Plasma Cutter

[Guest sparks]

Hi Everyone,

 

As Iain, Nick and Steve will confirm I am rubbish at cutting Stainless and I am sick of ruining avaition snips.

 

I will be getting a bonus from work and with christmas and birthday money I was pondering and getting a plasma cutter.

 

I already have an aldi compressor.

 

Question is what sort to get one that uses a compressor or one that has a built in one (I know if the internal compressor goes the cutter will be done for!)

 

Has anyone got one? or Can anyone recommend one?

 

Any equipment that makes my life easier and my already stretched time go further is a welcome addition.

 

Mark

 

 

PS The wife doesn't know about the bonus, well she is off to Ireland with the mother in law at the end of feb.

 

PPS Well she doesn't know as long as Mitch doesn't say anything!!!!!!

[Nigel Rogers]

Hi,

 

I looked at hiring a plasma cutter to cut up my Sierra shell, it turned out to be expensive and I don't think accuracy was the best. Aviation cutters are just that, only any good for sheet alloy and only then when you buy expensive one's.

 

I would suggest that a good "air nibbler" would be a better and cheaper option, a decent pair of "Gilbo's" wouldn't go amiss either.

 

Cheers

Nige

[Mitch]

how many times will you use it?, would it pay for itself, and if you are bad at cutting with hand tools,with a plasma cutter you will end up with half a car

 

and if you do buy one, it would cost you double to keep me and the rest of the NW lot from telling on ya

 

Mitch

[sylvia.fry2]

Sparks, I've got a plasma cutter, brill for cutting complex shapes, like airy fairy weather vanes, but needs very careful guideance--preferably a jig, other-wise you end up with a cut like a drunk snail track. Pity you're so far away; you could have borrowed mine to see how you got on. Regards Bob.

[ibrooks]

Very ott I think (but feel free to buy one if I can come around and use it).

 

For the sort of stuff we were struggling with I've got a nibbler that is driven by a drill. Slightly un-wieldy but easy to use with practice and it'll walk through stainless quite happily. I'd imagine that stainless would blunt the punch and die pretty quickly.

 

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?pro...tSubcat=Cutting

 

A new punch and die will cost a tenner and whilst mine is probably due it's done a fair amount of work and a good portion of that was stainless when I had the S7 (how many sets can you get for the cost of a plasma cutter). The only real problem I've had with it is that it creates hundreds of little razor-sharp crescents as it cuts - if you stand on them they will immediately embed themselves in the soles of your shoes and they will not fall out until you have gone into the house (the rest of the family tend to have a sense of humour failure when they find them with their bare feet or through their socks).

 

I do keep saying to myself that if I see a cheap plasma cutter on ebay or similar then I'll have it as I do a lot of fabrication work these days and seem to spend an inordinate amount of time cutting 3mm+ steel.

 

Iain

[Guest shaggy]

Its all about boys and toys. If you NEED one, then get one. That's always been my philosophy, which is why I ended up buying a hood. If however, you can make do with a cheaper alternative, then in true hoody style, go with that, cos once people find out you have one, it won't live in your garage for long

 

Si

[Guest elwe]

I have just bought a new 40A plasma cutter for under £200, including shipping from Germany.

 

I got fed up with the number of jigsaw blades I was going through cutting stainless and mild plate (2-3mm and 6mm respectively). Even using corse jigsaw blades and lots of soluble cutting oil a blade would last for 0.5m in 2mm stainless and about the same in 6mm mild.

 

Aparently plywood makes a good jig. It is cheap but I am not sure quite how many times it can be reused.

[sylvia.fry2]

Were your eye-balls still in their sockets after 500mm x 6mm steel?

[Guest elwe]

I had a play with the plasma cutter today. It is incredibly easy to use and makes nice clean cuts fast. I played cutting up some 5mm scrap mild steel plate. My cutter has an HF starter so it is very easy to use.

 

I used some fibre board (cheaper than plywood) as a template, without the template catching fire. The cut was 2.45mm away from the edge of the template so the template has to be made undersize. If you think about the RH stainless panels the plast coating 2mm away from the cut doesn't melt, the heat is very focused.

 

I now know how I will cut the bonnet to make a fixed scuttle.

 

If anyone want to buy one the guy I bought from sells 2 per day. It works fine with my £60 Aldi compressor.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=350017089541