Plasma Cutters

[Sidecarflip]

Every plasma cutter does the same thing and price is dictated mainly on power (cutting amps produced). With any hand torch cutter, you want a minimum of 45 amps and I would if I were you purchase extra consumables as consumables will be unique to whatever machine your purchase. All of them are inverter machines today which makes them very energy efficient as well as light weight and for maximum output you want to run it on 220 single phase power. Whatever you decide on, make sure it's a pilot arc machine and it can in your case be high frequency start.

What separates the expensive ones (like Hyper Therm or EASB for instance) is the quality of the components inside the case. Inexpensive cutters use cheap components, sort of like Chinese Chainsaws....lol

 

[user 122190]

Link? I couldn't find that deal on their site. Also says available in Poland warehouse...

You are on the correct website. Deals are in the cart. Pick what you want and the deal appears in the cart. I feel lucky that I found the deal, cause it is certainly not obvious.

https://www.bestarc.com/collections/plasma-cutter/products/btc500dp-2nd

 

[user 122190]

Every plasma cutter does the same thing and price is dictated mainly on power (cutting amps produced). With any hand torch cutter, you want a minimum of 45 amps and I would if I were you purchase extra consumables as consumables will be unique to whatever machine your purchase. All of them are inverter machines today which makes them very energy efficient as well as light weight and for maximum output you want to run it on 220 single phase power. Whatever you decide on, make sure it's a pilot arc machine and it can in your case be high frequency start.

What separates the expensive ones (like Hyper Therm or EASB for instance) is the quality of the components inside the case. Inexpensive cutters use cheap components, sort of like Chinese Chainsaws....lol

I still need to buy additional consumables. There is a 50pc set that is suppose to be correct on Amazon that is quite inexpensive. I'll wait til my BestArc shows up to confirm exactly what consumables I need. The cutter comes with a single extra set so I can verify the that machine cuts, and get in some playtime.

 

[nedsim]

Got the reply back from the BestArc. "Hello, 50A breaker is enough, don't worry." -- nice to get additional confirmation.

Trust, but verify!

I had already decided to get the BestArc 2 Gen cutter of 50Amp. The extra $100+ to cut another 2mm cutting thickness, that I might never do, did not make sense.

Good News -- BestArc on their web site has extended their Black Friday sales. $160 with free shipping ChaChing!!!. Hopefully these cutters are warehoused here in the States. I figured this was a deal to jump on and waiting til after Christmas for an even better deal was a hope to much.

I have a vertical metal cutting bandsaw and torches, but don't have a good place to leave the torches set up, so seldom use them. For something that fits on a shelf and just plugs in that's awfully tempting.

 

[user 122190]

FedEx shipping notification late yesterday, and is coming from Ontario, Ca.

 

[Sidecarflip]

I still need to buy additional consumables. There is a 50pc set that is suppose to be correct on Amazon that is quite inexpensive. I'll wait til my BestArc shows up to confirm exactly what consumables I need. The cutter comes with a single extra set so I can verify the that machine cuts, and get in some playtime.

You need extra consumables absolutely. Why I sold my Hypertherm 70 amp machine. The cost of consumables got stupid, especially the 'Fine Cut consumables' and you will go through them pretty quick especially if the machine ingests condensation from the air supply. I actually have 3 plasma cutters, one is dedicated to my plasma table, the other 2 get used in the shop and all of them have a Motorguard 5 micron pass cannister filter at the point of air entry on the plasma cutters even though all 3 came with a small separator on the machines. The red herring of any plasma cutter is moisture in the air supply. If you have that in the supplied air, it will literally eat the consumables and it can foul the air solenoid inside the cutter and render it inoperative.

Because I use a lot of air (every hand tool in the shop is air operated), I have an IR refrigerated air dryer between my Quincy 7.5 horse compressor and the main air line that feeds the entire shop. Having said that, I take no chances and run the Motorguard sub micronic cannister filters on all the cutters. They aren't all that expensive either and come packaged with 2 extra filter elements. On Amazon or you can buy direct from the Motorguard website.

Have fun but remember, for longer straight cuts, use a straight edge guide like a yardstick.

 

[Sidecarflip]

If you have any questions or concern's or need any help, you can call me at: 517-442-9774 and leave a message and I'll return the call or email me at: [email protected] and I'll reply. Best bet is an email actually. I've dealt with all the pitfalls concerning plasma cutters and the do's and don'ts and be apprised, you'll need a compressor capable of providing at least the minimum CFM of what the cutter requires as listed in the owners manual as well as maintain the minimum line pressure. Loss of minimum line pressure as well as minimum CFM delivery will probably cause the plasma cutter to default to shut down. Far as I'm concerned the Motorguard cannister 5 micron pass filter at the air inlet point of entry is the best preventive for not only moisture getting in the unit but keeping out any airborne debris as well. Done a lot of 'fiddling' with this stuff over the years, from desiccant dryers to refrigerated dryers and so far at least, I've found the Motorguard cannister filters (5 micron pass) are not only the least expensive alternative but unlike desiccant dryers where you have to either renew the dryer beads or bake them in your wife's oven to drive off the moisture (something my wife and I'm sure yours would not appreciate) and a jug of new beads are a heck of a lot more than new Motorguard cannister filters... Like I said, any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me/

 

[user 122190]

If you have any questions or concern's or need any help, you can call me at: 517-442-9774 and leave a message and I'll return the call or email me at: [email protected] and I'll reply. Best bet is an email actually. I've dealt with all the pitfalls concerning plasma cutters and the do's and don'ts and be apprised, you'll need a compressor capable of providing at least the minimum CFM of what the cutter requires as listed in the owners manual as well as maintain the minimum line pressure. Loss of minimum line pressure as well as minimum CFM delivery will probably cause the plasma cutter to default to shut down. Far as I'm concerned the Motorguard cannister 5 micron pass filter at the air inlet point of entry is the best preventive for not only moisture getting in the unit but keeping out any airborne debris as well. Done a lot of 'fiddling' with this stuff over the years, from desiccant dryers to refrigerated dryers and so far at least, I've found the Motorguard cannister filters (5 micron pass) are not only the least expensive alternative but unlike desiccant dryers where you have to either renew the dryer beads or bake them in your wife's oven to drive off the moisture (something my wife and I'm sure yours would not appreciate) and a jug of new beads are a heck of a lot more than new Motorguard cannister filters... Like I said, any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me/

I have my Sears Craftsman 30gallon 120psi compressor. Had if now for over 30 years, and use it all the time. Not real humid here, but will get an additional dryer if necessary.

 

[Sidecarflip]

The amount of moisture you get will be totally dependent on the distance from the compressor to the point of use, IOW, the length of the suppled air line and any piping you have between the compressor air tank and the point of use and RH humidity does have an impact on moisture but more so the raised dew point the compressor makes when compressing the air. I assume you drain the compressor reservoir regularly as well. I like my Tsunami auto drain simply because of the size of my primary compressor and it's 100 gallon vertical holding tank with the condensate drain on the bottom is a PITA to get to. Compressors generally fail, not because the pump or motor fails, but because the holding tanks rust out in the bottom from standing condensate that owners don't drain. Always starts as a pinhole leak and progresses to a new receiver. Mine drains every time the compressor cycles with no attention on my part.

 

[pdqdl]

Trust, but verify!

I have a vertical metal cutting bandsaw and torches, but don't have a good place to leave the torches set up, so seldom use them. For something that fits on a shelf and just plugs in that's awfully tempting.

The plasma cutters come with several advantages over a torch, mostly because the consumables are much cheaper than special gases, and they don't cause as much warping as torch cuts do.

Your bandsaws will do the best cuts of all, but they go slow and really hurt you on consumables.

 

[sean donato]

If you use it as often as my old man and brother use their China cheapo plasma cutters it will last a long time. Consumables are plentiful on the net for about any brand. My brother's is a "yes welder" brand and dad has an "east wood". Both 60 amp machines. My brother had had his for several years now. Dad's seems a bit better built and cuts thicker material nicer, but either works plenty well enough for a hobby machine.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Mine is NOT a hobby machine at all. I only have to to cut parts I need that get welded up or machined prior to going to my customers. Think I've used mine once to cut sub assemblies that I need to produce my line of Triumph after market paddock stands and I cut enough to last about a year. Do a ton of TIG welding too, I am AWS certified in TIG, something I need when quoting jobs, they always ask for my certifications.

I sold my Hypertherm interface able to the plasma table. simply the cost of HT consumables got stupid and I go through a lot. Bought a HF 56 amp cutter that is also interface able with the plasma table, in fact it accepts the HT interface cable and voltage splitter as well. I have automatic torch height control on my table so the hand torch works just fine as it will track and maintain cut height over warped plate or even steel grating where it has to skip the air space in the expanded metal. I also have 2 other plasma cutters, both HF. One is a 65 amp and the other is the 45 amp and both run flawlessly and nice thing about the HF cutters is both the 65 and 45 amp cutters take the same HF electrodes. The cups and swirl rings are different however but the consumables are 1/3 the cost of the HT consumables and 1/4 the cost if the HT Fine Cut consumables and cut kerf on the HF cutters is not much wider that the Fine cut that HT sells. I'm not about to spend 5+ grand on a HT when I can buy the HF cutters for about 1/3 the cost and I have the 3 year replacement guarantee on all my HF welders. In fact I sold my Lincoln Square Wave TIG machine as well and bought the HF Pro-Tig 205 welder and it's light years ahead of the Lincoln in both operation as well as smooth arc stability and it come with lift arc, scratch start (which is ok for steel but not aluminum), post and pre flow that is 100% adjustable plus it has high frequency and cleaning modes for aluminum and presets for everything so it will remember my last settings and return to them when I restart it and it stick welds low hydrogen electrodes (SMAW) that I use rarely plus it's 'fan on demand so no cooling fan running constantly. Best [part was the cost. I bought it with it on sale in the ITC (inside tracking club) flyer and I paid 999 bucks for it, or 300 off list with a 3 year replacement guarantee and even without the UTC price reduction, it as almost 4 grand less than my Lincoln Square Wave TIG and the square wave was a transformer machine and very heavy where as the Pro-Tug is an inverter machine and weighs in at 53 pounds. I did sell both the Square Wave and the HT plasma cutter to a hunting friend and all in, I put 2 grand over and above in my savings account and he was happy and I was elated.

Far as I'm concerned, Harbor Freight beats both Lincoln and Hypertherm hands down and the extended warranty is actually better than either of them are. HT is one year in commercial use and the Lincoln was 2 years, same deal. The HF machines don't differentiate between commercial (which I am) or home shop use, which I'm not. Always been OCD about all my machines, welding or machining machines so they all get taken good care of and when not being used, are covered up. One thing I tell my employees to do, when you are finished using any machine, remove the swarf, wipe the precision surfaces with a shop towel with light machine oil on it and cover it up. I won't tolerate sloppy workers.

 

[nedsim]

The plasma cutters come with several advantages over a torch, mostly because the consumables are much cheaper than special gases, and they don't cause as much warping as torch cuts do.

Your bandsaws will do the best cuts of all, but they go slow and really hurt you on consumables.

Yeah, a bandsaw is pretty economical -- until it isn't. Only takes a little inattentiveness, laziness, or bad luck to turn a $50 to $100 bimetal blade into scrap.

But, even a relatively small saw like my 16" DoAll can saw 8"+ material, and, for straight cuts, do it unattended.

 

[Sidecarflip]

You can warp with a plasma torch, especially on a plasma table when the stock is thin. Why I have automatic torch height control so if the sheet warps, the torch head follows the warp and maintains the correct cut height. Plasma cutters are like a miniature blow torch but with an electric arc and they produce intense heat but very localized.

 

[user 122190]

OMG. Now even less expensive. FedEx says mines shows up tomorrow.

 

[Glenn50]

Montana, do you know where to purchase .9mm and 1.1mm nozzles for your BTC500DP? Seems the stock nozzle (1mm .039) is the middle of the road. Can't find em, not even on their website. Maybe it won't perform well with smaller or larger nozzles (?)

 

[user 122190]

AG-60 is all I know. Suppose to work. @Glenn50

 

[pdqdl]

Montana, do you know where to purchase .9mm and 1.1mm nozzles for your BTC500DP? Seems the stock nozzle (1mm .039) is the middle of the road. Can't find em, not even on their website. Maybe it won't perform well with smaller or larger nozzles (?)

I am told that many of the consumables for these are often interchangeable. I recently bought these attachments for my plasma cutter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BHYRH6N1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Unfortunately, they don't seem to have any "specifications", so it would be a crap-shoot as to whether they would fit your needs. Price was very good, and they did fit my machine. But it is a cheapo unit we bought off the street. It was new, put together wrong, and whoever it was that bought it initially didn't know how to use it. My mechanic toasted the nozzle parts trying to figure out how to use it, and the parts I bought put us back in use with that machine.

 

[user 122190]

Here is what I bought, AG-60, that BestArc and many others use. Dimension wise they look identical. I did not get out the calipers and make measurements.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BL14HYLM?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

[JeffHK454]

I’ve got a Hypertherm 1250 g3 which is complete overkill for my garage these days but I use to make money with it back when I had a track burner. Sold the track system when I had big ideas of buying a cnc table but life and my full time job got in the way. I’m the guy all my buddies go to when they need the thick stuff cut ..lol I’ve cut a bunch of 1.5“ a36 with it and it’s never flinched even though that material is over its max capacity. All the cheap-o brands I’ve used have died when really pushed and I killed a supposedly high end Esab that was no better than machines 1/4 the price. I’m a loyal Hypertherm guy because I can get every part on my machine at my local weld shop and it’s never let me down even when I misuse it.

Like was said above, buy the best filter/dryer you can afford because no matter how much the cutter cost wet air kills their performance.