Plasma cutter

[Shynon 7,435]

looking for some insight on plasma cutters. Anyone have one, used one , have true experience using one. Let me know your thoughts and recommendations.  Thanks in advance 

[Tractorhead 8,578]

To make it short, it depends what you wanna do with it.

if you need it for hard working on long cut‘s buy a good used Brand, but be aware, it needs a lot of Air for the Cut also.

 

I be also on the search for a Plasma, that‘s my reason i looked arround,

especially if i get finally my Shed it is a must have.

 

My needs will be firstly cut 2-3 mm thick Steel, rarely a 5mm thick.

A friend of mine have one from the polnish guy’s here with 250A that‘s a real Beast up to 25mm

The polnish guy ( similar to harbor freight ) is here a flying Dealer that come each 2 weeks arround his Workshop,

to sell pricey and not too bad Tools. They had 2 Demo machine in the Trunk, we can test out.

 

It was an 50 A machine that cut‘s up to 5 mm Steel in usable quality and speed.

continouse cut was rated at 70%.  He call‘s a 180 bucks for that.

One step bigger was a 160A machine but it was 3 times the price,

this seems to have more problems on the 5 mm Steel plate we testcut.

Actually the 50A was out of Stock but be in delivery.

So next time when this guy again comes, the cheap 50A is mine.

 

 

 

[JoeM 7,609]

58 minutes ago, Tractorhead said:

To make it short, it depends what you wanna do with it

The lighter ones are good for body and fender work, mower decks like TH said the thicker the more horse power need = $$. I had a 110 volt model, I made a vid for the tube on that one (and it was a little shaky it was one of my first try), it was good for 1/8" and under. I sold it and picked up a used unit on CL. Hyper-therm 600. 230v 50amp service required. I have cut 1/2" and does equally well on the thinner stuff too.

Tinkering with the air and settings you can make some pretty nice cuts. 

The sky's the limit from hobby to CNC control, you can tie up cash. 

I do use it often. I think that is the key. If your going to spend a lot on something got to have a use. that just me.

 

 

[JPWH 5,295]

I have a plasma cutter I bought a few years ago that works on 120 or 240 volts. It is a cut 50. I don't remember the brand but I can go look if you want. It was selling for around the 400.00 price range. It cuts up to 1/4 real well but when I cut 3/8 not so good. I am hoping it will do better when I get the air supply in my shop complete. You need to have a good volume of very dry air for them to work properly.

Jay

Edited September 14, 2020 by JPWH

[Tractorhead 8,578]

2 hours ago, JPWH said:

I have a plasma cutter I bought a few years ago that works on 120 or 240 volts. It is a cut 50. I don't remember the brand but I can go look if you want. It was selling for around the 400.00 price range. It cuts up to 1/4 real well but when I cut 3/8 not so good. I am hoping it will do better when I get the air supply in my shop complete. You need to have a good volume of very dry air for them to work properly.

Jay

 

You’re right, the Air Volume is mostly the restricted part.

 

high pressure and high airflow will do the Trick.

so maybe a huge compressor or a bigger bottle or even both can be the solution, depending on what you plan to do.

 

For shorter cuts on thicker material a bigger bottle makes sometimes more sense, 

on longer cut‘s or on professional use it must be a mixture of both to be able to work satisfied.

 

i plan a 200 litre bottle to have enough spare volume on thicker material on short Cuts.