plasma cutters

[landrover bodger]

i am thinking of buying a plasma cutter for home use . are the china ones from ebay ok ? . the most I ever need to cut is 6mm . I cant afford a usa or uk made one

 

[crewchief888]

a plasma cutter was one of the few tools i bought and never really used.

i sold it about a year later.

i do most of my cutting with a 4 1/2" grinder and cut off wheels...
or if needed a torch.

 

[Know Wosad]

Skip it. Get a nice angle grinder. If it doesnt say : HYPERTHERM, its a waste of money and time. Period

 

[sberry]

It is a depend question. I cut something near every day and need to look for a pic I did earlier where we blew about 50 bolt holes instead of drilling them. It is the super salvage machine, can recover a lot of material for stock that would be prohibitive to saw or grind.
Its so much cheaper to operate than a torch if they are being used regular. Not held to buying gasses and using idle heat.
If you can recover materials with it then its worth it. If you are fixing cars not so much, a torch for that. Or both ideally.

 

[Cope]

I bought a no name off eBay and hit it lucky. I had an issue and the seller took care of me. Not long after, I won $1800 worth of free gear from Longevity, so I upgraded my Tig and Plasma. I've had zero issues with either, but if you buy from a local brick and mortar dealer, you usually have better support.

 

[bcradio]

a plasma cutter was one of the few tools i bought and never really used.

i sold it about a year later.

i do most of my cutting with a 4 1/2" grinder and cut off wheels...
or if needed a torch.

This is the reason I will not buy a plasma cutter either. I thought and thought and thought about it, but I knew I would never really use it.

 

[dogdog]

i am thinking of buying a plasma cutter for home use . are the china ones from ebay ok ? . the most I ever need to cut is 6mm . I cant afford a usa or uk made one

This is one of the few instances I would say, "DO NOT BUY THE CHINESE NO NAME , or REBRAND ONES." Unless you like to play roulette and chances of you win are .0001%

Just look at that group buy thread from last year.... most of the people jumped in and are having issues.

stick with a name brand company, Hypertherm / miller or lincoln

 

[crewchief888]

This is the reason I will not buy a plasma cutter either. I thought and thought and thought about it, but I knew I would never really use it.

i got a smokin' HOT deal on mine, thats the only reason i bought it in the 1st place.

also happens to be about the only tool i've ever sold.

 

[jekquist]

I was going to buy an Eastwood versa 60 this weekend but decided to buy insulation for my shop instead.

 

[Jmonnty]

Skip it. Get a nice angle grinder. If it doesnt say : HYPERTHERM, its a waste of money and time. Period

We use a hyperthrem commercially, never had luck with any brand, miller included.

Just how much are you going to cut, jigsaw and a 4.5" grinder can do a lot of 1/4 mild steel?

 

[killahog]

I dont regret buying my Hypertherm 30 plasma the key to using it is having it set up to where you just have to flip a few switches and start cutting. I can have mine running quicker than i can plug in my grinder.

 

[manwithtools]

Clean dry air is imperative to get maximum life out of consumables (cutting tips). You don't want oil or moisture in the air supply at all. This means you might need to spend some money on air prep equipment as well as the plasma cutter....

 

[crab]

I had mine for quite awhile before I really started using it and had thought about selling it. I've been using it more now and for some things like cutting sheet metal or steel plate it's pretty slick. The easiest way to do that by far if you don't have a large shear. I'm keeping mine. I have an ESAB and really haven't had any problems with it.

 

[ovrrdrive]

I had an Eastwood Versa Cut60 before I got my Hypertherm and honestly I didn't have any issues with it at all. I don't hesitate to recommend them to anyone. Not everyone can or will go out and spend $3k on a plasma. Most people don't need one like that anyway. The Eastwood cost me just over $700 and worked great.

I never used the smaller one but I would expect it to work just as well.

The only reason I got rid of it was I wanted to build a CNC table and they are HF.