Nortel Mid Range Plus: a Mid Range with a detailed top fire

The Nortel Mid Range Plus takes the Mid Range and adds a second flame: it’s a Mid Range body with a top-mounted Minor or Premix head, so you get the Mid Range’s main flame up to about 1 inch for general work plus a small, detailed top flame — and both can run at the same time. It also broadens the fuel options, running propane, natural gas, or hydrogen, which makes it a flexible choice for soft glass, boro, sculpture, and light production.

Two flames, your choice of top

The Plus’s appeal is the same idea that makes the Major and Red Max so useful — heat and detail on tap — scaled to the Mid Range’s size. The bottom burner handles general heat and soaking, while the top fire (a 7-port surface-mix Minor or a Premix head) gives you a small, focused flame for fine work, and you can run them together. The torch itself is surface mix, so the main flame stays clean, quiet, and color-friendly; see surface mix vs premix torches.

Who the Mid Range Plus is for

This is an intermediate-to-advanced torch for soft glass, boro, sculpture, and light production. It’s a natural pick for someone who likes the Mid Range’s manageable main flame but wants a dedicated detail flame and a bit more flexibility — including the option to run hydrogen for higher-temperature work. Not sure which glass that points you toward? See soft glass vs boro vs quartz.

Glass, fuel, and oxygen

The Mid Range Plus runs soft glass and borosilicate, burning propane, natural gas, or hydrogen with oxygen. Nortel doesn’t publish an exact jet count or LPM figure for it, so size your oxygen supply against your work — two flames running together naturally draw more than one. See how many LPM does my torch need.

Where it sits in the Nortel line

The Mid Range Plus is the two-flame version of the Mid Range, sitting between it and the larger Major and Red Max. If you want a hand-held torch with the Mid Range’s flame character instead, Nortel makes the Multimix Junior — see bench vs hand torch for which format suits you.

Before you buy

Budget for the whole system, not just the torch: oxygen (a concentrator or tanks), the correct propane or natural-gas regulator, flashback arrestors on both lines, didymium eyewear, and ventilation. New to plumbing a torch? Start with the fittings, hoses & connectors guide and the glass torch safety setup guide.

Editor’s note: spec details reflect Nortel’s own materials for the Mid Range Plus (the top-mounted head options, flame sizes, and fuel range). Nortel doesn’t publish the Mid Range Plus’s exact jet count, oxygen flow (LPM), or current pricing, so confirm those specifics with Nortel before purchasing.