Plasma cutters what do you have?

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03ramit1

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Looking at getting a hypertherm powermax65. To run on a 5X10 CNC table. And was wondering what everyone else has.
 
Just got the harbor freight unit. Happy so far. Cuts 1/2" nicely. Tried 3/4, too slow. Sheet metal is like butter. Bought the 2 year warranty.
I,ll post some pics of making use of it doing a frame transplant for my Demon clone project.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
I have a Miller. My kid says if it aint blue give it the shoe.
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That's all I have ever used, until a deal on a thermal arc came up that was just way too good to pass up. And it will run circles arround any miller I ever touched. ( probably because the TA is brand new and the millers have all been 70's era machines)

My buddy has a miller plasma and it's nice, i would not hesitate getting one for use as a hand cutter. But it will not work on a CNC plasma cutting machine. Because it's a high frequency start machine, and it will destroy the computer.
 
Idaho said:
Just got the harbor freight unit. Happy so far. Cuts 1/2" nicely. Tried 3/4, too slow. Sheet metal is like butter. Bought the 2 year warranty.
I,ll post some pics of making use of it doing a frame transplant for my Demon clone project.
Click to expand...

Boy, I sure wasn't impressed. I incorrectly reasoned that I would not be cutting much thicker material, and the HF gun is junk, tips are thin.

I was thinking of buying a different gun when I ran into a Thermo Dynamics in good shape used for not much more than I paid for the HF

That Thermo Dynamics is a factor of 10 above the HF, and the gun is so obviously better made than the HF, that it's a joke.

Frankly, I'd look around for a used name brand over a new HF, if you can't afford a new one.
 
I have a Longevity cutter and have been VERY happy so far. Also have a Longevity MIG and TIG. No complaints so far out of any of my machines.
 
I will share my thoughts on this. I was a Blue guy at work and bought us a Miller. It gave me a lot of trouble including the mother board and lead. I don't know if I just got a dud, but it is fine now. Kids are using it, so things happen if you catch my drift. Miller welders are top notch. Plasma's are a sideline and I think they outsource some of it-not sure though.

The guy at the local welding store and I went rounds for about 6 months regarding brands etc. He said basically that there are two good companies. Hypertherm and Thermal Dynamics. Both are from New Hampshire as I recall, although I think that TD does some outsourcing.

The gist of it that I walked away with after obsessing for months was that that Hypertherm had a few nicer qualities and may be slightly better made. But, the TD had a little more punch and tended to be about $100-200 cheaper.

I bought the TD machine and am happy. It was around $900 and consumables are reasonable.

This is just my experience. I did a lot of research and I think alot of machines will do the job. Being from a 4x4 background we are always welding and cutting alot. I wanted to get a good machine so that I could use it for hours. We shall see what happens in the long term.

FWIW-ROB
 
Oldmanmopar said:
I have a Miller. My kid says if it aint blue give it the shoe.
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Hell yes! That's awesome, I'm kind of partial though, there built right down the road from me. I have a Miller Spectrum, and I love it! There are alot of nice unit's out there, just depends on what your need's are.
 
Yeah the TD is a great unit. But the HT offers fine cut consumables and better support than TD does. And running a machine torch on a CNC table settings are alot more critical than hand cutting. The powermax 65 will pierce 5/8 and edge start 3/4 in a CNC setting the TD A80 is about the same. I have been doing alot if searching, and it seems for my application the HT is just a little better. As a hand torch though I would say they are equal.
 
For CNC I'm clueless. For my persenal use I bought a unit from Eastwood. Nice unit for the money. $600 plus consumables are less thn $30 for 10 sets cups and tips. either 110 or 220. I use 220
 
jefflock said:
For CNC I'm clueless.
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Don't be. Basically if you want to cut 1/4in you need to locate a machine tha will do 1/2 by hand. Its a loose of thumb, because of the controlled movement and speed, the power has to be there. Any plasma can go on a CNC machine, but high freq will screw with the PC. (unless you spend way too much time shielding it)
 
I love my blue machines, but when it comes to plasmas, I like the Hypertherms...best bang for your buck in my opinion. Excellent machines.
 
67Dart273 said:
Boy, I sure wasn't impressed. I incorrectly reasoned that I would not be cutting much thicker material, and the HF gun is junk, tips are thin.

I was thinking of buying a different gun when I ran into a Thermo Dynamics in good shape used for not much more than I paid for the HF

That Thermo Dynamics is a factor of 10 above the HF, and the gun is so obviously better made than the HF, that it's a joke.

Frankly, I'd look around for a used name brand over a new HF, if you can't afford a new one.
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Not sure which one you had. Their prior model was junk. The torch on this unit is made by Trafimet - same as many of the US brands. Keep in mind that US brands use Chinese internals.
I did my research on this unit, the experience with it has been good. I have a friend who is certified in all kinds of welding and has experience with many plasma cutters. He tried it and he rated its performance good. It's rated for 1/2" cut and meets that standard. Many HF tools are indeed junk, but not all.
 
The 4x8 plasma table i have at work runs a powermax45. I have cut up to a 3/8 thick plate with a pierce start. It works great and the book's specs are on point. I am buying the powermax65 for my cnc plasma at home. Head over to plasma spider for all the info you want on the powermax line.
 
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