Plasma Cutters, Sub-$1000 edition, which one?

Recent garage activities have convinced me I need another way to cut metal. And by that I mean a better way to cut metal. A Plasma Cutter. I've been putting off buying one now for a while but it's become painfully obvious I would benefit from one- I spent 2 hours hacking away at a 1/4" metal plate that a PC would have cut out in about 5 minutes.

I'm not a professional, and I'm not going to drop 4 figure coin on one. What I'm curious about are people's experiences with consumer-grade models. My garage is pretty shade-tree grade, so I don't have 220VAC, which means I'm looking at 110VAC units (though ones that could be upgraded to 220VAV and used on either would be fine).

Let's use this as a baseline:

http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-plasma-cutter.html

Any better for the price?

Wow, I never realized that you could get one so cheap.

Yeah, I remember when I first heard of them, all the units I looked at were $1500. Now there's some as cheap as $300.

As someone who has owned quite a few different brands of plasma power supplies and has built a number of CNC plasma tables I feel like I can comment. Most of the $400ish ebay Chinese specials are best left "UN-purchased"....or said another way are garbage.

The Eastwood is probably the cheapest unit I would consider. Mostly because they are likely to stand behind what they sell. If it was me I would look for a used name brand machine on CL or see if you can find a deal on a new Thermal Dynamics cutmaster 42 or Hypertherm powermax 30.

In reply to morecowbell:

Are the $400 ones garbage because you've actually had bad experiences with them, or simply because of the low price tag? Any experience with the Eastwood unit?

I'm not a professional fabricator, I just want something for occasional use. The hypotherm is a $1200 unit.

I have used lots of plasma cutters. The one I have the most experience with is a 60 amp ESAB, which could cut through 1/4" like butter. It was before the revolution of affordable cutters. The other week, I needed to cut some maybe 1/8" brackets off an axle, and stopped by to use a buddy's Lincoln. I don't recall the model #, but he said it cost about a grand, and I'm pretty sure it was 220v. To cut the chase it got through the 1/8", but it wasn't like butter. It just felt like a toy next to the ESAB. 1/4" would have been a real chore. Moral of the story's those inexpensive ones may be great for body panels and the like, but you need a big boy for the thick stuff. My takeaway was to only purchase one once I can go a bit premium.

The above is an opinion based on my experiences.

volvoclearinghouse wrote: In reply to morecowbell: Are the $400 ones garbage because you've actually had bad experiences with them, or simply because of the low price tag? Any experience with the Eastwood unit? I'm not a professional fabricator, I just want something for occasional use. The hypotherm is a $1200 unit.

No experience with the Eastwood but some of my CNC customers have bought Lotos and Simadre units and have got fed up with them quickly - these are "name brand" cheap Chinese machines. They eat consumables a lot faster than other machines and have extremely weak after sales support. Online re-sellers are just that and have zero technical support to offer you when they start smoking or just stop all together....

Also consider that virtually all the cheap plasmas do not have CSA or UL certification. This is important if they ever cause a fire and your insurance company finds out. Don't get fooled by "CE certification" it is not recognized in Canada or the US at all - all it basically means is "China Export".....

If you can spend a grand seriously look at the Thermal Dynamics/victor Cutmaster 42. You can usually buy them new on ebay for about $1000. or used for around $500-$600.

+1 on checking consumables prices. I swapped the ESAB I mentioned earlier over to a Thermo dynamics whip and consumables about 6 years ago. Just ordered $220 worth of consumables, and that's for not a lot.^ years ago, 50-60 bucks for the same stuff. Planned Obsolescence is the phrase, I believe.

Also, +1 on Thermal Dynamics.

I have the Eastwood one in the pic above. It works fine up to 1/4" plate but not at all on 110v, like serious Not At All so don't waste your money if you don't have a 220v outlet.

Make sure you employ some sort of air dryer too - moisture is no good for cutting with plasma. I just use the cheap inline kind you can buy from Miller for $85 or Harbor Freight for $8.

Sounds like I may have to invest on $100 worth of line to run an extension from the dryer outlet out to the garage.

Huckleberry wrote: I have the Eastwood one in the pic above. It works fine up to 1/4" plate but not at all on 110v, like serious Not At All so don't waste your money if you don't have a 220v outlet. Make sure you employ some sort of air dryer too - moisture is no good for cutting with plasma. I just use the cheap inline kind you can buy from Miller for $85 or Harbor Freight for $8.

^Good info there.

The Eastwoods use Hypotherm consumables, which is a plus.

Picked up a VersaCut 40 last night, and a pack of consumables. Should be cutting metal by next week.

Huckleberry wrote: I have the Eastwood one in the pic above. It works fine up to 1/4" plate but not at all on 110v, like serious Not At All so don't waste your money if you don't have a 220v outlet. Make sure you employ some sort of air dryer too - moisture is no good for cutting with plasma. I just use the cheap inline kind you can buy from Miller for $85 or Harbor Freight for $8.

Curious if have the 40 or 60 (I can't tell which is in the pic)?

I borrowed an older Hypertherm a while back when building the bumpers for my Bronco, and it was really nice. I bought a small Lincoln since then, and I've not been very impressed with it. I think I'm going to sell it and I've been looking at the Eastwood's units which have generally good reviews. I'm looking at the 60A version, and I do have 220...

I finally got the Eastwood Versa-Cut 40 fired up this weekend. I ran a 50' 12 gauge extension cord out to the unit, and used the 220/110 converter plug supplied. Hooked up the oil separator and air drier and a line from my compressor. Made all the other various connections and whatnot.

Had some spare 1/4" plate laying around so I figured I'd try that first. With the current setting about 3/4 of the way up, it had no trouble blasting through. I've been working on a project involving cutting out some brackets from said 1/4" plate, so I figured I'd get right to it. The plasma cut out two small brackets in about a minute each- I'd have been much longer hacking through the plate with my angle grinder.

I did learn a trick- use a scrap piece of metal as a straightedge/ guide for the plasma tip for nice, straight cuts. I'm still learning the appropriate speed for cutting, and I have a bit of an issue when first starting the cut- it seems to glob up the metal into a molten pool rather than cutting it, necessitating another pass in that area. The final cuts are decent quality, and clean up quickly with the angle grinder.

Overall, very happy with the unit. I'll have to find some 3/8" material to test the rated limit of the cutter.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse:

So - yours worked on 110 then? Mine won't even spark up. I had 220 in the shop so it wasn't something I cared about - but maybe mine is faulty?

Huckleberry wrote: In reply to volvoclearinghouse: So - yours worked on 110 then? Mine won't even spark up. I had 220 in the shop so it wasn't something I cared about - but maybe mine is faulty?

Yep. It comes with an adaptor to convert the unit's big 220V plug to a 110 connection. And I had to use an extension cord on top of that. I tried it even on the highest current setting, and it sparked right up, no problem. There is supposed to be some internal circuitry that automatically senses the voltage level. Maybe yours isn't working correctly.

I've been playing with the air pressure. I have a good-sized compressor (upright tank, belt driven, oil-lubricated) and have regulated 100psi to the unit, which I then use the plasma's internal regulator to keep 60 psi WHILE cutting- which means about 70 or so when it's idle. Not sure if I need more or less, as I said it cuts pretty well but does tend to leave a bit of a pool of molten metal at the beginning of the cut which re-solidifies.

Oh, and I did I dumb thing last night. I was welding a nut concentric over a hole in the bracket I'd made, and thought I'd be smart and leave the bolt in said nut to keep it concentric. After welding, I found that the threads had welded themselves together! I managed to bute-force the bolt out, but the nut was garbage. Sliced it off, will try again tonight. I think I'll just tack it in place with the bolt threaded in and then unthread the bold before doing the full weld. On the plus side, when I cut the nut off, I got to see my weld quality, and the penetration was most excellent.

Can you post some pics of the cut quality? Top and bottom?

Will do. I'm still learning, so it's probably not as good as it could be, but maybe I can get some pointers from you all.

All right. I went out last night and made some cuts in a piece of 1/8" scrap metal I had laying around. For science!

First I set the current control at about 20 (it goes up to 40) and carved my name:

I was attempting to leave enough room to also write "Garage", but my spacing was off. Oh well. Here's the backside:

Looks like some molten metal kinda globbed onto the backside. The cut went pretty quickly, I think about 1 cm per second seems like a good speed. Also, I'm not sure if the fact that the metal was painted made any difference. I doubt it helped.

Next, I cranked the current setting up to about 30 and cut the following out:

This cut seemed much cleaner and easier. The backside came out cleaner, too:

Still some slag, but not as much. A grinder would take this off in a few seconds.

Finally, I cranked the current up all the way (40) and made a cut:

I was running out of room on the scrap metal, but the little wave I cut shows a wider cut width. And the backside shows some globbing of metal at intervals, suggesting perhaps this was too much current for the thickness of the metal:

I had the air pressure set to be 60 psi while cutting, which worked out to about 70 or 75 when not cutting. i don't know if this needs to be higher or lower, if it needs to be adjusted when cutting different thicknesses of metal, etc. The manual doesn't really give much instruction on technique, only in actually getting the unit set up and running.

The 1/4" material I'd cut this weekend showed some globbing of material on the backside. I think I had the control set around 30 or 35- never all the way up. Next time I cut that I'll try it all the way up. I have a feeling the "3/8" rating of the machine may not be for a clean cut, but just for actually getting through the metal.

Final picture: the weld cart I'm setting up. It's an old Techtronics O-scope cart I picked up out of a scrap pile many years ago. It's a good, sturdy car, with a drawer for welding/ cutting consummables and a place to wrap cords in back. Eventually it will get a tank holder for welding gas. The Lincoln welder on top I bought when I was 19, so it's almost 20 years old. That welder has traveled around the country and welded stuff in some bizarre places. It's also got over a dozen LeMons races under its belt. One of my favorite tools. I bought it when I was still living in an apartment. Don't tell the landlord!

Thanks for the scientific assessment for posterity. Nice Stuff!

Tip - when removing the the slag buildup... do not grind it, chip it off with a chisel or similar. If it is an outside edge cut you can also tap it with a hammer from a slight angle. It is much quicker and cleaner most of the time.

Nice!

And that slag edge eats files, too, so grind or sand to finish the edge instead.

When I used to use a plasma cutter at work we found when set right a gasket scraper would get under and pop off the slag. cheap units dull quickly we had on with a hard face I think it was made by sandvick the cutting tool company.

I miss using it....

Chisel and hammer has worked great for me. Usually, just a light tap will pop off the slag.

Agree on the slag - it's really brittle. Let it cool and tap it with a cold chisel or an actual slag hammer... they are $8 at Harbor Freight. It's the one with the handle that looks like a spring.