Originally Posted by 20/20 vision

that's nonsense, of course it does - that's how they work! - cold argon passes through the torch over the copper collet assembly and tungsten and takes most of the heat away. when you stop the current flow there's no more heat generated but if you're using 4t the argon will still flow and continue to remove heat. irrespective, some of the heat generated during the welding phase will have passed to the body of the torch but more gas will help remove this too (hold trigger without going near the workpiece)

if the torch is still getting too hot clamp the tungsten better, increase the gas supply or run more pre / post gas. if its still still getting too hot reduce your duty cycle, which is likely to be overheating the welder internals as well since most air cooled stuff is typically really only good for something like 30% duty cycle anyway. if you still can't get it cool enough then you have likely reached the semi pro / full pro point of needing a water cooled torch and different machine.

don't forget guys, the thread is about the OP getting a cheap intro to an AC/DC tig machine!