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Cheap Plasma Cutters?

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RodW:

--- Quote from: vtsteam on January 09, 2021, 10:27:39 AM ---Hi Rod, I wouldn't be considering plasma cutting at all if the cost was more than a couple hundred bucks. So it's not a matter of choosing a better brand.

But what I'd like to hear about from you is what were the problems you experienced with yours, what brand was it, was your reason for purchase it CNC rather than hand use, etc. In other words details. If you have time to elaborate that is. Thanks!

--- End quote ---

Well I had a BOC 40 amp plasma cutter and  decided to CNC it but it died before it did. An electronics guru I know attempted to repair another Cut40 one which then let out smoke in the most spectacular fashion. So I bought an Everlast (Rtech in the UK). It had a few issues so I sold it. I now have a 120 amp Thermal Dynamics on my table.

As Awemawson says, they are actually incredibly useful. So much so I bought a CNC press brake to go with the plasma table I made. You could build a small CNC table fairly cheaply using belt drive and Linucxcnc's Plasmac config.

If you cheap out on the plasma cutter, be sure to get one with a blowback style torch and avoid the High frequency start ones. They use about 25000 volts to start the arc which is not a pretty sight if you get the electronics wrong!

There is a Herocut 55 on Amazon which has blowback start and also includes Torch on inputs, Arc OK and raw arc voltage outputs. I have seen some reports of them not lasting either but it might be a good place to start for a cheap CNC machine.

The thing you get with the brands I listed earlier are cutting charts (a lot of them at 120 amps) so they save a lot of material, time, money and effort.....

An old PC with parallel port, a BOB,a USD $69 Mesa THCAD-10 board to read arc voltage will fix the electronics but you will get a much better machine with a $119 Mesa 7i96 ethernet board instead of the parallel port BOB.  This lets you use something like an Odroid H2+ PC which is now my system of choice for Linuxcnc and Mesa ethernet hardware

vtsteam:

--- Quote from: awemawson on January 09, 2021, 04:55:03 PM ---Happy Birthday Steve,

What’s it like to be 21, remind me 😀

--- End quote ---

I'll try to remember back to 1970, Andrew........lesseee.......uh, pretty good!  :med:

vtsteam:
howsitwork, I think those will probably hold up a lathe tool.  :beer:

RodW, thanks for the information, that makes it a lot clearer what the problems were, and what you needed it for.

btw I'm not buying my torch for CNC use, though I've built several CNC machines and do run LinuxCNC on a mill already. But really, this torch is just for occasional around the shop use.

charadam:
I've had one of these for about 4 years.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CUT-50A-IGBT-INVERTER-AIR-PLASMA-CUTTER-HF-IGNITION-METAL-CUTTING-MACHINE-14mm/233573061881?epid=15042686762&hash=item36620a14f9:g:i84AAOSwHU5fGSor

It had poor consumables (especially the nozzles) but that was a cheap fix.

So far it has done about 12 hours (in 4 years) and has been a real boon.

I use it on a 16A circuit.

+1 for cheap Chinese.

vtsteam:
Thanks Charadam, that's encouraging.

I've looked at a few videos for the brand plasma cutter I ordered (Amico). They seem to get good reviews and one person is a scrapyard owner, apparently and cuts up material with his machine commercially for recycling. He has one video of his cutter after two years of continuos commercial use. So that's also encouraging.

I decided to watch a few other videos for plasma cutters in general for DIY projects, so I typed in "DIY Plasma" I was very surprised to see near the top of the list a video of a CNC build using the exact same Amico torch I ordered. It's a quirky CNC build, and the kid who does it makes lots of mistakes and gradually improves his project. I kept wanting to say "Hey kid you have a plasma cutter AND a tig torch, let me introduce you to this stuff called angle iron. You can weld that instead of making thin gauge sheet metal parts." Or "Hey kid, you can get cable pulleys, or even sliding door track pulleys instead of filing roller skate wheels." etc. etc.

But in the end, I actually really enjoyed his struggles, and gradual self taught learning process, and he had a good sense of humor, laughing at himself. So you know what? I really did enjoy the video! Guilty pleasure at watching someone without much experience persevere, no matter what, and eventually get results.

Do I want to build his style CNC cutter. Nope. I don't see myself building one soon anyway. But did I learn something from his video? Yup. Even a few things to keep in mind when making things.

And it was really cool to see that, actually, my exact model and brand plasma cutter unit probably could be used for CNC.  :beer:

The video:

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