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Plasma cutter for under $300!!

DavidR8 said:
from 911 Motorsport?
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No I made it - but 911 sells a pre-cut kit that you weld together. I copied their idea from pictures on their web site. I made enough modifications that I don’t think they will send blood thirsty lawyers looking for a 25% Trump tariff for copy rights infringement.
Which reminds me that I should have included a link. Even our one-eyed-hairy-farmer could stick it together:
www.911motorsports.net

Round Tub - Plasma Table Kit for 55 gal. drum or 17 gal. tub

www.911motorsports.net
 
CWret said:
Even our one-eyed-hairy-farmer could stick it together:
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I'm impressed at the compliment. But I doubt it. You forgot the shakes and the lack of experience.


On the other hand, if it can be bolted together......
 
CWret said:
This is my plasma cutting setup.
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This is really cool Craig. Love all the thought you put into it and the functionality.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine there was anything other than water (or nothing) in that drum.

Spent some time looking for oven grills. All too small. Thinking maybe drilling and tapping 1x1/4 square bar is a possibility to make a square rack.

All of course assuming I keep the plasma torch.
 
Susquatch said:
Are you suggesting that green oxy/ac goggles are good enough for a plasma cutter?
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I don’t have experience with plasma but I would expect that there would be a recommendation of what shade value would be used with it just as it is for different types/materials of arc welding or brazing. Maybe the manual will have suggestions?

D :cool:
 
I understand plasma needs dry air, something here on the wet coast that is pretty rare. ( that's not a spelling error). PA has had pellet dryers on sale fairly regularly. It is tempting,but I have already cut and welded my stainless project.
 
I'll make a counter point about dry air. I run my plasma (herocut cut55) off my old worn out 20gal Campbell Hausfeld oiless screamer without any provisions for drying the air and it cuts fine. No accelerated consumable consumption, or cut quality issues. The compressor does cycle excessively if I'm doing a lot of cutting (ripping up sheets), but it's very rare that I actually am. Laying out the next cut, or shuffling material around provides enough pause for it to catch up usually. For my sporadic hobby use it's been just fine. One of those tools that paid for itself on the first job and gave me "free" use over and over ever since.

I DO agree 100% that dry air, and a larger compressor is better and recommended though. Especially if running a plasma table. Just sharing my personal experiences that you can get by with less than perfect conditions. I heard and read all the same stuff back when I bought mine, but decided to just try what I had anyway and was pleasantly surprised by the results. I don't think I'd want to go with a compressor any smaller than mine though, I doubt you'd get much cut time. I have never had a tip "blow up" while cutting either. Just normal wear from use, probably accelerated a bit, but not noticeably crazy or noticeable at all really at my rate of use.
 
Update - I checked my user manual to see what kind of eye shield it recommends. It specifically states that #5 shade is minimum.

I didn't try to cut anything yet because I'll need a tub or something, but I did plug it in to test a few things.

The air at the lowest green setting lasted plenty long enough for my needs. At the mid setting, it will work for quite a while, but not indefinitely - my little compressor could not keep up. At the max air position, the air lasts long enough to take a short cut but not a long one. So I'm not disheartened just yet. And I have not even tried a bigger tank yet.
 
KMS Tools got their start by selling Granger Speedaire compressors cheaper than anyone else. They would get them CSA inspected by an engineering firm. I got one of them, a 15amp 220volt, about 10scfm. After a lot of use, the pressure switch gave up, so I replaced it with Chinese replacement, only it was 115 instead of 105 psi. The pump then packed it in. I replaced it with Rolair 3 cylinder from PA. Next the 15amp motor started over heating and acting funny. Again a PA 5hp? 18amp motor. I laugh when I see Made In USA units with all the same Chinese parts as my replacements parts.
 
Susquatch said:
Update - I checked my user manual to see what kind of eye shield it recommends. It specifically states that #5 shade is minimum.

I didn't try to cut anything yet because I'll need a tub or something, but I did plug it in to test a few things.

The air at the lowest green setting lasted plenty long enough for my needs. At the mid setting, it will work for quite a while, but not indefinitely - my little compressor could not keep up. At the max air position, the air lasts long enough to take a short cut but not a long one. So I'm not disheartened just yet. And I have not even tried a bigger tank yet.
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#5 is what I've read for most cutting applications...if we ever meet, I've got a box of ESAB #5 safety glasses that I won back in the day from them (with an oxy-propane outfit), and can give you a pair.

I still haven't tried mine out, didn't get to filming any new video content this weekend since I had to clean up the house for the pending holiday visitors lol
 
1 - Dry air: I never ran mine without a filter/dryer so I can't comment like Dan did. A good one is not cheap. I got the Motorguard 28 kit (it is recommended that air be clean AND dry). The last time I looked at the filter it appeared to be ok so I have not changed the original one.
Here's a link. I think I got mine from Air Liquide, This link is from Amazon (model 30 is a bit larger than my 28 I believe)

2 - Compressor size: I have two compressors: a CT Maxium 15 US gallon, 4.0 cfm @ max 150psi; and a King Canada 4.6 gallon, 2.3 cfm @ max 120psi (KC Flex-Air model bought from KMS, free shipping). They are both sold as "Ultra Quiet" - the larger one is fairly quiet but the little KC lives up to that claim (& is really quiet). Ahead of my hose reel is a little headed Y so I can run both together in parallel. I mostly just run the little compressor. I team them up to operate the die grinding, air nibbler, or plasma cutter. Higher maximum compressor operating pressure substantially increases the effective tank volume. Plasma cutters normally operate at 70psi.

3 - Cut time: I cut my RT fixture plate from a piece of 5/8" plate. As I recall the max cut length was about 15" and the plasma cutter did not run out of air. FYI - In the picture above (post #78), I used a scrap piece from that project for my example set-up. My 45 amp machine cuts 3/4" plate OK but not as cleanly and smoothly as 5/8". I did some 1" plate just to see if it would. It struggled, thus IMO, at that thickness oxy/ac matches the cut quality of a plasma cutter (depending on your experience/ability/size of plasma cutter).

4 - Googles: UV protection is important. I've seen either shade 3 or 5 being recommended. Most welding hoods don't go that low. I use my Optrel hood, it goes to shade 5.

5 - Gouging: Not all plasma cutters have consumables and machine settings designed for gouging. This is one of the benefits of springing for a premium-quality plasma cutter. IMO the Hypertherm's gouging functionality is awesome (controllability, smoothness, flexibility, accuracy, etc). Gouging with a plasma cutter is a joy! I do not know if other brand-name plasma cutters can match the Hypertherm when gouging, but I expect they surely can.


PS 1 - I have no plasma cutting training. I'm self-taught, so it would not surprise me to discover that some of my comments are incorrect.

PS 2 - WOW - while tapping out this post - I have been listening to the radio. It has been hard to concentrate and it took a lot of time to finish. What a day in Ottawa!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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If there is anybody on the forum that missed the original deal of this thread like I did, you should check Amazon out again, there are some smoking deals even better that the original posting.
You can grab a machine that claims to severe 4/5" steel for $150 (NT Arc) . I just snagged a bit more "deluxe model for $180 yesterday.
 
I received my new machine (Faring 650 plus) on Friday and got it out to the shop yesterday for a test drive. For a super inexpensive machine compared to what they were when I started pining for one, this thing is awesome. I started out plugged into a 20 amp 110 service and cut 1/8 & 1/4 steel very smooth until the breaker popped. I started out on the 1/8 with amps set at 25 and air at 30, cut like cheese. For 1/4" I bumped amps up to 35 and air still at 30 again cut like cheese for the first 2 inches and then the breaker popped. Tried again and same thing....if I want to use this machine on the 110 circuit I will have to address a higher amp breaker change.
Next I plugged into my 220 welder circuit and tried the 1/4 " again, same settings as before and cut like cheese to complete the cut. next I set the amp at 45 and air to 40 to try a 3/8 cut...complete cut through and smooth edges.
Tried 1/2" at same air setting with amps at 50, it wouldnt cut all the way thru so increased amps to 55 resulted in complete smooth cut thru.
The sales pitch & Utube advertising vids claim it will cut 3/4 but I didnt have any handy to try so cant confirm that, I never cranked it up to 65 amps so dont know if my power source will handle it or not, prob try that in the spring but for now cutting 1/2 is all I am wanting so no need to max the machine out ( I am firm believer if you need max power then use it, but if you dont require it- dont stress it unnecessarily) .
The only complaint I have is the same as all the Utubers have... the Operators manual is garbage...pidgin Asian English and so small printing I need a mag glass. I did okay because I had used a Plasma before and had a mediocrity of understanding of the newer technology/features but a neophyte could get into trouble not understanding some of the dangers between a touch-torch and a non-touch-torch.
 
Ohh ya, I forgot to mention my "farmer expedient" water table so I could break my rule about "no cutting in the shop"...an old 5 gallon pail with a shovel full of snow in the bottom. Clamp your work/cut piece to a length of flat bar that spans the pail mouth so it wont fall inside and presto that snow absorbs every spark and the height of the pail elevates your work so you can sit comfortably beside it on a chair and cut away.

another thing I forgot to mention that caught my attention with that machine is how much more I enjoyed the non touch aspect of it over the old "must touch" style. The "just lay the torch distance setting wire clip" on the plate your cutting and drag it effortlessly around on the form you want to cut.
 
Thanks for bumping this thread, was about to go hunting for it. I finally unboxed the bestarc welder and opened it up (for youtube video, was filming this evening). Still haven't cut with it, but can at least share a pic of what is inside. It's less bad than I expected....not amazing, but for the price, better than I expected.

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