Plasma Cutters??

[Goat]

I am currently looking into plasma cutters. A while back I had the opportunity to test a Hyperthem unit at the Air Liquide Demo/training day. I was impressed with it's capabilities but I am left wondering, is this the best unit out there? Does anyone or has anyone used a different brand? How are Miller plasma cutters? I am shopping around and am just curious to know if other brands will be sufficient and what are the pros and cons of both? Hey Air Liquide guys do you sell Miller cutters? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

[AndrewH]

Originally posted by Goat
Hey Air Liquide guys do you sell Miller cutters?

i asked them that too and their response was, "miller plasma cutters can't compete with hypertherm"

if i am right i believe that hypertherm makes some of the miller plasma parts

[Dave@AirLiquide]

Goat & AndrewH,
There are all sorts of Plasma cutters out there, Hypertherm, Thermadyne, Miller , Lincoln. Air Liquide Welding in Europe manufacture Plasma cutters as well. In Canada Air Liquide sells the Hypertherm and the Millers. The simplest way to put it is a Plasma cutter is a Constant Current power source like a stick/tig power source except with alot of open circuit voltage to generate the plasma cutting column. So lots of people can make the machine, the big difference to look at is the torch, since it is the business end of the machine. If you buy a plasma with a bad torch you could be spending a lot of $$$ on consumable parts.
Because of the history of Hyperthem, they have the best torch in my humble opinion by far and I have used them all. Even had one (not a Hypertherm) blow up in my hand once! Hypertherm started out making the big Plasma for big cutting machines and gained really good tech experience and then went on to smaller hand held systems. Everyone else stated out making small hand held systems and are trying to catch up to Hypertherm who have about 85% of the industrial mechanised cutting business around the world. Hypertherm only makes Plasma everyone else make plasma as another machine after they make stick/tig/mig etc so it is a small % of their business, whereas for Hypertherm it's everything they do.
Miller's early small plasma's (zipcut & zipcut jr. '70s) had Air Liquide Plasma torches! As they grew they then went to Daihan? in Japan? for torches. It was ok, but not the best, and Miller is generally really good and they wanted the best, so now they have Hyperthem torches on their machines too.
My personal recommendation would be, (not because I work for Air Liquide, but because experience with them) Hypertherm first cause they are the best/safest, Miller second, has the Hypertherm torch and a good Miller power source, and then you could look at Lincoln but honestly I don't know that much about them. I can't/would rather not recommend Thermadyne/ESAB(Linde/L-Tec), but I also can't say they are not good, as they would'nt be in the marketplace if they did'nt have something to offer.
Air Squid

[beaterchevy]

What sort of life can one expect from the consumable (electrode part I think???) with a hypertherm plasma cutter (lets say the Powermax 380) when cutting 1/4" mild steel plate??

When I was using another brand of cutter at work it seemed to burn through those electrodes extremely quickly. I seem to remember being able to cut about 4' of 1/2" 316 before the cut started getting ugly, and not a lot more when just cutting mild steel.

Is this common with plasma cutters to go thru consumables at a great rate, or was the machine and/or my method causing excessive electrode wear?

Thanks.

[lars]

Originally posted by beaterchevy
What sort of life can one expect from the consumable (electrode part I think???) with a hypertherm plasma cutter (lets say the Powermax 380) when cutting 1/4" mild steel plate??


http://www.hypertherm.com/manual/level3/pmax380/p2p3.jpg


Is this common with plasma cutters to go thru consumables at a great rate, or was the machine and/or my method causing excessive electrode wear?

It's a bit of both, really. I'm sure Dave will jump in here with a more precise answer.

As Dave mentioned before, probably the greatest distinguishing feature btwn various plasma cutters is their rate of consumable consumption (which is why they're called consumables :)). Hypertherm has spent a lot of money and effort on increasing the lifetime of their electrodes' components. These improvements are part of their HyDefinition plasma cutting technology. One of the ways they've increased electrode life re-designing their shields to prevent double-arcing and improve the electrode-to-nozzle alignment. Another improvement comes from their patented LongLife technology. It uses computer-control to manage electrical current and gas flow during cutting in order to minimize the shock load that occurs at the start each cut. It also re-solidifies the electrode material at the end of each cut. The end result are torches that can make 600-1200 starts without any undue effect on the quality of the cut.





...lars

[M Siebert]

What's the price tag for a hypertherm plasma cutter. Looking at buying one this post has made it even easier with all the answers.:D :beer :beer

[Dave@AirLiquide]

Hi Guys,
Sorry, been tied up the last few days with some other projects so have not been on site for a while. Lars hits the Hypertherm technological edge right on! My only other input as far as Plasma consumable life would be oil and water! Where is you compressed air coming from? If it is coming from a compressor that is giving you wet oily air, your electrode & tip life will fall dramatically as these contaminants are vapourized in the arc. It is always good advice to ensure that you regularly drain your compressor of condensation, and invest in a after market air drier filter you can get from your welding equipment supplier (hopefully Air Liquide!) These are not expensive and in the long run will probably pay for themselves through consumable savings.
As far as price, both the Hypertherm Powermax 380 & 600 are on Air Liquide's 100th Anniversary Fall Flyer which is posted here on site. They are both on sale until Dec 14th.
Air Squid:)

[Wil]

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