OT Plasma Cutter ?

[rarefish383]

Since a lot of you guys are very good welders, I thought I may get an answer on a plasma cutter. My wife recently bought some garden art, that I agree, looks pretty nice. The artists cut out simple flower patterns from sheet tin, basic Brown Eyed Susan patterns. Then he put a suet rack in the middle, and mounted them on a piece of rebar. Very cheap to make and rather expensive to buy. In short order the tin rusts making a rustic flower. My thought was to make a similar flower out of junk yard car sheet metal, so I would have a real color flower, that would last quite a while. My question, will a plasma cutter cut auto sheet metal with out too much burn off of the paint? A burnt edge is fine. Trying to make the same cut with a torch would burn off too much of the paint. Thanks, Joe.

 

[Hddnis]

The HAZ (Heat Affected Zone) is much smaller with a plasma cutter. I'm guessing in automotive sheet metal you would see paint burn back from the cut about 1/4" at most. There is a little more to it, running by hand might make the HAZ a little bigger than say a CNC run machine, but it would still be pretty small.

Sorry I can' be more helpful, I hardly ever cut any thin sheet and almost never anything painted.



Mr. HE

 

[redheadwoodshed]

The plasma cutter does the best job of anything I know of to cut sheetmetal with paint on it.If the paint is not flaking off already, it will just burn right around the edge.If is flaky, it won't burn it off, but it will blow it off.Also, the faster you can move the cutter and be accurate with your cut, the better the cut will be.I like templates that I can drag the torch along and go really fast.

 

[rarefish383]

Thanks guys, that's all i needed to know, Joe.

 

[snake_2586]

one point to note, if the plasma is a HF start in will not arc through the paint you will have to remove a small amount of paint for the earth clamp and where you want to start the cut, once cutting it will burn through paint no probs it is just starting you need it clean.

If you go you the price range to a pilot arc, it will start through anything as long as it has a good earth.:msp_smile:

 

[rarefish383]

Thanks snake, I probably would start with a cheapy, Joe

 

[stihl023/5]

Plasma cutters work great I like the Everlast I have.:msp_thumbup:

 

[VA-Sawyer]

I have a Thermal Dynamics Model 82 Plasma cutter. On sheet metal it will cut almost as fast as I can drag the torch around a pattern. If I drag cut, it will keep the paint "burnback" down to about 1/8 of an inch. TD makes a smaller unit that has an air compressor built in and still has most of the nicer features. I would suggest not wasting your money on a cheap one. That would be like using a hacksaw for tree work!

Rick

 

[snake_2586]

I will agree with not getting a cheap one if you are going to put it to alot of use (think cutting) I killed two ebay cheapies before I bit the bullet and bought a hypertherm powermax 45, now I can cut 1" with out a problem, and it is alot quicker/cheaper the oxy-acetylene.

 

[mrnecsteve]

I will agree with not getting a cheap one if you are going to put it to alot of use (think cutting) I killed two ebay cheapies before I bit the bullet and bought a hypertherm powermax 45, now I can cut 1" with out a problem, and it is alot quicker/cheaper the oxy-acetylene.

I agree with hypertherm. They are the only welding/cutting machine that would persuade me not to buy lincoln electric.Others like hobart and miller make great stuff but I am familiar with
lincoln and their support avenues,training ,and accessory avaiiablity.I am certain that what I bought 5 years ago will be worth fixing
It is very aggravating to buy any machine ,even at a major discount,then discover that:
1 it simply does not meet the advertised specs. A certain country seems to manufacture a lot of stuff with very bogus "electrical units"
2It functions like a piece of marginal crap.
3 you discover that you want to add accessories (in this case maybe specialised hoses) only to discover that the supplier is long gone.
4 it breaks 3-5 years after you bought it and you cannot find parts any longer, anywhere.
5 You like useing the machine so much that you decide to upgrade to a better machine. You think OH i'll just sell the one I have to soften the purchase a little
, only to discover that NO one is interested in giving you what you think its worth.....because it really was a piece of crap to begin with.

The ebay cheapies you bought...whatever happened to them? Did you repair?

(personally , i would like to gather all the import junk i have purchased,put it on a truck and drop it off on the lawn of the embassy of the country from which it came.) Maybe that would get the attention
of our lawmakers to put an end to this flood of junk into the country.
They could start with a simple law like "ALL manufactured products must have a 5 year pro-rated warranty to be sold in this country with an established security bond to cover the warranty."
Think of the landfill space we would save.

 

[BlueRider]

besides being american made Hypertherm only makes plasma cutters, My guess is they have the bugs worked out.

 

[820wards]

I agree with hypertherm. They are the only welding/cutting machine that would persuade me not to buy lincoln electric.Others like hobart and miller make great stuff but I am familiar with

Steve,

I have Lincoln Plasma cutter that I bought in 2005 and I only have had to replace the nossles/cups as needed and will cut material up to 3/4". Most of the inexpensive units have built in air compressors that tend to fail over time, having a unit like a Lincoln/miller etc., that uses house air is a much better way to go. Cutting stainless steel like butter is pretty fun!

jerry-

 

[2treeornot2tree]

I have a Esab powercut 650 that i picked up a couple years ago for $600. I love it. It is rated to cut 5/8" and shear 3/4" material.

Another option you may want to consider is one of those air power recepicating saws for cutting body panels. They may be almost as fast, alot less expensive, and shouldnt mess up the paint on the edges.