How much use is a plasma cutter?

[The V8 Files]

Well the general consensus seems to be its a 'nice to have' as opposed to a neccesity, so thank you all for the comments. Eternal, your one looks just like the one I was looking at

Anyway, I decided I was doing way to much thinking and not enough doing, so as it was a nice day I decided to get the engine out of the donor, tomorrow if the weather's still good I'l start relieving it of all the bits that don't need to be there

[robo]

Bruce dont forget to raise the seat 6" so you see over the top of that thing Theres a challenge for the mule when you collect it.

Bob

[The V8 Files]

yep i think its going to be a challenge for sure Bob lol, how you doing with the mule?

[mgglep]

I think plasmas are great don't forget they cut all metallic materials so ally will cut like butter you do need big air pressure though so you will need a big compressor or run it off a bottle

[carlknight1982]

I've a cut 40 and its brilliant saved me a fortune over the last 2 years

[robo]

I had a small plasma cutter but fell out of love with it because it was rated a cutting about 6mm. If you were cutting 3mm or 4mm it was fine and the cut was equal in neatness to a laser cut, at 6mm the cut would walk at all sorts of angles and really struggled. I got rid of it and later bought the cebora prof 55 and chucked it under the bench, gas was what we had always used for cutting and the plasma was forgotten about. B.O.C had big problems supplying gas for about a year so I dragged out the plasma, what a machine, its rated at 20mm but is happy at 18mm max. After that it starts to struggle in the same way as the small one did. So my advice is if you want a plasma to cut 6mm steel get one with a 10mm capacity and leave some capacity untapped. They wont cut with ease the advertised thickness neatly.




Bob

Mule is fine Bruce I better hurry up and finish with it now the beemer lump has found its way out of the donor

[Talonmotorsport]

Bob if you bring the mule to me before you give it away I could make those two chassis you are chasing!

[baz-r]

a bit of a tip with picking plasma's is most makes have cut and severance ratings thease are at the limit and you need to be at 50-75% of thease to use at any speed and with any quality of cut.

also helps to have the right tip/nozzle for cut depth and thay dont last forever so replace them when needed.

if you have a inverter type keep it dry and out the way of metal dust it will last longer

[The V8 Files]

I think at the moment the cost of a decent plasma far outweighs the savings it might make so I think at the moment I'l go with the cutting discs, its been interesting to hear everyone's comments though.

Bob, yeah now the beast is out I'm getting all excited again But I've got more than plenty of other things to get on with so I'm not desperate.

Bruce

[The V8 Files]

Originally Posted by baz-r

i used to sell and demo plasma cutters and my opinion is you really need a unit man enough for the job to get a nice clean cut and the price realy ramps up as you get bigger and your limited on a 240v domestic supply.
bit of an expensive toy for building a roadster but a very handy tool in a everyday workshop.

Well, was down my local engineering firm and he had an old Murex Tradescut 5 that was his brothers, I agreed to give it a try with a view to buying it for £100. Well it seems the torch consumable went obsolete about a decade ago, I've sort of fired it up but the tip that's on it has seen much better days, it fails to get the pilot going but can be got to strike an arc on the workpiece so maybe not too much wrong with it.

Any thoughts on a torch that could be used to replace the original?

Bruce