Plasma cutter

[Paul_Linden]

I’m thinking of buying a plasma metal cutter for home use - the specs of what they can cut are what i want, but I’m wondering about the following, if anyone has info or advice to share:
- should i get one that is also a TIG welder? (i currently only have a MIG but would like to learn TIG)
- some need a compressor to work, which I have, is this good or bad?
- are consumables needed often, are consumables expensive?
- are the ones that cost under £400 any good?
- how clean is the cut? looks like they leave a dribbly edge.

[simon.holyfield]

Following with interest.

What I will say though is my MIG set is never used now that I have TIG.

[daveleek]

I have considered a plasma cutter and some of machines are good,but you get what you pay for, I am able to do all my metal cutting with a grinder with a 1mm disc for stainless steel cutting , I dont think the plasma cutter Tig combination machines would be the way to go,better to have the best Tig welder you can afford preferably with high frequency start and if you want to weld aluminium an ac/dc machine,if you can weld with oxy-acetylene you will be able to pick up tig welding quite easily

[Julian Murphy]

I bought a LDIL plasma cutter a few years back. < £100

I have used it twice.

Runs off compressed air. When the pressure and volume drops the cut gets very ragged.

It was very useful on the two occasions, cutting 3mm sheet.

It will not cut galvanised finish material.

I would rather have a TIG welder (Its on my long shopping list!)

[JohnnyBeckett]

hi i have been using plasma cutters for years i use a hand held one and i've got a cnc one they are best cutters i have invested in and if you use it right you will get a clean cut

[Bernie Blundell]

Take great care when cutting gavanised material, zinc oxide fumes aren't good for you, extraction &/or good PPE is/are highly advisable

[Paul_Linden]

Thanks everyone, i think i will go the way of an ac/dc TIG and a cheap as chips plasma cutter.

[cmfalco]

I had a plasma cutter in my lab before I retired so am familiar with them, but it's impossible to make a relevant recommendation without knowing what kinds of work you intend to do. For what it's worth, for my motorcycle work I do a lot of fabrication, machining, and TIG and gas welding, brazing and silver soldering, and I've never had use for a plasma cutter. My oxyacetylene cutting torch suffices for cutting thicker steel than my band saw is happy with (which I rarely have to do, since motorcycles don't require very much thick steel), and the other torches that are part of the rig are good for silver soldering and brazing as well.

The major issue that affects a plasma cutter is water in the compressed air. Not that the air in England is humid but, if it were, the air would have to be dried after the compressor. The equipment to do that will add significantly to the cost of plasma cutting.

[JohnnyBeckett]

hi i forgot to say if you get a plasma cutter with a pilot arc you don't have to clean paint etc off to start cutting

[rick king]

My first plasma was some old three phase thing that was being given away. Murex tradescut.
It cut really well. I solved the obsolete torch(no consumables available and why it was being given away) by making a fitting to stick a commonly available torch(trafimet) on it. But it lacked beans, which I put that down to being powered by a phase converter.

So I risked a £175 (inc post!) buying a chinese cut 50, It worked perfectly. With all the horror stories about buying dead items I was surprised it worked:-)
I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another if/when it dies; I bought it about 15 years ago.
I was regularly cutting 360 pieces of steel out by hand, cutting all around each piece, the trafimet torch did the lot and some torch bits needed replacing. The cheapanese torch got through several of the torch bits. But the Trafimet torch consumables were several times the price of the cheapies.
The biggest difference was size, the old one was a big roll around thing the cut50 is still in the box it came in and is sitting on top of a filling cabinet.

As far as cut quality goes there was not a lot in it.