eastwood vs harbor freight plasma

[cammok5]

please dont turn this into a cina = **** thred and hf *****.
im thinking of getting a plasma for cutting out rust on my truck and making patch panles. i wont be cutting anything thick and wont use it much after im done the body work on my truck. im tired of cutoff wheels on the grinder and see hf and eastwood bother have plasmas.
i can get the east wood 40 amp for $480 scratch and dent w/ 1 yr warinty
hf is $520 if i can use 20% off if not its $650.
what would you get?

 

[#1SomeGuy]

Why not get a body saw?

 

[cammok5]

i have one. its worse then the grinder.

 

[truckwrench1]

so far everything i have got from eastwood has done what it should that being said my father in law has a HF plasma and it works just fine. i would save some money and get the cheaper one if you dont intend for a lot of use. another option would be pay a little more scratch for a miller 110 with onboard air and then be able to sell it afterward

 

[devilsnight]

Eastwood has been good to me, use their paint equipment. If i was looking for a small welder or plasma cutter it would be a no brainer for me. I've never been to HF and don't ever plan on it so, thats just my biased opinion. I feel eastwood has an excellent selection of good quality stuff, not just every tool you can think of like the chain stores.
Also, I watched a friend of mine cut the entire side section out of a blazer the other day with a cordless dewalt sawsall. Said the blade (can't think of the name) was the same fire fighters use to saw into wrecks to pull people out. took like 5 minutes, almost did it with a single battery too. I dono, was impressed.

 

[zkling]

Between the two I would get a eastwood.

HOWEVER I would highly recommend that you look at a used name brand unit. It will serve you much better, easier to find parts, and have much better resale value.

Do you have the air requirements (volume and clean) to properly run a plasma?

 

[lilscorpion]

So take this with a grain of salt but if you're doing patch panel work you might not want to use a plasma (as desirable as they appear in videos, in person, and in mags). Plasma cut edges are contaminated and require cleaning (sanding/grinding) prior to welding or you'll get a porous/contaminated weld. Though I have a fairly nice plasma, I never use it for body work for this reason alone. My preference is the cut-off wheel because I can make square cuts that I can easily make filler pieces for and a cut-off wheel handles such a task easily.

If you really want a plasma, I'd recommend that you do some extensive research and not buy based on price but buy based on quality. I totally understand your question - fit it into your budget - but, from personal experience, I tried to do that years ago and ended up with a unit that chewed up consumables and didn't perform that well. Some friends pointed me in the right direction and I bought a hypertherm and have never been happier sense. Yes it costs more but, to be honest, sometimes the lower quality units end up costing you more in the long run.

My personal experience is with HTP (HTP America), ESAB, Miller, Thermo Dynamics, and Hypertherm spanning about 18 years. Of the units I've used and/or owned, Hypertherm won on all fronts (cut quality, consumable life, features, life of the machine, etc). I do realize that many of these companies have changed over the years and my experiences may not truly reflect the same test today with comparable units so take my experience with a grain of salt. Best bet is to ask questions regarding usage/experience with given units and manufacturers and then once you have enough info, make an educated guess from there.

If you're looking in that price range for a plasma I'd probably be searching pawn shops. I personally purchased a Drag Gun (Thermal Dynamics) at a pawn shop for less than $200 and used it for thin gauge materials for quite some time before I grew out of it. It worked great and fetched just a hair more when I let it go. Not sure what the odds are where you are but it may be worth checking unless you're in a hurry.

If these are the units you have to choose from, I'd probably pick the one sold by the company that will provide you with the best warranty service/return/repair and take into account consumable prices and availability. Consumable replacement is a part of life with a plasma and can eat your wallet if the machine goes through them quickly.

Good luck.

 

[fflintstone]

Between the two I would get a eastwood.

HOWEVER I would highly recommend that you look at a used name brand unit. It will serve you much better, easier to find parts, and have much better resale value.

Do you have the air requirements (volume and clean) to properly run a plasma?

So take this with a grain of salt but if you're doing patch panel work you might not want to use a plasma (as desirable as they appear in videos, in person, and in mags). Plasma cut edges are contaminated and require cleaning (sanding/grinding) prior to welding or you'll get a porous/contaminated weld. Though I have a fairly nice plasma, I never use it for body work for this reason alone. My preference is the cut-off wheel because I can make square cuts that I can easily make filler pieces for and a cut-off wheel handles such a task easily.

If you really want a plasma, I'd recommend that you do some extensive research and not buy based on price but buy based on quality. I totally understand your question - fit it into your budget - but, from personal experience, I tried to do that years ago and ended up with a unit that chewed up consumables and didn't perform that well. Some friends pointed me in the right direction and I bought a hypertherm and have never been happier sense. Yes it costs more but, to be honest, sometimes the lower quality units end up costing you more in the long run.

My personal experience is with HTP (HTP America), ESAB, Miller, Thermo Dynamics, and Hypertherm spanning about 18 years. Of the units I've used and/or owned, Hypertherm won on all fronts (cut quality, consumable life, features, life of the machine, etc). I do realize that many of these companies have changed over the years and my experiences may not truly reflect the same test today with comparable units so take my experience with a grain of salt. Best bet is to ask questions regarding usage/experience with given units and manufacturers and then once you have enough info, make an educated guess from there.

If you're looking in that price range for a plasma I'd probably be searching pawn shops. I personally purchased a Drag Gun (Thermal Dynamics) at a pawn shop for less than $200 and used it for thin gauge materials for quite some time before I grew out of it. It worked great and fetched just a hair more when I let it go. Not sure what the odds are where you are but it may be worth checking unless you're in a hurry.

If these are the units you have to choose from, I'd probably pick the one sold by the company that will provide you with the best warranty service/return/repair and take into account consumable prices and availability. Consumable replacement is a part of life with a plasma and can eat your wallet if the machine goes through them quickly.

Good luck.

X2!



I would buy a used outdated Hypertherm over ANYTHING else.



.

 

[pepi]

Something to think about is the slag they throw off, you say floor of a truck I see oil or grease fire possabilities. They are a good tool do not get me wrong there are a few things to consider when using one. A cut off wheel as mentioned or a sawzall would be a good way to go also.