Torch or plasma

[WDixon27]

my welding teacher always told us to only just crack the valve on the acetylene so if you had a problem you could close the valve quickly, i sure wouldn't want to be around a tank if the fuseplugs had a chance to melt (was taught they melt at 212*f)

call me redneck, but I just crack open the valves and go...

 

[GHarman]

WDixon27, You are correct on the Acetylene. A high pressure tank like oxygen,( or argon, helium, nitrogen and others. ), have a double seat valve. Open them all the way and back seat the valve to prevent leakage of your expensive gas from around the packing. Or blowing the packing and the contents of the cylinder, ruining your cylinder valve. GregH.

 

[robertyoke]

the nice thing about a plasma torch is that you can follow a line drawn with a pencil or marker. Once you heat your metal with o/a torch your line will disappear rather quickly when it turns bright red.

I just added a flat bed to my 04 truck and had to make some filler neck modds and the plasma cutter cut through the powercoat finnish and didn't burn it back like a o/a torch would, just a nice clean line.

-robert

 

[WVanHemert]

Cheaper hobbyist plasma torches on EBAy

I recently picked up a 40 amp plasma cutter on ebay, dayton was the brand it is a chinese model. And for a hobbyist it works hot darn, have cut lots of 1/4" up to 3/8", it works well and operates really well.



Maybe not a lincoln but for the 2 hours a week I need one it works really well and it was under 400 bucks.

 

[NPloysa]

Is that how much the cutter pulls, 40 amps? Does it need compressed air?

 

[GHarman]

You need DRY, compressed air for steel. Argon for Stainless steel and Aluminum if you want a nice finish. If you use compressed air with a lot of condensation in it, Your consumable supplier will like you very much. Estimated temperature of a Plasma cutting "flame" is 30,000-50,000 degrees F. Water turns to steam above 212 degrees F. (sea level). The plasma is low volume. 1 Cu. MM of water will flash into 1600 times its liquid volume and blast away your electrode and orifice upon lightup! Steam is very erosive under normal circumstances. Water in your air is BAAADDD for a plasma cutter. Amperage output requirement is directly proportional to how thick the cut will be. GregH.

 

[GHarman]

PS to my last post. Please wear a respirator. Do not breathe the smoke from a plasma. That smoke is VAPORIZED METAL. You will thank me when you are 60 years old! GregH.

 

[Nate]

Oxy/Acetylene setup is more than $300 if your buying tanks, regulators, torch, cart, etc and it's not one of the tiny setups you can buy at Home Depot. I priced it out not long ago and I was looking at ~$700 for a decent setup.



You can pickup cheap Plasma cutters for $700-1000.



The only downside with a Plaz IMO is you can heat stuff to bend it, loosen it, etc... so you really almost need a torch setup too... though you could get a nice Plaz and small torch setup.

To put it in perspective:



oxy/acet rig $300

a "CHEAP" plasma cutter $1000



I'd love to have a plasma cutter, but as a hobbiest, there's NO WAY I could justify spending a grand on a plasma rig I'd only use once a month. IMHO, unless you're a fabricator that's using it several times a day, the torch would be just fine.