plasma cutter help needed

[RPW]

I have a HF 40A and have cut up to 1/2in. with it. Now at 1/2 it would be called slag cut more or less. At 1/4in. to 5/16in. I can do a farly precise cut if my hand didn't shack at times. CNC is in my future some day. I hope this helps.

 

[grsthegreat]

i have a Hypertherm 1000 mechanized machine. i'm in the market for the hand torch attachment for it, but man there spendy. if i remember the Hypertherm unit runs about $2,600 by itself. the hand torch adds another $600.

its a fantastic machine. Mine is a cnc mechanized unit so i cant be of much help with the standoff requirements for a hand held unit, but im in the 1/16" range most of the time.

the cuts never fuse together, and i get very little slag buildup.

i do metal art and alot of metal projects as a hobby, and i do love this machine. its amazing how many projects i can find around the ranch that i can use the plasma cutter to repair.

mine is set at 7 SCFM of air flow at 90 psig flow rate. I run all air thru an air dryer and paper dryer before i reach the plasma cutter. dryers removes 99.5% of all moisture. moisture is the #1 tip destroyers out there.

 

[yomax4]

If all anyone on here wants to do is show 1" and 1 1/4" cuts, Why try to sell "small" Plasma Cutters trying to explain how small they are and how big they can cut??? If you want to cut 1/4" buy a 40 amp unit. If you want to blow holes in 1/2" plate and cut 1 1/4 real time, Buy an 80 amp unit. If you enjoy time lapsed photography buy a 40-50 amp unit to cut 1 1/4"...

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Yo,
While I am not an advocate of that either, I understand why. People want to know what they can do in a pinch. Its not that a unit is geared toward that for production but its what people want to buy with some margin of comfort Its the: IF they ever needed to they could if they had to...type thing. Our 50 amp will do over 1" but you better wait on it to cut. Realistically, it will handle things up to 3/4 reasonably, but .5 inches gives good speed and performance levels.

 

[jimcolt]

Here is a picture of 3/4" steel that was pierced and cut with a Hypertherm Powermax85 on a cnc machine (PlasmaCam). The torch pierced from .25" off the plate, took 1.2 seconds to pierce through, then automatically indexed down to the cut height of .06" off the plate. The cut speed was 33 inches per minute.

A good quality 30 amp plasma will pierce 1/4" and sever 1/2", a good quality 45 amp plasma will pierce 1/2" and sever 1". When I say pierce...that is the maximum that the unit can pierce without consumable parts being damaged by the molten metal blowback. Severance is the maximum thickness cut where the cut speed drops below 10 inches per minute. Generally...if you want a productive plasma you should get one that will be used at its pierce thickness as a maximum production thickness for best results.

Jim Colt Hypertherm

 

[grsthegreat]

i just cut 3 scrap 3/16 plates for a friend of mine thats going to make a 5th wheel for a horse carriage. heres the fit. mines a cnc machine also (dynatorch). im real happy with the cuts. it does each circle in about 30 seconds. 60 amps hypertherm powermax 1000.

 

[rjmack]

those cnc pics look nice, but imho hand held plasma cutters are almost always the last choice.

personally, i have never been able to come within 1/10 the quality of cut comparing plasma to oxy/acetylene... and i have a miller plasma.

the plasma does come in handy for hacking apart old truck and car bodies though.:thumbsup:

 

[grsthegreat]

those cnc pics look nice, but imho hand held plasma cutters are almost always the last choice.

personally, i have never been able to come within 1/10 the quality of cut comparing plasma to oxy/acetylene... and i have a miller plasma.

the plasma does come in handy for hacking apart old truck and car bodies though.:thumbsup:

hand held plasmas are great for rough cutting and demo i agree, also i use them when wiring in steel studded commercial buildings. i have been able to use templates to cut so so holes. But CNC is definitely the way to go with plasma.

I'm making a bucket mount trailer hitch for the new Kioti tomorrow. it took about an hour to design the thing with auto cad/coral software. i scanned a rough picture of the cuts.

i have to design it first, then convert the drawings to a Vextract (outside line drawing), then convert this using a program called Enroute. The Enroute program sets all cut parameters, feed in and outs, etc. It also nests the cuts to minimize loss.

Ill cut these on my Dynatorch system today or tomorrow. All the drawing and computer work for this design took about an hour and a half ( as i was playing with a few different possible designs). the cutting will take 5 minutes.

then i just have to weld and paint.

hammm, work has cropped its ugly head today....probably wont get around to cutting this till Sunday. I hate work

 

[jimcolt]

While I agree that the best parts will be cut with a plasma torch on a cnc machine....I love mine, there are many more hand plasma torches sold worldwide than mechanized torches. Hand held plasma torches outsell oxy-fuel torches as well in todays market.

If you have not seen or tried the latest technology, and you have to cut metal....you probably should look at these systems. You can drag cut at up to 200 amps (no need for a skilled operator to hold a standoff), the cut speeds are dramatically faster than oxy fuel, plasma can cut stainless and aluminum, and ther are no explosive or expensive gases. Most hand plasma systems use compressed air. Here is a link to a video of me using my hand plasma to cut two gussets out of 5/8" steel. It tool me far longer to mark the plate with a soapstone than to cut it...and the parts were warm, but not red hot, and required no clean up. Plasma cutting has come a long way in the past 10 years....faster and far less expensive to use than an oxy-fuel torch.

YouTube - Powermax1250 cutting 5/8" steel

Jim Colt Hypertherm

 

[grsthegreat]

made my little bucket mounted trailer mover on sunday....i do love playing in the shop.

heres a few pics. have to still paint it. I set it up with a rear t shaped bolt in back that i will pass thru hole in bucket and attach with either a latch pin (most of the time) or have option of 3/4" nut and washer for loaded trailers for added security.

It mounted to lower lip of my bucket, and i can see the connection point where the ball meats the trailer hitch so i dont have to get out of the cab.

I added a 2-5/16 ball to top of re-enforced area on my bucket to move gooseneck horse trailer.

This is a larger version of one i made years ago for the JD.