Plasma cutter suggestions?

[eartaker]

I was looking at the Harbor Freight Plasma cutter and have found some CUT 50R. Any thoughts on these cheap cutters? This would not be used often and never over 3/8 aluminum. I cant justify spending $1200 for a tool I might use once a month.

[snoeproe]

There are 3 names in plasma cutting that stand out above the rest. Hypertherm, Thermal Dynamics and ESAB.
One of the china made units may be all you need. The torch is the big question? Consumables life? Concumables availability? Customer tech support?

[I Lean]

I have a Parker PT40 that has been fine for me, but it does go through consumables MUCH faster than a "real" machine. I'm looking forward to replacing it with a Hypertherm later this year.

[GrandLordKhorne]

Look for a used Thermal Dynamics. I know several people who held out a little and found used units for $500 and have been vary happy. Try E-bay and shop auctions, if you lived in Maine I would tell you to watch the scrap yard at Bath Iron Works as they turn up there for scrap price now and then, there may be something similar where you live. I have owned cheap plasma cutters and I now have a 52 series from Thermal Dynamics, I can tell you, you will use a nicer machine more often and with much better results.

Just my 2 cents.

[jimcolt]

While there are more Hypertherm units out there than any other brand, it is kind of rare to find used ones.....as most users don't part with them. They do occasionally show up on Craigslist for a good price. A good used Hypertherm to watch for is the Powermax600 (40 amps)...there are over 55,000 of them in use. Als watch for Powermax900, Powermax1000, Powermax30. These units are all made in Hanover, NH, USA by employee owners of Hypertherm.

Bath Iron works, a major commercial and military shipbuilder in Maine....has almost all Hypertherm equipment from the 600 and 800 Amp industrial systems....down to the 80 and 100 amp hand held systems.....most of the Thermal Dynamics systems at Bath are being phased out!

Jim

[Pro-Fab]

When you make your purchase, keep in mind the operating cost of the plasma cutter as well as the purchase price. The consumables on the Hypertherm units have traditionally been the longest lasting, even when compared to the other big name brands (Therma Dyne, Esab, Miller). I buy only industrial quality equipment, and without exception, my supplyers have always recommended the Hypertherrm brand over the others that they have had on display. I have actually seen quite a few of the Hypertherms listed for sale, and it is usually from people wishing to upgrade to a larger, or newer machine with fine cut capability. If you buy a used plasma cutter, try and find out why it is being sold off.
No one wants to be in a position where they are down to their last electrode, and the supplier tells you that the next shipment will be arriving in ONLY two weeks.
Good Luck.

[GrandLordKhorne]

I hate to contradict Jim but at BIW I would have to say we have probably 95% Thermal Dynamics units and 5% Hypertherm units. I will haft to really look when I go in for my shift tonight but I don’t think I have seen a Hypertherm out on the floor in a production area at all, thought I see them on the welding trucks now and then. If they are phasing out our enormous fleet of Plasmaster 80’s than they are taking there sweet time about it. But that is all the more resin to keep an eye out in there scrap area.

In reality I bought a Thermal Dynamics for 3 resins. #1 seeing some of the antiques at BIW that still run like a champ gives me confidence in there products #2 familiarly with the Thermal Dynamics system from using it at my ‘day’ job and #3 BIW throws out a lot of barely used consumables, primarily because the employees just put new in every time they touch a machine, than I buy them at the scrap center. But I’m not primarily a fab guy, I rarely use my plasma to do more than cut stock before it goes into the machining center. I would not suggest that the average person try shopping for consumables used, I have an odd situation.

Having said all that, I agree that the Hypertherm systems are vary nice units too. I’m going to completely agree with Pro-Fab, most of the time when I’m in the big welding supply shop they recommend Hypertherm gear over the others. And I too have seen a fair number of Hypertherm units for sale used. I looked at and tried a few before buying my Thermal Dynamics and he is right, most people will tell you they are upgrading for more capacity or new bells/whistles. I have run into a couple of people who said they where selling it because another brand had a model that suited there needs better or that the local supplier was not a Hypertherm dealer and did not stock a lot of consumables for them.


One thing you may consider is going down to the local supplier and seeing what they do and don’t stock. It is often easier to live with a system that is supported locally. Washington is generally more populated than Maine and so you may not have the problems that I have up here but I can tell you the closest weld supply source only stocks Hobart and Lincoln parts. I put up with it because my home business is not highly dependant on welding and plasma cutting. But I can tell you if I need parts in a pinch for my Miller and Thermal Dynamics gear (things that are not universal that is) I end up driving about 40 miles to the nearest supplier that stocks them. Otherwise I buy on line and keep enough around to keep me working.

[jimcolt]

I have been in the Hardings plant many times....although mostly working with the big Hypertherm CNC plasma's.....and helping out with a few metalurgy issues. I know our salesman has (with Maine Oxy) sold dozens of Hypertherm hand plasma's there, and I have seen many of them!....although I guess I'm not sure if there are more or less than there are the T-D's.

jim

[GrandLordKhorne]

Ok, Hardings is a completely different story than the main ship yard (in fact it used to be a separate company and in a lot of respects is still treated that way). But Hardings is less than 1/10th the size of the yard and it is primarily just a panel and small part production facility (EBMF is the pipe works). And I will happily admit that Hardings has much more up to date cutting equipment than the yard, but if you look around you will still see the little black Thermal Dynamics units all over the place out there too. But size wise you need to understand, Hardings has a day time crew in the sub 200 person range. The yard has something like 4000 day time workers. The old Plazmaster 80 units in the yard are like flys, there everywhere (I’m 3rd shift quality for GD-BIW). Jokingly I ask to see if the tool crib even had Hypertherm consumables in the yard, I was told they could only be acquired at the big crib in the machine shop. Thermal Dynamics consumables on the other hand are laying out in bins at the main yard, so you can grab a hand full any time you want or need them. I’m not suggesting that Hypertherm is in any way not great, I’m just stating that the perception is incorrect that BIW uses Hypertherm equipment on a “large” scale. Thought it has more to do I think with the fact that the old 80’s will just not die.


Though I digress, I have seen the big CNC Plasma you are talking about and it is vary vary cool.


Interesting historic side note: During the war (WWII) BIW never produced liberty ships and if you ask people who work for BIW they will say as much (we built destroyers). But Hardings built Liberty ships and they have a huge poster/banner about it as you walk in the door. One of the quirks about BIW is that if you work for BIW, the yard is BIW, Hardings and EBMF are treated like part of the General Dynamics family but are also that sort of cousin you only see on Sunday thing. A big part of that is that BIW pride has a lot to do with warship production and as such we treat the satellite facilities as separate entities. So if you walked up to a yard worker and said BIW, the assumption is automatically that you mean the yard. And if you asked most people who work at Hardings who they work for most would tell you General Dynamics rather than BIW.