Plasma Cutter

[Babin Farms]

Any here have a plasma cutter at home? What do you have and what do/don't you like about it? I'm looking at a budget one for when I build my new wood boiler but other than that is not going to get used a lot. From the budget/homeowner ones I've been looking at I think that a 50A model would suit my needs(cut up to 1/2") I have a Hypertherm Powermax 45XP at work and love it but I'm not about to spend anywhere near that much $$ for one at home that'll hardly get used other than the boiler project. Thoughts?

Here is one that I'm considering

CUT-50, 50 Amp Professional Air Plasma Cutter, IGBT Inverter System, 3/4 inch Clean Cut. 100~250V Wide Voltage Machine

CUT-50 is a newly designed with the meter and adjustment attached to the front of the machine and the filter is located inside the machine. The new and improved model makes it more convenient and e…

www.amicoelectric.com

 

[biffdotorg]

I'm just posting to follow this conversation. As I just purchased my first welder and am learning on my own. I'm sure a more advanced cutting tool will be the next purchase. And It will come down to the common material I will be fabricating with. Since it may not be sheets of steel/aluminum and more bar/pipe, I'm guessing it will be a band saw or portaband type tool.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Babin Farms]

I'm just posting to follow this conversation. As I just purchased my first welder and am learning on my own. I'm sure a more advanced cutting tool will be the next purchase. And It will come down to the common material I will be fabricating with. Since it may not be sheets of steel/aluminum and more bar/pipe, I'm guessing it will be a band saw or portaband type tool.

Good luck in your search.

Welding is easy once you get your machine figured out & setup right. Recommend watching lots of videos on the type of welding you're doing and with the cutting part of it, cutoff wheels on an angle grinder is what I use at home most of the time for stuff that's not too big of a job.

 

[biffdotorg]

Welding is easy once you get your machine figured out & setup right. Recommend watching lots of videos on the type of welding you're doing and with the cutting part of it, cutoff wheels on an angle grinder is what I use at home most of the time for stuff that's not too big of a job.

ya, that was the plan for now. I have a nice angle grinder that has worked well for the small amount of cutting I have done. I got into a nice 230v MIG welder packaged with a spool gun for aluminum. We live in the land of Docks/Lifts/Trailers and we play with stuff we break. So learning to weld will be fun.

I could see fabbing up some dock accessories, and possibly trailer or SXS accessories. But who knows. I need scrap just to learn.

 

[84rzv500r]

I have all Miller equipment at home... Millermatic 220 MIG, Synchrowave 200 Tig, and A miller Spectrum 375 DC Plasma unit. at the CNC shop I have bigger Hobart mounted on the CNC plasma table I forget the model but it cuts 5/8 steel no issue... I have used a HyperTherm in my buddys heavy equipment shop that cuts 2" steel plate like butter...

VERY Clean Dry air is the secret...

 

[AZMark]

They (at least the cheap home one I use) leave a pretty crappy edge so it rarely gets used since you end up pulling out the grinder to clean up edges anyway. I don’t have much need to cut thick material though.

 

[AZMark]

I'm just posting to follow this conversation. As I just purchased my first welder and am learning on my own. I'm sure a more advanced cutting tool will be the next purchase. And It will come down to the common material I will be fabricating with. Since it may not be sheets of steel/aluminum and more bar/pipe, I'm guessing it will be a band saw or portaband type tool.

Good luck in your search.

Metal cutting chop saw (with teeth, not abrasive) is very nice to have. I have an evolution rage that works great as long as you use more than the crappy factory clamp to hold your material.

 

[84rzv500r]

Metal cutting chop saw (with teeth, not abrasive) is very nice to have. I have an evolution rage that works great as long as you use more than the crappy factory clamp to hold your material.

yes agreed I have a 14" Dewalt cold saw and and a corded and M18 Milwaukee Porta-Band and an an ancient Craftsman stand up bandsaw... and a good array of belt sanders is also very usefull... I have a M12 3/8x13 and a cheap Harbor freight 4x36... here at home...

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

50 amps is fine for most things and it is inexpensive to operate . just be very careful about setting things on fire I have a table outside and a hose to wet down the ground around it so I don't set my Quincy compressor house on fire

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Also a hand held angle grinder from harbor freight with some cut off discs some sanding flapper discs and some grinding discs would go well with that and be very inexpensive but NEVER remove the guard and be careful not to drop it with the cut off disc as they crack and will explode Thus the reason not to remove the guard.

 

[WREKS]

Excellent piece of equipment. I used to have one. Lightened the load when we moved to Florida. Should have kept it. I heard that harbor freight has them.

 

[Babin Farms]

I recently got a plasma cutter. Bought an Amico APC 50HF for $399 and they sent me the 70HF model. Haven’t even got it out of the box yet but hopefully get to use it soon.