Is a Plasma Cutter really worth having in the home garage?

one other thing on alot of videos i see guys demonstrating slicing up a chassis of a car or rough cutting out rusty floors which i would never be doing one or the other of those task. i just want clean cuts and accuracy. I also have a two killer band saws which i use almost daily along with my belt sanders and hand grinders

 

thats good to know this, i have no experience using one but the videos i viewed really deterred me from firing mine up.

 

I use mine alot...I use a Lincoln. about the size of a small suitcase. I just cut out the front floors in my impala and trimmed the new floors to fit up. you will find other uses that shop work...I got an old door and used it to cut a latch for the old sticker...would have had to look around a lot to find one, so i fabbed one up in a few minutes...would not want to give it up now that I used it...

 

i really don't use my plasma or my cutting torch very much , but i would not consider selling either of them.

 

I use mine all the time also. Mine is a small Lincoln I bought in a package deal when I bought my TIG machine...you can cut straight and clean if you use a guide...minimal cleanup if set right.

 

I really like mine, not that I use it every day but I would say money well spend. I have mine for 7 or 8 years in my home shop, and I thionk there is a tool for every job and if I have one that I can go to make that job easier and simple I think it is worth every penny.

By the way if it is set up right it makes a very nice cut, I have seen some amazing programable plasma table's that cut patterns all day.

Just my .2 cents,

 

you have nothing to cut....so you need nothing to cut.
i use mine all the time: it is fast, accurate, and inexpensive to run.

 

I would not be without it

 

Hell I got two of them now, there is no going back. Now I just need a water jet!

 

i use mine quite often and love it but i do scrapping too. I never used to cut condensors open but since i got one i do now. I've never refilled my torches since i got it.

I have the Miller 625. Brought it at a car show from the miller trailer years ago. The show price was a big difference from their store price. i only paid around $25.00 more than the store price for the 375 model that i was originally thinking about buying.

yes, you can cut a very straight line with it if you don't rush your cut and don't use it when you are hungover and have the shakes.

 

Well worth it...got one at work and one at home. Don't use them all the time but when I need them im glad i have them. Kyle

 

If you have minimal use for a plasma and would basically cut thicker metal for brackets etc. take your project to your local water-jet shop. Absolute accuracy and virtually no edge cleanup or final grinding to a line. A big plus is to learn to use a 2D basic CAD program. Half the cost of jet cutting is the programming. I can e-mail my patterns to my local shop and they call when they are ready. Couldn't be simpler. Should add once the machine is setup it can cut one or multiple pieces at the same time all of which will be identical. Try that with your plasma.

 

I wouldn,t get rid of mine for anything.It really works great for cutting alum.

 

Don't get me wrong, you can make nice parts with a plasma, given the right guides and templates. There are situations where a plasma is priceless. But if I gave you a piece of material to cut and I said I wanted it within .030, would you choose a plasma or a horizontal band saw? If you accidentally hook the corner of the table with the plasma hose and it hangs up...part might be screwed. Even when using a guide you can accidentally rock the torch left or right and now the cut isn't square. The OP was asking if it was worth the money. I just think that money would be better invested elsewhere, like a band saw or jump shear depending on your needs.

 

The older I get, the less I enjoy any part of metal work that involves grinding. Plasma cutters produce a slag that is just as bad as grinding sparks/dust. I just hate the slop mess it creates in my shop, and I don't like the thought of all that crap in my lungs. If I do plasma cut, I try like hell to have the cut blow into a water bath of one sort of another.

My bandsaw never produced any dust or slag and I've never had to worry about it catching my shop on fire.

 

I think the point is a plasma cutter is the most versitle cutting method available for a guy in a home shop and if used with care is more than accurate for probably 99% of what anyone would want to do in their garage. Of course you can buy a bunch of specialty cutting devices like stomp shears and horizontal band saws but good ones of both are expensive and very limited to what cuts they can make (straight only) then other tools are required to do the remaining work. If a guy is looking to spend money on ONE type of cutting tool I can't see anything being a better bang for the buck than a plasma cutter.

 

lost with out it , used constantly for building my 35 pontiac hiboy ..................

 

I have a Hypertherm Powermax 30 Plasma Cutter. Use it all the time. Like being able to make templates out of chip board for intricate pieces or zip along a straight edge to cut sheet metal. Now I only use my hot wrench for heating and bending stuff but I still burn a lot of cut-off wheels on small stuff.

Side note: You need a dry air supply of you will burn up tips pretty quick. I mounted a HF Desiccant Air Dryer on the back of my PC cart to keep things dry.

 

You make a good point sir!

 

You really can't cut a 4" piece of aluminum solid rod with a plasma cutter. A bandsaw will do that without blinking.

Every tool has its place...but a plasma cutter is far from versatile IMO. Hell, even an oxy acetylene torch can heat, cut, and even weld. All a plasma can do is cut certain materials.

 

^^^ This.

 

What about this Lotos brand? Seems reasonably priced & good ratings.

http://www.amazon.com/LT5000D-Lotos...355879035&sr=1-1&keywords=lotos+plasma+cutter

Jack E/NJ

 

after eating through cut off wheels on 3/16 and 1/4 plate all day id love one

 

Yes

tips for useing it.....
Make sure you have clean dry air
make sure your air pressure stays up
dont touch tip to work
buy pleanty of consumeables
it takes practice to cut nice

 

Haven't touched my oxy/acetylene set up since I bought my Miller plasma. Worth the $$$

 

I have that same unit and LOVE it!!! I use it in place of my grinder for the most part. Still learning how to get better with it, you can give a guy a paint brush but it doesn't make him a painter if you know what I mean.

 

I don't use my plasma cutter very often but it is priceless when it is needed.

 

I have had a Snap-on plasma cutter for 20 years. I keep trying to like it, but I don't. I equate it to drinking scotch. No matter how much everybody tells you how good it is, if you don't like it, it doesn't matter. I'm real happy for the people who like theirs, but I find there is almost alway a better tool for the job.JMO.

 

plasma cutters are great tools and if i purchased one i would line up a job to help pay for the unit because it may sit around just like a torch set.