Electrical Expert Help Please

[hankj]

Hey there, Spinner, all I had to cut with in the beginning was O/A. For 16ga. I used a 000-3-101 Victor tip, got the cut started, and lifted the cutting head as high as I could away from the steel and still hold the cut. Took some practice, but you can cut 16ga real nice like that!

Hank

[migmaniac70]

Just swap the breakers, you'll be fine.Especially if the run is only 2 ft

[jolane]

Migmaniac,
I will eng up swapping breakers and the wall outlet to 30A. That is the best for now.
As for the O/A...truth be told, I have an O/A setup I can use at work if I need to, and my father also has a full setup if I need it. I also have everything but the bottles and cart. I may stillpick up a set of bottles and just store them outside, locked up somehow...
The plasma is not intended to just be for fun, although it will be fun also, but in general for the purposes of automotive work and fabrication. It would have been great to have one for cutting out the floorpans in my car (I used a combination of sheet metal shears, air hammer and grinder with cutoff wheels). I have also built new motor mounts from 16 gauge, modified the crossmember heavily for these mounts, cutout and replaced the rear quarter panel, will be replacing the rear valance, added subframe connectors (required a lot of cutting, turning a rect tube into a channel), will be building a fuel cell, and on... Once this car is complete, I will start on my suburban, making bumpers, skid plates, EFI manifold, etc... I also have a trailer on the list of things to build at some point. So to be honest, while I can get by with the grinder, and sheet metal shears, and nibbler, and cutoff tools, etc... this is starting to not be so much fun and more laborious just cutting the metal out. I have a lot of metal to cut to reinforce the shell still as well (18 guage sheet), and getting clean inside cuts is tough. Getting two or even four pieces to match is VERY hard right now. With a plasma, stack and cut...
Now that I have bored everyone, maybe this explains why I am resistant to relying on an O/A setup to get me through. Once the aluminum needs to be cut, I will again be wishing I had a plasma...
Joshua

BTW, does anyone know how well a tube could be fishmouthed with a plasma cutter? I have a tubing notcher thingy that goes in a drill press, but my drill press is not big enough to use it. Anyone think that would work well?

[Paul Seaman]

I have used the drill tubing notcher with just a 1/2" drill motor and the notcher mounted to a large piece of plywood. Doing it this way make sure the hole saw is sharp and brace yourself if it hangs up it'll take you for a ride.

I don't think the shape will be easy to achieve with the plasma.

[burninbriar]

I must say that I have not had a lot of experience in cutting, but the first thing I bought for cutting (after a crappy all in one rotozip-waste of money, don't know what I was thinking) was an O/A setup. I was renting for a while because I didn't have the money to buy, then realized how much money I was wasting and bought the bottles, anyway, I just have a medium sized (nothing fance) cutting torch with welding tips also. The shop I bought it from said that the tip that came with it would cut through 5" thick material. Right now, the only thing I try to cut is 16 or 18 ga. sheetmetal or 1/4" round stock. It's great for roundsock (with finishing required), but sucks for sheetmetal that thin, but there are ways around that.

I would look into buying a O/A set-up. Couldn't hurt (except the pocket book).

I have usd OA setups extensively and corect tip size means everything.On larger torch bodies you need to use the smalleat tip and resort to methods like hakj mentioned becous tips for these bodies usualy only go down to 1/8" capcity.

[fun4now]

plasma on tubing

i have used my plasma on 1 1/2" tubing to make fish mouths.just trace the cut you want and then cut it. they make some real cool tool's to alow you to get the exact angel and shape to fit up at any angel looks like a bunch of welding rod's inside a ring. just trace the cut you want and then cut it.