The Quick Fix on Miller #20 Water Cooled Torches

For the last 15+ years Miller has run these quarter turn brass connectors with the coolant line plumed in the side, one of the main problems in the TIG welding world these pieces need to be replaced often due to wear and tear from the fact that they require complete disassembly every time a torch is either switched or replaced causing the small 1/8 npt size treads to wear out, strip or leak.

I change my torch on my welder a lot because of my work I do welding Aerospace components, some of the really neat torches out there are straight pencil, flexable and micro torches. All of these different torches when swapped from the machine need full disassembly of this miller #195377 part

As you can see once the little coolant line is hooked up it only provides 2 -3 turns of threads before the flare end bottoms out and its tight, this is fine for a few times but it will wear out or easily strip out.

So after years of complaining I thought of a very easy fix that solves the problem.... I took these photos while working on my SyncroWave machine because of replacement...

Step 1: Cutting the Plastic Cover

Not much different then what Miller wants you to do for putting together the kit #195377 other then before you put the full thing together you cut a passage between end of the connector and hole where the coolant line plums in.

As long as the small plastic screw remains holding the plastic cover on, this will appear to be the stock looking set up from miller. But as you can see in my photo when I need to service the torch and remove it I can now remove the little plastic screw and slide the plastic cover down the water line and remove the torch. Super simple...

Hope this saves you 80 dollars and a hair pulling frustration when this strips out at the wrong time.