Eastwood Plasma cutter - any experience?

[toolin' around]

Anyone had any experience (good or bad) with the Eastwood Versa Cut 40A Plasma Cutter?

I’m in the middle of a project that could scale up... making a device for a buddy for his work, that he thinks he could get more orders for more... the prototype I’m building for him now (one first of two units) would be OK except for the complex cutting steps... so when he suggested the idea of making more and selling them, I was a little hesitant... but if the project funded a plasma cutter, I might become a little more enthusiastic! (The project is mostly 3/16” plate and 6” schedule 40 pipe. (He was going to pick up black pipe, then turned up with gal, which delighted me no end! I hate welding gal!)

I have an Eastwood TIG 200 and have been pretty happy, and only heard good reports. A few other tools I’ve ordered from them all seem decent quality, particularly considering the price.

Anyone had any experience with their 40A Plasma Cutter?

 

[WILD-BILL]

WE bought one at work when our old one (i think it was a hypertherm) crapped out.

At first, I was pretty impressed with it. But after using it regularly it became obvious it has a major design flaw.

The torch consumables. Most notably the outer nozzle. It appears to be made from some sort of plastic and doesn't last very long at ll before it starts melting. Couple that with the fact that they only sell them in 2 packs ($28) and Eastwood is the only place you can get them from was truly frustrating.

Even when using their circle cutting attachment wheels as a stand off (which I had on 99% of the time) the nozzles would melt and crack.

Also let me say, It's not like we were abusing it or even heavily using it. I work in the maintenance dept of a road stripping company not a production fab shop or the like.

I would say our usage was on par to maybe a little more then what a home hobbyist would be doing.

IMHO, I would look for something else that fits your need and budget that uses more industry standard style and readily available consumables.

We recently replaced it with the Everlast POWERPLASMA 52I. They claim they use the same consumable that should be readily sourced locally but even if not, they offer a wide range of tip sizes in packs of 10 that reasonably priced.

https://www.everlastgenerators.com/catalog/ipt-60-plasma-consumables

 

[latebreak]

If it was my money I’d look for a Hypertherm 45XP. You’ll have long term support and consumable availability.

Nobody has regretted purchasing a Hypertherm.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Jswain]

For the price Eastwood sells them for I would pick up a 50-60amp unit off Amazon instead and spend an extra $50 on consumables.

If you are planning on going full production with it then I'd consider a hypertherm. If you buy a cheap one now you can always sell it and upgrade later if needed. Pilot arc is nice of you are cutting expanded metal or severely rusted metal or painted metal but not necessary if you aren't and I've never had a problem with mine starting without it.

If you buy one with a pt-31 style torch use it until the consumables that come with the machine run out then buy an ag-60 torch head (~15$) and swap it out

 

[Evilives]

New to the forum here, but i am also in the market for a low end plasma cutter. Its for home use, mostly to finish my jeep project. I was eyeballing the jegs unit and it is priced right. But i did find a lotos for a little more money but it is maxxing out my budget. Anyone own these machines?

 

[toolin' around]

Thanks for the advice... very useful.
And yes, I do need to cut expanded metal, so the pilot arc is worth including in my spec.
I’ll keep researching a few more options.