How much use is a plasma cutter?

[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