Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] plasma cutter/machine torch

Why not use oxy / fuel? A cutting torch is about £150 and then all you need
is the hose, arrestors, regs and two bottles.

I have a Thermal Arc (Made by Thermadyne, who make Thermal Dynamics) arc
welder and it's quality is absolutely first rate. But at retail this would
have cost me $2.5 something K. That's fine is I actually needed to weld a
bridge or tank but I don't and I want to sell this soon.

We had this dicussion on hobbicast a while ago. So many of the things being
sold in the US are industrial / millitary quality gear for use by the public
to weld a go-kart together. For example, Miller welders as tall as I am that
the public buy and run on single phase expecting the same quality out. If
you are doing this as a hobby, a cheap plasma cutter will do absolutely
fine. It's not made to cut for hours and hour every day but it will do an
appreciable amount of cutting. Why would a hobbyist need something that has
a duty cycle above what most people use industrially? If you want to make a
buisness out of it, sure go for a nice good quality cutter, but otherwise,
I'd just use my oxy / fuel gear.

John

> I have looked into various low-end plasma cutters in the 1,000-1,500
> range, like hypertherm and thermal dynamics. The guy at the welding
> store, when I told him of my interest in making a CNC plasma cutter
> table, said that a machine torch (another $500) would be required.
> That seems a bit steep for the torch. The main difference between the
> machine torch and the standard torch is the machine torch is straight
> (cutter not at an angle to handle), has remote relay hookups, etc.,
> and some provision for Z-feeding, like the ability to attach a rack
> for a rack-and-pinion z-feed arrangement.
>
> Are there any other alternatives to dropping $1,500-$2,000? How about
> those cheap "chicago electric' or 'century' plasma cutters you see in
> Harbor Freight for sub-$600 price tags?
>
> Dave
>
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