Tong type electrode holders

Hi all, am I the only person who finds tong type electrode holders A P.I.A., or am I out in the wilderness on my own

Nope, I'm with you on that one.

Also guilty, your honour.

I had a good pair that became worn in the brass teeth. I had the local tool shop get me a replacement.

When the new one turned up the CSK screw hole in the bakelite cover would not line up with the tapped hole in the brass body to lock it down.

I like my tong handpiece so much I re-filed the jaw teeth to make it usable once again.

The original was a Japanese tool so its probably a yazuka electrode holder. The other came from China so its obviously a tong electrode holder.:D:doh:

Seriously, I dislike screw electrode holders as I manage to twist the cable with them. The tong models are so much easier and quicker to operate.


Grahame

I also like the tong type, it seems to better grip the electrode although sometimes its bulk can be a nuisance. A mate, who's a Tafe welding teacher, repairs the conventional screw-type by dismantling it, then bronzing up the underneath of the holding lever arc which becomes more flattened as students screw the bejesus out them. It's a neat repair trick.

I really don't have a preference either way, honestly my preference is to not stick weld :)

An old boss of mine only had the tong type as he reckoned they were the only ones rated high enough for what we were doing, which was often build up work on wear plates. We would use the biggest rods we could get and crank the welder right up and just keep burning rods non stop, usually manganese or sometimes stainless, even the tong type would melt if we went too hard.

Cheers Andrew

I like the screw type for no other reason other than that's what I learn't on. There is another type which comes with cheaper welders: a screw type but doesn't have the typical horses head shape, rather it's just straight. I even made one at one stage, just using a big bolt and some PVC pipe. Worked well enough but one had to be careful where your hand was when the other was touching the work or the bench.

Looks like it's 50/50, I always replace the tong type just don't seem to get along with them, managed to score a unused aussie made Cigweld twist type new in package a the other day
for my 170 inverter, yeh! I know it is way overkill but it was a very good price and I will never have to be concerned about it over heating