Torch handleA set of gas tubes with a control valve for each gas. Cutting attachments and welding tips fit onto its front end.
Oxygen valveThe valve on the torch handle that controls the oxygen. With a cutting attachment fitted it is opened fully.
Fuel valveThe valve on the torch handle that controls the fuel gas.
Oxygen hoseA flexible hose from the oxygen regulator to the torch handle. In the United States real oxygen hose is made green.
Fuel hoseA flexible hose from the fuel gas regulator to the torch handle. Real fuel hose is made red, and its fittings have left-hand threads.
Check valvesReverse flow check valves let gas through one way only. One gas then cannot flow back up the other's hose.
Cutting attachmentIt turns a torch handle into a cutting torch. It carries the preheat oxygen valve, the cutting oxygen lever, the tubes and the head.
Preheat oxygen valveIt controls the oxygen for the preheat flames.
Cutting oxygen leverPressing it sends a jet of pure oxygen onto the heated metal. The jet goes through the middle of the tip and does the cutting.
Cutting oxygen tubeIt carries the cutting oxygen from the lever's valve to the head.
HeadThe tubes end here. It is set at an angle to the handle. The cutting tip seats in it.
Tip nutIt presses the cutting tip into the tapered seat in the head. That makes a gas-tight joint.
Cutting tipIt has a ring of small holes for the preheat flames. They sit round one hole for the cutting oxygen.
Gas supply and tip 9
Oxygen cylinderIt holds oxygen at high pressure.
Fuel gas cylinderIt holds the fuel gas, often acetylene.
Cylinder valveIt shuts the gas in the cylinder. The regulator is connected to it.
RegulatorIt reduces the high pressure in the cylinder to a low pressure. The hose and torch need that. There is one on each cylinder.
High pressure gaugeIt shows the pressure in the cylinder.
Low pressure gaugeIt shows the pressure in the hose.
Adjusting screwTurning it sets the pressure that goes to the hose.
Preheat orificesHoles where mixed oxygen and fuel gas burn as the preheat flames. The flames heat the metal before and during the cut.
Cutting oxygen orificeOnly oxygen comes out, when the cutting oxygen lever is pressed.
How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30 and kept only where at least two independent sources use it. (1) A maker's welding and cutting kit manual, full text at https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6348764 : regulator with high pressure gauge, low pressure gauge and pressure adjusting screw, hose (oxygen hose usually green, fuel hose red), torch handle with control valves and reverse flow check valves, cutting attachment, preheat oxygen control valve, mixing chamber, cutting oxygen lever and tube, cutting attachment head, tip nut, cutting tip, preheat and cutting oxygen holes, flashback arrestors, cylinder valve. (2) A second maker's portable oxy-fuel outfit manual, https://archive.org/details/manualsbase-id-547229 : regulators, high and low pressure gauges, adjusting screws, oxygen hose and acetylene hose, torch handle, torch oxygen valve and fuel valve, cutting attachment, preheat valve, cutting oxygen lever, torch head, tip nut, cutting tip, reverse flow check valves, cylinder valve, fuel cylinder. (3) A US military vocational curriculum for metals processing, https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED191986 : torch handle, oxygen and acetylene needle valves, cutting oxygen lever, cutting oxygen tube, head, tip nut, cutting tip, preheat orifices, orifice for cutting oxygen, regulators, hoses, cylinders. (4) Wikipedia, Oxy-fuel welding and cutting, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxy-fuel_welding_and_cutting : the cutting torch and its oxygen lever, the angled head with outer preheat jets round a central oxygen jet, regulator with two gauges, hoses and their colors, check valve, flashback arrestor. (5) 29 CFR 1910.253 at https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/1910.253 : cylinders, cylinder valves, regulators, hose, torches. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's machine, nothing traced. Licence: own work
How it works
These are the parts of a torch that cuts steel with oxygen and a fuel gas. The torch is drawn from the side, then the two cylinders, a regulator and the end of the cutting tip.
Read the full guide
How a cutting torch cuts
Oxygen and fuel gas mix in the cutting attachment and burn at the ring of preheat orifices in the tip. Those flames heat the steel until it is cherry red. Pressing the cutting oxygen lever then sends pure oxygen through the center orifice. The oxygen reacts with the hot metal, and the oxide that forms is blown out of the cut.
From cylinder to torch
Each cylinder has a regulator that reduces its pressure. One gauge shows the pressure in the cylinder and the other the pressure in the hose. A hose carries each gas to the torch handle.
A welding torch has no cutting oxygen lever. The lever is the quickest way to tell a cutting torch.
Some makers build the cutting torch in one piece, with no separate handle and attachment.
Questions and answers
What are the parts of a cutting torch?
A torch handle with an oxygen valve and a fuel valve, and a cutting attachment with a preheat oxygen valve, a cutting oxygen lever, tubes, a head, a tip nut and a cutting tip. Hoses, regulators and cylinders supply the two gases.
What does the lever on a cutting torch do?
It is the cutting oxygen lever. Once the preheat flames have heated the steel, pressing the lever sends a jet of pure oxygen through the center of the tip. That oxygen burns the hot metal and blows the oxide out of the cut.
What are the two gauges on a torch regulator for?
One shows the pressure in the cylinder; on an oxygen cylinder that tells how much gas is left. The other shows the lower pressure going to the hose and torch, which the adjusting screw sets.
Why does a cutting tip have several holes?
The ring of outer holes is for the preheat flames, which burn oxygen and fuel gas together. The single hole in the center carries only oxygen, for cutting.