Quote:
Originally Posted by Larboro43
How's the center fire on the mini I'm looking for a needle sharp flame aswell
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The Mini only has one stage, so it's either center-fire or nothing. When you're running a short neutral flame, it's not particularly narrow and not particularly hot. I actually zip-tied a Smith Little Torch to the back of mine so that I could have a sharp/hot needle flame - it wasn't too often I felt the need to use it, but every now and then it came in handy. Not having a narrow flame isn't as limiting as I had imagined, and when I'm using my Phantom (or other torch), I miss the Mini CC for a lot of reasons - that gentle small flame being one of them.
Another advantage of the Mini CC is that the edge of the flame is soft. There's kind of a heat gradient going from full-blast to barely-hot-enough-to-melt-a-stringer as you move away from the flame. All torches have it, but it's exaggerated on the Mini. It's a blessing and a curse.
The things that make the Mini CC great for beginners, in my opinion, are the gentleness of the flame and the ease of setting a true neutral flame. On my Phantom, it's hard to know when a flame is truly neutral. I didn't know that until I used the Mini CC for a while - didn't realize that it was possible to consistently, quickly, and easily get a very precise mixture that had just enough oxygen to burn all of the fuel and not a bit more. The extra knob on the Phantom really complicates things, and I can set a reducing or an oxidizing flame just fine, but true neutral is still basically just a guess.
It's really hard to pick just one torch. I like most of the torches I've used. I wouldn't recommend a Mini CC (or any other torch) for an only-torch-ever. I've got a lot of torches, and still haven't found the perfect one. Most torches are best for something (I usually use a Phantom, but often get out my Hellcat, Mini CC, or National premix). If you came to my shop and didn't have a preference, though, I'd definitely recommend the Mini CC for something to learn on. If I'd tried the Alpha or Bobcat, I might recommend one of those instead - hard to say.