Plasma Cutters- Help on Choices

Date 07-04-2003 07:20

I have a Miller Cutmate 375 and like it a lot. Looking at the brochure for the Cutmaster 38, it looks to be very similar in specs to the Miller unit. I've also tried the Hypertherm and didn't find much difference in the units. I bought the Miller because it was on a good sale, and I had tried it at my Night Welding Class. The biggest tip I have for plasma cutting is to make sure your air supply is as dry as you can get it. I tried to get away with just a moisture separator (bowl type filter) and had a hard time cutting through 1/4" even with a standoff. Not too mention I ran through consumables like once every other day. I bit the bullet and got an air dry system with a dessicant tower and the cuts were much cleaner and 1/4" was now no problem. You don't have to go as far as I did, but at least using one of those disposable "last chance" air filters will help.

By ScottV

Date 07-04-2003 20:33

The Hypertherm is made by Miller so it should cut about the same.A guy on the Hobart site found this out,and posted the president of Hypertherms comments.That thread and all following comments have been deleted.

The cutmaster 38 is the leader in that class anyway.

By chaikwa (*)

Date 07-05-2003 12:38

Maybe some of the component parts are made by Miller, or Miller may own Hypertherm, but before moving out here to Michigan, I lived right next door to the Hypertherm factory in New Hampshire. That's also why I bought a Hypertherm. That was a mistake in my opinion.

First of all, they used a flammable covering on the torch leads, (I didn't KNOW they were flammable), and after being subjected to the sparks from the cutting process, they burned thru and severed the leads. Hypertherm refused to stand behind their product, saying I should have been more careful, and I ended up buying a whole new lead assembly. Being 'new' to plasma cutting at the time, I thought I should have known better and just 'bit the bullet' and bought new leads for somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 bucks, but I thought it was strange they'd use something flammable as a protector for the leads. (Live and learn I guess, right?)

Anyway, after about 3 months of use, the main PC board blew out, and I mean BLEW out! I thought someone had fired off a shotgun in my shop! Well, keeping in line with their apparent corporate philosophy, they once again refused to stand behind their product. They told me it blew out because there was alot of dirt on the PC board and my shop was probably "too dusty"! Imagine that... a welding shop with dirt in it! They also informed me a new board would run me about $1500.00, including installation, (that was 1/2 the price of the machine!).

Thankfully, I had leased the machine and I stopped paying the lease immediately. After another 3 months of arguing, they finally took the machine and repaired it under the warranty agreement.

The machine DID work pretty well after that until it was about 3 years old and the PC board once again blew out. I just said 'the hell with this' and scrapped the machine. I currently have a Miller and am quite happy with it.

I looked at a Thermo Dynamics machine before buying the Miller and it worked very nicely, but a TD rep I talked to at the welding show in Detroit told me he didn't think it would work with the Miller Trailblazer I have because of voltage fluctuations the Trailblazer produced. I totally respected the honesty of that rep for telling me that instead of just blindly selling me his product. You don't see that kind of honesty much anymore!

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it somehow helps in your decision of what machine to purchase.

By Paul Gilley (*)

Date 07-07-2003 23:15

Take a look at the Thermal Dynamics "Drag-Gun 38". This unit is rated to cut 3/8 inch steel, has a built in air compressor,weighs about 60 pounds and seems to do what is advertised. I am using one in our welding classes. The machine is not cheap, about $1500.00 from my supplier but seems worth the money. Thermal Dynamics seems to be a little ahead of the other plasma cutting machines. Just my opinion. Hope this helps.

Paul Gilley
Welding Instructor
Mountain Empire Community College

By welder_guy2001 (***)

Date 07-08-2003 05:08

Thermal Dymamics...great machine!

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 07-08-2003 10:59

I'll ditto what welder_guy2001 said! We have those in our shop and they work great. We have ran into jobs where they want all the web penetrations in the main structural members to be cut with plasma and we went out and bought several of those machines. The only regret we had is that we didn't do it sooner.
John Wright

By stever

Date 07-08-2003 14:18

Does anyone have a comparison of factory tested cutting results? I can't remember which machine it is, but one manufacturer has written a statement that their machine consumables can make so many one foot long cuts started from the edge before replacing any parts. Any info on consumable useage, how often they wear out, etc., would be appreciated. Or point me in the right direction to locate this.

A welding machine repairman tells me that three years is a long life for a plasma cutter in a welding enviroment.

By sparx

Date 07-08-2003 18:30

Hey guys... (and/or gals)... I read all of the postings on this and noticed nobody mentioned Esab or Lincoln....I realize that the equipment that you are looking at is on the smaller side of cut capacity, but hear me out. I have been selling this type of equipment for a number of years and although we mainly sell Lincoln product here, I have no problem with promoting other products. My opinion on the plasma machine side of things is this.....Lincoln made terrible plasma cutters for the longest time. The procut series (60, 125, etc..) were notorious for having the torch explode in your hands. Lincoln knew that they made a terrible product and openly admitted this (at least a couple of the sales reps did) The new models of the procut 55 and 80 are very well built, but not much of a gouging machine. Miller has made some impressive machines in the past and continue to do so, although I have found that replacement torches can get kind of costly. Thermal Dynamics have a great line of small to medium size machines including the built in air units like the Drag-gun (1/8" max) and the Drag-gun 38 ( 3/8" max). The Cutmaster series of machines like the 50, 75 etc. are excellent machines for the dollar. These machines will actually cut the advertised thicknesses, albeit a bit on the slow side. My concern with these machines is longetivity. (a bit on the light side from a manufactured side of things) but who knows....could last 5 or 6 years if taken care of. The hypertherm units used to be the best in the business. I say used to because I have noticed a drop in product quality in this line. Finally, Esab makes, in my opinion, the best you can buy in the small (1/2") to large (2") categories. I have found that electrode and tip life seems to be on the better side of all the units I have come across, cut quality is second to none, and if you need to do any qouging, I think that Esab outshines everyone here.
As a side note: Plasma machines are rated kind of like the Muscle cars were in the sixties....If they say it will cut 3/4", it will make a great machine for 1/2".
Sorry for the long post, but when I start typing, my fingers don't know when to quit :)

By stever

Date 07-11-2003 13:56

Here is a forum for CNC plasma cutting. It has some interesting topics such as tip/nozzle use.

http://torchmate.community.everyone.net/commun_v3/scripts/thread.pl