Meco Midget tips still available

[AJ XOXO]

I’ve been reading that supply of Meco Midget tips is drying up and the price of used, beat-up Midget tips has risen a lot on eBay.  The patent on the Midget tips has expired ages ago, and like the Victor clone of J-28 torches available online, you can also get clones of the Meco Midget torch tips.  Or at least there is one place I found.

In case anyone is interested, there’s a guy in Northern California that is making clones of the Midget tips.  I talked to him a couple years ago.  He says that the orifices are all the same, but that his design is actually improved in some way… I think his heat sink design thing that keeps the tip cooler or something.  His tips are all made in USA if that’s important for anyone.  Unfortunately though his tips are compatible (threaded) for only Meco Midget torches.  He also makes his Midget tips compatible for jewelers that use the tiny Smith little torch.  It was rumored yrs ago that he was pursuing making his tips compatible with bigger torches like the Victor J-28 and Smith AW1A. He mostly sells stuff for jewelers. If you are interested in his hand-made Meco Midget clones, you could probably just call him and ask if he’d be willing to thread the tips to fit a Victor or other larger size torch that framebuilders use.  His website is impgen.com.

[Jon Norstog]

Thank you, AJ. Nice to know - I use the Meco quite a bit.  It's just right-size for putting on cable stops and other braze-ons.

jn

On Tue, Jun 3, 2025 at 5:40 AM AJ XOXO <ajaf...@gmail.com> wrote:

I’ve been reading that supply of Meco Midget tips is drying up and the price of used, beat-up Midget tips has risen a lot on eBay.  The patent on the Midget tips has expired ages ago, and like the Victor clone of J-28 torches available online, you can also get clones of the Meco Midget torch tips.  Or at least there is one place I found.

In case anyone is interested, there’s a guy in Northern California that is making clones of the Midget tips.  I talked to him a couple years ago.  He says that the orifices are all the same, but that his design is actually improved in some way… I think his heat sink design thing that keeps the tip cooler or something.  His tips are all made in USA if that’s important for anyone.  Unfortunately though his tips are compatible (threaded) for only Meco Midget torches.  He also makes his Midget tips compatible for jewelers that use the tiny Smith little torch.  It was rumored yrs ago that he was pursuing making his tips compatible with bigger torches like the Victor J-28 and Smith AW1A. He mostly sells stuff for jewelers. If you are interested in his hand-made Meco Midget clones, you could probably just call him and ask if he’d be willing to thread the tips to fit a Victor or other larger size torch that framebuilders use.  His website is impgen.com.

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Framebuilders" group.
 
Searchable archives for this group can be found at http://groups.google.com/group/framebuilders (recent content) and http://search.bikelist.org (older content).
 
To post to this group, send email to frameb...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
framebuilder...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/framebuilders?hl=en

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Framebuilders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to framebuilder...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/framebuilders/9dda901c-9087-4eff-9eac-a57929611a5dn%40googlegroups.com.

[Doug Fattic]

One of my lastest framebuilding class students decided he liked the Meco Midget torch handle better than the other airline ones I let him try.  Through his purchasing efforts, I learned that Meco stuff is getting harder to find.  As a review, Meco was a manufacturer of welding/brazing equipment that got bought out by Victor many years ago.  About the only thing Victor kept in their lineup was the Meco Midget torch handle.  Another of my students called Victor some time ago to ask them about the Midget and they didn’t even know it was something they sold until they found records saying the last ones made were in the 70’s.  Jewelry online suppliers are now out of stock on them except Otto Frei.  This makes me think they won’t be restocked because they are no longer available.  Otto Frei has the Meco multi-port tips still in stock now too.  Those are now out of stock from other jewelry or welding suppliers I’m familiar with.  My I’m-not-sure-I’m-right understanding is that those multi-port tips were not made by Victor or Meco.  The late Richard Paille of Paige Tools (he died in March) complained to me about this a lot.  That they were made by some 3rd party.  It took a couple of years but me and some of my framebuilding students kept calling Richard until he finally had adaptors made for the Victor UN-J (and clones from other companies) and the Smith AT-61 (and others) to fit Paige/Meco tips.  These mixer/elbows are designed for propane (not acetylene) because they have more and bigger oxygen supply holes.  Propane uses something like 4 times the oxygen then propane. 

As everyone knows by now the owner of TM Technologies that was a big supplier of Meco torch handles and tips has also died recently.  This was unfortunate because they had those great lightweight type T hoses and all kinds of fittings and regulators so it was a great one stop shop. 

Doug Fattic, Niles, Michigan    

Welding Tip Thread Size:

     1. Victor UN-J threads:  5/16” – 27 tpi

2. Smith AT-61:  ¼” – 32 tpi

3. Meco Midget:  ¼” – 28 tpi

4. Smith AT41 and Quick Braze torch handle threads to attach tips = 3/8” – 24  

5. Smith Little Torch handle threads to attach tips = ¼” – 32

6. Welders Warehouse 'Multi-Jet' nozzles, 1/4” x 36 tpi UNF (This business in the UK has closed up shop because the owners retired)

[tnort...@gmail.com]

I wonder if there is any inventory left at Paige that someone could pick up and continue the line?

[AJ XOXO]

It’s really sad that we’ve lost some people that have supported the framebuilding community.  RIP Richard Paille at Paige Tools, and Kent White at TinManTech.  Without both of them, our supply of accessories for propane brazing is at risk.  I’m not sure.  Maybe it’s time to go back to Acetylene.  I do like the portability, cost, and more cleanliness of propane.

If anyone is interested, I did find a few other suppliers of clones of these Meco Midget tips.  I’m not exactly sure of the manufacturer.  I assumed it was ImpGen.com because he supplies adapters for jewelers using the Smith Little torch so that they can use the Meco Midget tips.  And many years ago he did express interest to make adapters for hobbyists using the smaller aircraft torches (Victor J-28, Smith A1WA) torches that we use.  However, I don’t think he ever did that.  Otherwise, they’d be on sale on his website. Now, I’m wondering if he even makes the clones of the Meco Midget tips that you see on some other jewelry or lamp working websites like Doug Fattic has pointed out.  I’ve seen clones of these Meco Midget tips on websites like Otto Frei, Rio Grand Jewelry Supply, ImpGen.com, and even Etsy.  These are clones of the original Meco Midget tips, and way cheaper than the original.  Beats the heck outta scouring eBay for a beat-up, expensive, used tip.  Anyway, but who makes these clones?  And why do we care?  Well, I figure that maybe with enough requests, the manufacturer will make some adapters for the larger non-jewelry type of torches that we like to use.

I found a company called Carlisle Machine Works in New Jersey. www.CarlisleMachine.com. They make a set of multiport tips that look identical to the old Meco Midget tips.  I think it’s states somewhere on their website that they can make custom Midget tips also.  This mean that if Carlisle is custom machining these tips for resell for all these jewelry and lamp working guys… then, it seems like they could make some adaptors for framebuilders to use these tips!  Maybe.  I don’t know.  So, I figure it’s either Carlisle or ImpGen who is making these torch tips or adaptors.  I really don’t have any pull whatsoever in asking Carlisle to make adapters or doing any of this.  Maybe, Doug might be able to get this ball going and sell them through his website?  Or somebody.  We don’t have a Paige Tools or TinManTech anymore to carry these types of multiport tips.