better?
Which one is better, the old standby "315FC" torch, or the new "H315FC" .... advantages/disadvantages??
Thanks so much for your time.
.

By rlitman (***)

Date 03-23-2011 21:25

Well that's a tough one.
The 315fc has a fantastic track record, and should be capable of handling more flow than the largest single acetylene bottle can supply.
If you're doing heavy heating using LP, or have an acetylene manifold, maybe you could benefit from the extra capacity of the new h315fc.

Honestly, as a hobbyist, I hardly ever pick up my 315fc torch, and prefer the slightly smaller 100fc for the more intricate stuff I do, so I really can't even picture what the h315fc can do that the regular 315fc cannot.

I personally use Harris 2 stage regulators, but I have one of the old style Victor sets that served me quite well. Again, I cannot say anything bad about about any Victor product, old or new. They make great stuff, and there is a reason everyone copies them, but the copies just can't live up to the real deal.
I haven't seen the new "safety" style gauges in action, but expect them to be good. They're designed with a big plastic knob that is supposed to absorb the impact of a bottle falling (by being crushed). Supposedly saves the gauges, and you replace an inexpensive plastic part. I'd love to know how that's worked out for people, but it's not going to get me to upgrade any time soon.

By weldwade (***)

Date 03-23-2011 23:13

The new Edge O2 regulator is much better than the older style for high flow applications. We use them to run Magnesium burning bars off of a manifold O2 setup and they work very well without freezing up. The gauges are way to small IMO and I don’t plan on having a bottle fall over with a regulator on it so for me I won't be buying the new regulators until I can't get my old ones rebuilt anymore.

By rlitman (***)

Date 03-24-2011 17:56

Good to hear from someone who's using them.
I hadn't considered the small gauges. I find that larger oxygen regulators have gauges that go up to 200, but aren't numbered below 10 or 20psi, so its almost impossible to tell where 3psi is (for example). Because of that, I've changed the LP side gauges on a few of my oxygen regulators to ones that go to 60 or 100PSI, and that may not be possible with the newer Edge style regulator.
Which one you want all depends on what you're doing with them. I've got no concerns about a bottle falling on the regulator either, with the cylinders chained in a cart (I keep my regulator stems on an angle, facing the handle, so they wouldn't touch anything if the cart were to tip).

By gndbob54 Date 03-25-2011 12:51 Edited 03-25-2011 15:10

From my experience, the gauges on the Edge regulators are no easier or more difficult to read than larger gauges... I mean, if you actually think how you actually look at them. You still need to be right in front of the regulator when you're making adjustments, so I can read the numbers at that range just fine whether an Edge regulator with small gauges or an old SR450 with big ones. And from 6 feet away, well, maybe I'm just getting old in my old age, but I sure can't read the numbers from that distance no matter how big the gauges are. The only thing I can do from that distance is see the needle orientation to give me a rough idea that my bottle is still full and my regulator isn't creeping - and that again works on Edge just like a SR250 or 450. I think I read that they designed special gauge faces for Edge for this reason... to get more gauge in a smaller footprint, so to speak. Don't know if it really made a difference, but they do have a nice look to them. I've always disliked gauges with one scale in black and one scale in red, and these don't have that.

That knob crushing thing is a neat feature, but I don't think there's much value in it. I think the more important feature is the color coding, which I really like. But still, if I have a regulator that has a feature that'll help protect your system in the event your cylinder falls over... well, that's kind of nice to have. Sure, none of us "plan" on allowing our bottles to fall over... but accidents do happen. I don't plan on ever seeing my face planted in the inflating airbag in my car either... but it sure is nice to know that the airbag is there.

I personally wouldn't rush out to buy new Edge regulators "just because". But they're a nice upgrade when you can, or when you have to (like I did). Plus, I think they're really cool looking, and look cool on my rig. I wish they'd make an Edge torch to go with them... and a two-stage version of the regulator would be very interesting to see.