help for a plasma cutter

[pekan]

Hi every one need some advice to buy a plasma cutter for my hobby shop that cut 1/2 inch or so thank for your advice .

 

[Bday]

Hypertherm powermax 45. Weldersupply.com American made (assembled) employee ran and owned.

 

[yomax4]

Lots of good units out there in that amp range. PM 45 included. Unfortunately it's not "made' in America. I own one and under the cover shows 6 countries of origin including China, Taiwan, Italy, and Mexico. Employee owned yes, Made in USA, Not quite.

 

[Bday]

Lots of good units out there in that amp range. PM 45 included. Unfortunately it's not "made' in America. I own one and under the cover shows 6 countries of origin including China, Taiwan, Italy, and Mexico. Employee owned yes, Made in USA, Not quite.

Wow! That's the first time I have heard of that! I have been looking at buying hypertherm. Everything I've read is said to be American made?

 

[Bday]

So assembled in US with sourced parts?

 

[yomax4]

So assembled in US with sourced parts?

Sadly there are no true made in USA Welders or Plasma cutters anymore. Miller even shows assembled in USA on their boxes. Even the engine drives., It's too bad. Smith and Victor still make torches here but not much else in the welding and cutting world is actually manufactured here. It's a shame.

 

[Bday]

Over at weldersupply it shows pic on box label country of origin as USA. So at least I can support assembled in US! With that said a year of research shows hypertherm as tops in industry.
So let me rephrase my post assembled in USA. Better?

 

[yomax4]

As far as Plasma Cutters go, Hypertherm and Thermal Dynamics are the only ones who make their own torch. Everyone else including Miller sources them from somewhere else. That gives Hyp and TD the edge.

 

[JCByrd24]

Another vote for Hypertherm. I have a PM 45. I'm not aware of all the details on the Made in the USA discussion but I think they're as close as you can get. I've driven by their large building in New Hampshire and last I was aware they have a lot of their parts made by local CNC shops in New England. Additionally my understanding is they are basically leading the way in all development in plasma technology and they have the best consumables life.

 

[jimcolt]

Hypertherm does all of its design, engineering, and manufacturing of its plasma cutters in its plants in Hanover and Lebanon NH, USA. Always has. Hypertherm has been in business since 1968 and has always globally sourced the best components in the world. It does not matter to us (never has) where the components come from as long as the component supplier uses the latest quality control techniques and follows fair labor practices. We have never claimed anything different. Many of the parts used in a modern inverter based plasma cutter are not produced in the USA. Integrated circuits and surface mount PC Board components come from a variety of regions, IGBT switching devices come from Japan (the highest quality ones.....there are others!). Yomax.....you missed a few countries...there are many more than you mention!

Hypertherm has never laid a single employee off under any circumstances, and certainly has never laid of employees and farmed the work out to other countries as many in the industry have. We have a large number of automatic machines, lathes, milling, robotics, assembly cells.....that are state of the art in this type of manufacturing. Our latest plant (71 Heater Road, Lebanon, NH) is a state of the art LEED Gold certified energy efficient plant...this is where all of the Powermax air plasma's, their torches and all of their consumables are manufactured. Needless to say we are very proud of our operation worldwide, since all of us own the company and make decisions on our products and our direction. The President of Hypertherm has an office cubicle just like the rest of us.....no private jets.

If you are interested in a tour of our world class manufacturing operations in NH (yes, USA) feel free to contact me and I'll provide a personal tour.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

Lots of good units out there in that amp range. PM 45 included. Unfortunately it's not "made' in America. I own one and under the cover shows 6 countries of origin including China, Taiwan, Italy, and Mexico. Employee owned yes, Made in USA, Not quite.