Plasma Cutter Choices

[grsthegreat]

Yes..the torch is the industry standard size....1-3/8" diameter with a 32 pich rack gear....which is removable if you don't need it. Here is a link to info on the Duramax torches....they are the same torches as used on the new Powermax65 and 85.

Your air is probably fine if your dryers and drains are functioning. 1000 feet of cut is exceptional.....you could do better with the new torch...but you are doing quite well now.

Jim Colt

like i said...the 1000' is real rare....usually 200-400 feet is all

ill save up for a new torch head...i spend lots on consumables

 

[Heavyduty]

I've been looking at getting a plasma cutter in the 50 amp range. The only reason I haven't pulled the trigger is because I've been told by a couple of welders that they don't cut painted or rusty metal well. That would be a problem for me because that's all I work with.:laughing: They suggested that I get a gas cutting torch.

 

[deereman75]

I have a homemade refrigerated dryer that works fine. I made a big coil out of a 30' piece of flexible copper tubing, and the coil sits inside a big plastic picnic cooler with ice inside. It cools the air, and then I run the air through another dryer/filter. It's worked well to keep a sandblaster from gumming up, it should work fine for the plasma as well.

I recall ShieldArc having something like that, but with a trash can insted of a cooler, it seemed to work well for his plasma cutter.

 

[grsthegreat]

I recall ShieldArc having something like that, but with a trash can insted of a cooler, it seemed to work well for his plasma cutter.

Search results for: 'air dryer'

$399.00 from harbor freight. dont need no ice .
Mine takes all air from line. I have never found a drop in the glass separator since installing this unit. Also, my mechanical dryer stays fully dry downline.

WELL worth the $399.00

 

[deereman75]

Search results for: 'air dryer'

$399.00 from harbor freight. dont need no ice .
Mine takes all air from line. I have never found a drop in the glass separator since installing this unit. Also, my mechanical dryer stays fully dry downline.

WELL worth the $399.00

Ya but your way costs $400, Shieldarcs way costs about $4 (Everyone has an old trash can or oil drum somewhere)

 

[grsthegreat]

Ya but your way costs $400, Shieldarcs way costs about $4 (Everyone has an old trash can or oil drum somewhere)

naaa, do it right. do it once. hehe

if any moisture gets thru while plasma cutting = ruined tips ($20.00) or moisture in paint gun (wrecked finish),,,not worth the risk for me.

This unit actually separateds the water into a sealed storage unit that you manually empty every so often (depends on how much you use it). Its amazing how much water blows out of this thing in a week of using air.

 

[rbcsaver]

I didn't say originally which cutter I got, as the discussion had gotten pretty acrimonious at the time. I didn't want to fan the flames, so to speak. Now that things seem to have settled down, I can say that I got a Hypertherm Powermax 45. It was comparatively expensive, but after reading all the reviews and comments, I figure it's money worth spent. It's now sitting in my shop, awaiting my attention - when I have the time and it's not eleventy-billion degrees outside

I'm in exactly the same position as perplexed, regarding the Hypertherm Powermax45
Hopefully in the the next week or so., I'll get her up and cutting.
regards,
Steve

 

[jimcolt]

I would be happy to work with you to improve your Powermax1000 consumable life. If you provide me details regarding the machine....what materials you are cutting (thicknesses) and what cut parameters (speed, amperage, consumable sets, pierce height, pierce delays) and pictures of used consumables...especially nozzles I can help you optimize the process.

Your consumable cutting costs should be just pennies per foot on 3/16" steel. My cost per foot for cutting 3/16" steel is about 1.75 cents per foot...I charge double that for cutting costs, plus the cost of the steel with an adequate markup. Using these billing rates I can make over $100 / hour with my cnc plasma in my home shop. I don't consider that expensive if you compare to other cutting processes.

There may be a bit of "sticker shock" when you buy a 5 pack of nozzles.....but once you divide the price by the number of parts or feet of cut...it is by far the lowest cost way to cut metal. I get a much worse sticker shock when I buy 5 flap discs for my angle grinder...but I found that buying the more expensive major brand discs gets me a lot more grinding/blending time.

Best regards, Jim Colt Hypertherm

like i said...the 1000' is real rare....usually 200-400 feet is all

ill save up for a new torch head...i spend lots on consumables

 

[chuckgreen]

An inverter machine will have either MosFets (metal oxide semiconductorfield effect transistor) or IGBT's (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor). It will have one or the other.....with the IGBT generally being the switching device use in more modern, more reliable inverters. IGBT's can handle fast switching speeds at high power levels with a good affinity for surviving electical noise and voltage spikes.....FET's are not so good. Most of the recent Chinese imports are touting their recent change to IGBT's. For the record...Hypertherm started using IGBT's about 15 to 17 years ago in it's inverters. Cost shoul not be an object if you are looking to build better reliability.

Jim Colt

Jim, thanks for posting all this tech info, I'm still learning about all this stuff. One thing I remember reading about the Mosfets, is that they had a bad habit of suddenly going bang, with smoke coming out of the unit, and foul language coming out of the user's mouth. What made me think that the Harbor Freight plasma might be worth taking a gamble on is that it seems to be a lot heavier than the other 40 amp Chinese brands, it weighs over 50 lbs, so I figured that there has to be some heavy duty stuff in there.

I'm in the same position as a lot of the rest of the non-pro users, my shop toy budget is limited.....

 

[jimcolt]

From the pictures the Harbor Freight looks very similar to about 6 or 7 other brands of Chinese built plasma systems....but I honestly have not looked at their latest offering. In my opinion...one of the issues I have with these iumports is that they change their designs very often....instead of settling on a good design with minor engineering changes. I'm concerned that when parts and repair become necessary a few years down the road that it will be difficult to get the correct parts or service. A lot of these manufacturers are riding the bandwagon of "New IGBT technology", when in fact it is not new...and will not solve all reliability issues...although the IGBT units definitely should have better reliability than MosFets.

When you are looking at the low cost imports I would recommend buying fom a reputable supplier with good customer feedback...poll the end users on this site and others to see what kind of experiences they had with performance and support. Also, remember that plasma systems are not all created equal...there are reasons why the lower priced units are lower priced! Any sales person will tell you that their product is as good or better....the differences are outined in one of my previous posts.

Jim

Jim, thanks for posting all this tech info, I'm still learning about all this stuff. One thing I remember reading about the Mosfets, is that they had a bad habit of suddenly going bang, with smoke coming out of the unit, and foul language coming out of the user's mouth. What made me think that the Harbor Freight plasma might be worth taking a gamble on is that it seems to be a lot heavier than the other 40 amp Chinese brands, it weighs over 50 lbs, so I figured that there has to be some heavy duty stuff in there.

I'm in the same position as a lot of the rest of the non-pro users, my shop toy budget is limited.....