Best cutter I can get (budget)

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jellypowered
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Best cutter I can get (budget)

Post by jellypowered »

My investor has set a 1500$ budget for the plasma cutter. His thinking is, start small, once making money buy a better unit (i've preached about all the good things said about Hypertherm, he said buy a used one then, only problem is locally there are no used Hypertherm's available.


Whats a good unit to "get me by" till I start making money with this?

Miller has some rebates right now, a miller xtreme 625 gets a 100 rebate. It looks like a decent machine and I used their welders all through school. Machine torch available.

As i don't have a table built yet, i'm still shopping around.

Suggestions?
suttoncnc
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Re: Best cutter I can get (budget)

Post by suttoncnc »

I use this machine:

http://www.longevity-inc.com/plasma-cut ... rcecut-42i

Integration into a CNC is not as straight forward as major brands. The circular plug is not standard in its layout. However, this machine has performed great in my operation. 95% of what I do is CNC router, my machine converts to plasma the other times. So, in all fairness, I do NOT have a tremendous amount of hours on it yet but so far I am very impressed with it. I cut 18 gauge all the way to .25 with it. I am sure that it will cut thicker material but I have not had a need for that yet. Also note that I am a novice when it comes to CNC plasma cutting. I have never used a major brand of plasma cutter so I have no reference for comparison to other machines.
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tnbndr
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Re: Best cutter I can get (budget)

Post by tnbndr »

Why does it have to be local?? Try ebay, craiglist, other forums. They can be shipped for little $$$.
Keep searching while you are building your table, you have plenty of time.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hypertherm-Powe ... Swo4pYfl7T
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sphurley
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Re: Best cutter I can get (budget)

Post by sphurley »

I think you need to tell us what you will be doing with it. There is a big gap in cutting 18ga art vs. cutting 3/4" steel plates.
It makes a difference in the machine also. Thin stuff has to be cut at a faster setting than thick. Trying to keep the speed of cut consistent at high speed is a whole new can of worms.
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jellypowered
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Re: Best cutter I can get (budget)

Post by jellypowered »

Things we'd like to cut.
Mostly 3/8" steel (maybe occasionally thicker, but I do have a O/A if needed for thick stuff)

And on the side i'd like to start cutting decorative artsy stuff. Not sure what thickness is good for that kind of stuff but i know it's thin compared to 3/8" lol.

I actually did see the powermax 45 listing you linked Tnbndr, however I also read on here that if you couldn't test a machine out you probably shouldn't buy it. Is that still the general consensus? If not, that's a great machine for what I want to do, my buddy has a 65 and it slices through stuff like butter on his table. And by local I did mean craigslist too lol.
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Re: Best cutter I can get (budget)

Post by sphurley »

I would think there would be a lot of the PM45's out for sale. The reason is the new PM45X is out and with the better Duramax torch and plasma marking available a lot of the older 45's are being sold cheap.
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Re: Best cutter I can get (budget)

Post by Dana gear »

I would really be some what careful of anything in the used world of plasma that you can't actually see working before the purchase dollars change hands, that said most used plasma power sources on line etc are generally o.k.
However the Craig's list e-bay world has at time been a dumping ground for troublesome or just plain dead plasma power sources.
You may want to check with your local welding supply dealer as some take in trades and that way you could see it operate.
Our local dealer even offers a 30 day warranty on used plasma equipment.
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Re: Best cutter I can get (budget)

Post by Metriccar »

I wouldn't want to get one without cut speed charts. The money you'd save on such a cutter will be spent on metal scrapped while you try to get it to cut right.
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Re: Best cutter I can get (budget)

Post by gamble »

suttoncnc wrote:I use this machine:

http://www.longevity-inc.com/plasma-cut ... rcecut-42i

Integration into a CNC is not as straight forward as major brands. The circular plug is not standard in its layout. However, this machine has performed great in my operation. 95% of what I do is CNC router, my machine converts to plasma the other times. So, in all fairness, I do NOT have a tremendous amount of hours on it yet but so far I am very impressed with it. I cut 18 gauge all the way to .25 with it. I am sure that it will cut thicker material but I have not had a need for that yet. Also note that I am a novice when it comes to CNC plasma cutting. I have never used a major brand of plasma cutter so I have no reference for comparison to other machines.
I had the 42i for awhile. They also have a 62i machine. I loved them, they worked really well.

I got a used hypertherm pm45 for under $1k then another $600 ish for a brand new machine torch. Works great too.
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wl5044
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Re: Best cutter I can get (budget)

Post by wl5044 »

I use a 625 on one of my tables and have had great success. just bought the replacement 625 last week. After 5 years of heavy use. what table do you have?
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