Plasma cutters

[SoCalTA]

Hey guys,

I still need on more piece for a somewhat complete tool selection. With my MM210 w/spoolgun making its journey to my door as we speak I was wondering if you guys had any comments or suggestions. Please keep in mind that this is for home/light fabrication and I would like it to in some way match the abilities of the Mig. By that I mean I don't need it to cut greater than the capacity that the mig can weld. In fact slightly less would be fine. As in the case of the Mig I don't see any chance of welding or cutting beyond 1/4. That the maximum possible in my wildest dreams. Of course I may regret those words but that will be years away. Used ones are fine and if you have any possible vendors or if you are selling one I would like to hear from you.

Thanks,

Jorge

[Paul Seaman]

You may want to check out the used welders post. Email Hawk he has a few sources.

[SoCalTA]

thanks PJ

[HAWK]

SoCalTA,

The Miller Spectrum 625 is a vey nice compliment to the MM210 spoolgun package. The Hypertherm Powermax 600 is also a nice unit as long as you have no intentions of powering it from a generator. The Miller Spectrum 625 and 2050 are the only plasma cutters that work well on generator power of the 6 or so I tested.

The Miller 625 and Hypertherm 600 are comparable machines excepting the generator supply power. Both are good units and are rated roughly at 5/8" clean cut. Hypertherm currently makes the torches for the Miller Spectrum 625 and 2050. Even so , the consumables are not interchangeable. Miller does buy their consumables from Hypertherm, but there are some measurement and clearance spec differences intentionally designed to prohibit interchangeability.

I would personally stay away from the ESAB plasmas unless you intend to purchase the 625 series or bigger. The little 550 is of European manufacture. Of all the plasmas I have tested the Miller and the Hypertherm seem to have the longest lasting and cleanest cutting consumables available. Stay away from Thermal Dynamics plasma cutters. I owned one Pak-Master 100 and rented a Model 38: neither worth a lick- at least not for daily use.

BTW: I own a Miller Spectrum 2050 and use it almost daily. I typically run it from generator power and have not had any problems. This machine is rated at 1" clean cut and is overkill for you needs. However, the 625 is the same machine in a lesser amp output version. It will be hard to beat. As for used my source is NLA. Save up and get it right the first time.