Anyone have any experience with plasma cutters?

[Emo]

After trying to hack through so pretty thick walled steel at mates place the other day with my little angle grinder I thought that it was time I looked at another option for cutting steel. Those large angle grinders are the work of the devil and I reckon it'd be only a matter of days from the time I got one until I was lying on a gurney at the local Emergency room missing an arm. So I thought that a plasma cutter might be the go. They seem to go on eBay for a reasonable price and are listed as being able to cut 16mm steel which is way more than I'd need.

[THICKNICK]

gday emo, is it mild steel you are cutting, and what thickness and what type of cuts are you cutting

[Emo]

Yeah mild steel. Thickness would be no more than 8mm (give or take).

[pcman]

while ive never used one of the ebay cheapies i did have a thermal dynamics pakmaster 25 plasma cutter and was the best tool in the shed got more use than any tool ive ever owned and man i miss it after it exploded one day grrr

i would definatly spend the $$ on a good brand name one they can be had for a little over 1000 these days and i plan on buying one eventually


8mm is really the max with a single phase after that the cut ends up angled and looking terrible needing lots of griding to make it a nice edge


maby a google search see if anyone has done a writeup on cheapo plasma cutters somewhere would be worthwhile

[lump_a_charcoal]

There are plenty of plasma/stick welder combos too, maybe a good option...

[sloshy]

I got a china one, got it through a mate that imports them for his hire business, it was around $400 from memory (his cost price) I think they retail for about $600-$650, . Had no problems with it and its had a fair flogging, cuts good up to about half inch, does cut thicker stuff but gets a bit messy.

[brendan_h]

ive got one of the cut40 cheaper plasmas off ebay. look 100% the same as the BOC smothcut40. BOC sell for about 1000 without the torch. i got mighn on ebay for about 400 with the torch. ive used it a fair bit. cut some 10mm stainless the other day was a bit mesy but grinder can fix that

[11_evl]

ive got one of the cut40 cheaper plasmas off ebay. look 100% the same as the BOC smothcut40. BOC sell for about 1000 without the torch. i got mighn on ebay for about 400 with the torch. ive used it a fair bit. cut some 10mm stainless the other day was a bit mesy but grinder can fix that

you got a link to it?? it sounds the goods

[Emo]

Thanks for the info. The Chinese jobbie seems like it will be fine for what I need. Do the Chinese plasma cutters need a seperate compressor?

[zagan]

Thanks for the info. The Chinese jobbie seems like it will be fine for what I need. Do the Chinese plasma cutters need a seperate compressor?

Yeah it will cut

And yes you'll need a good compressor they need heaps of air.

a 2.5hp compressor will get it going but you'll probably run out of air and need to wait till it's full again then cut some more.

Make sure you have the ground connected properly as they will still cut but really poor/slow if not grounded.

How ever I would say at 16mm you'd be better with an oxy much quicker as well, just buy a proper sized cutting head for 16mm.

[sloshy]

And yes you'll need a good compressor they need heaps of air.

I only run mine with 60 psi of air and it cuts sweet as up to 12 mm
You must be doing some mile long cuts.

[brendan_h]

yep im running it on 60psi too. i found i got better cut wih 60psi

[oops]

has anyone tried usimg the 3 or 4 in one combo cheapies from ebay. ie are those tig welders any good at welding, or would you only by them for the plasma cutter?

[brendan_h]

personly sound like a good deal. but i prob would keep clear of it. if one thing goes wrong it all gone. having owned 2 ebay tig welders. one had less then 3hours work and it went bang smoke pooring out of it. i did get a refund though. the 2nd tig welder i got i still use it and its alright but sparks have shoot out of the machine befor and the lead get too hot to touch after only a little bit of weld so its prob a good ider i dont use it anymore anyway i just got myself a new miller dynasty 200dx.
ive also got a little cheap MMA/tig welder i use very rarly for work stick welding brackets up. i also used it to weld my shock mounts on my zook because its so small i only uses it for stick welding.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Firewelder-200am ... 286.c0.m14

[zagan]

has anyone tried usimg the 3 or 4 in one combo cheapies from ebay. ie are those tig welders any good at welding, or would you only by them for the plasma cutter?

I got told the UniMig 160amp stick/tig inverter will do 4mm SS easy.

personly sound like a good deal. but i prob would keep clear of it. if one thing goes wrong it all gone. having owned 2 ebay tig welders. one had less then 3hours work and it went bang smoke pooring out of it. i did get a refund though. the 2nd tig welder i got i still use it and its alright but sparks have shoot out of the machine befor and the lead get too hot to touch after only a little bit of weld so its prob a good ider i dont use it anymore anyway i just got myself a new miller dynasty 200dx.

Might have been pushing it too much.

You'll get all those effects on any welder when doing stuff it's not really able to handle