Kentucky Armory Club

I decided to start welding mostly to assemble my own AR500 steel targets. I did my first welding this weekend with a 110 Hobart flux core welder that Tractor Supply had on sale and it worked wonderfully. I was making servicable welds in no time, even if they wouldn't win any beauty contests.

There are a slew of Chinese plasma cutters out there. From there the price for one gets beyond what I'm willing to spend to upgrade from cutting with an angle grinder.

Do any of you have any first hand experience with the cheapo plasma cutters?

Get on pirate4x4.com. I bought my 50A plasma from a vendor on there that was fixing up the Chinese units. It runs like a champ with a decent quality torch

I picked up a hypertherm 800 12 years ago that was a rental unit that prax air in Madison was retiring for $300. For what I do, it's great.

I was going to suggest calling local rental places. They sell them once they start getting beat up at times but that doesn't mean they dont still work just fine.

Is that the razorweld unit? I found a vendor selling those on Pirate.

KYGlassman wrote:Is that the razorweld unit? I found a vendor selling those on Pirate.

No but this was a number of years ago. Just see what a lot of guys are using on the and you should be safe

Don't discount the value of owning an oxy acetylene outfit, much more versatile than a plasma cutter and the haz isn't bad if you use the correct tip, and don't hang around. I have both but I would lose the plasma before I would give up the torch.

Ahhh, the ole' gas hatchet!

Or, the GDT, as we used to say. Got Damn Torch.

Flame wrench is what I always heard it called.


pb

Yep, when all else fails break out the fire wrench. Lol

A torch may be a fine idea. Can you set them up to make fairly clean cuts? I've been assuming they would only produce edges with globs of metal that had to be ground smooth and straight.

Practice. You can make some extremely clean cuts with a torch if you work at it.
I used to work at a semi shop and a guy there had a motorized torch on a track and he cut 2" steel plate and it was clean.

If you are learning, get plenty of grinder wheels.

Absolutely they will cut clean, I do give a few points to plasma here but definitely not a short run fabrication issue. Both will probabbly warrant dressing sharp edges with the grinder anyhow. If you tinker with other stuff, work on your own vehicle, etc., a torch setup is a handy tool to have.

I really like the 50a cut 50 d I bought off eBay about 250$ and cuts well for the price. Used over 3 years heavily and the only thing I would like is a better torch.

Long term plasma will be cheaper than a torch set and bottles.