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Cheap Amazon or whatnot Plasma cutter advise


scotts90ranger

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I got the cutter today and got it all together and working. The fittings that came with it don't match the BSP very well, 1/4" NPT at least sealed so I'll get a 5/16" barb fitting from work to replace it...

The $14 water separator filter is about the same as what it came with but two of them together should be just fine, consumables for the SG-55 torch are cheap so I'll probably just load up on them

On the cutting, I cranked it up to 40A and went at a random leaf spring I had by the garage, 5/16" thick and cut a slice in just a couple seconds very clean! Was screwing around with some other scrap I had in the bin and wish I had taken the guide thing off as it was hard to stay close enough on the mangled piece I had, fire kept going out and it won't re start until after the post cut airflow is done.

I can see where this will come in handy! The pilot arc isn't as magical on this model as I was expecting, so cutting expanded metal will still be left to a cutoff wheel but that doesn't come up too often... The pilot arc does work just fine, as long as you're within ~1/8" of the material rusty or not it will start cutting, and about 10X faster than a cutoff wheel!

If anyone sees this and wonders about the quality of the Ramsond Cut 50DY components and packaging and everything, it arrived double boxed, both boxes are double layer, between the boxes was ~3/8" foam (not the cheap white stuff either, the HDPE type), inside the second box was a sheet of the same stuff, then a 1" thick layer around the loose part area and around 1" around the cutter. The instruction book is small and I didn't read it, I leafed through it trying to figure out what the two O rings in the consumable packet were for... never figured it out, probably for the hose connection at the machine but never looked. The torch came fully assembled and it was shipped with 10 extra tips and electrodes and 5 ceramic cups which should last a LONG time. Wiring was pretty simple, 3 wires... there's a tag on the top of the machine telling you which is which (only mattering on 110V other than green being ground), the power cord is just shy of 6' long so not too bad. I mention this because there is VERY little about this version online, if it's out there I didn't find it, more people asking about it and being told that it's chinese junk than anything which other than the filter/regulator I'm not seeing being the case. I have some family stuff to deal with this week and it's now hunting season but I'm going to try to give it a workout before the 30 day Home Depot return policy is up... and just to note, HD has it for $130 cheaper than anywhere else I could find...

The yellow color on stuff being burnt is probably a reaction where the air is super heated and the water vapor in the atmosphere is reacting in the flame, some type of oxidation, similar to the white buildup inside a distributor...

Your Hypertherm unit is on a different planet than this guy (from what I hear, consumables should live about 10x as long on yours), but for what it is I think what I got has a reasonable place in my shop...
 


4x4junkie

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Your Hypertherm unit is on a different planet than this guy (from what I hear, consumables should live about 10x as long on yours), but for what it is I think what I got has a reasonable place in my shop...

Sorry I misread, somehow I got thinking when I posted that it was the one you got that used Hypertherm consumables, it was the one Bird76 mentions that uses them. Regardless, it seems a good air filter would extend the life of any machine's consumables.

I now wonder why I didn't get one sooner. :icon_twisted: It doesn't 100% replace all other means of cutting (so don't go tossing out your chop saw, grinder & cutting discs, Dremel, etc. and even your hack saw just yet), but for a vast majority of projects it is about 20-50× faster (literally).
 

Bird76Mojo

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just trying to help

Wet air causes multiple, very fast steam explosions inside the nozzle and cone. It literally just explodes the consumables, which quickly allows arcing and that destroys whatever's left intact in less than 5 seconds. You can actually destroy a whip/gun if a completely uneducated operator just keeps trying to use it.

An air dryer mainly serves to make your consumables last a lot longer, but it will also make the internal air solenoid valve last longer too.



GB :)
 

scotts90ranger

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6
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35"
Yeah, that about sums up what I've been hearing... and why I doubled up on the separators...

I know it's not a replace all, believe me, just another tool in the arsenal... at this point I have:
Plasma cutter
4 4.5" angle grinders
oxy/acetylene torch setup for cutting, heating and welding
mini bandsaw (works fine for sheet aluminum and such)
numerous hacksaws
air body saw
sawzall
horizontal bandsaw (nowhere to put it yet)
other various and sundry dodads and whatzits...

Next year I'll be building a 36x48 shop hopefully set up for a 2 post lift and all my toys can be out at the same time, part of why I'm trying to save a little $$, plus the main project I want to work on with the plasma is more of an excuse to get a new tool... the torch would do the same but not as clean. If I hurry up and get a deer I can get some stuff done!
 

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