Subject: Re: Plasma cutter advice?

From: [email-masked]
Date: 2 Dec 1996 12:11:41 GMT

In <[email-masked]>, Jay Hayes <[email-masked]> writes:
>Mike wrote:
>> 
>> I've been lurkin for awhile here and am learning quite a bit.  I just
>> bought a TIG setup and have been looking for a plasma cutter.  Hoping to
>> find a good used one, but haven't found one yet.
>> 
>> Anyway, I want to cut SS mostly to gauge thickness 14, but would like
>> the ability to go to 1/4" mild steel.  I am thinking a 25 amp rig would
>> be adequate.  MSC has the Thermal Dynamics Pak Master 25 for $1115
>> (220V).  Everything I have been able to discern so far says this is a
>> good machine.  It is more than I really can afford, but I like good
>> tools and want the best without overkill for the job.
>> 
>> Any advice, suggestions, insight or leads to a source of a used cutter
>> would be much appreciated.
>> 
>> I probably shouldn't keep following this NG as I find myself wanting to
>> buy a lathe and mill (:  That Sherline sure sounds good.
>> 
>> Mike
>
I recently bought a new plasma cutter (HyperTherm) and was glad 
that I went for the bigger machine (cuts 3/4"). I have, in the past, purchased
a smaller plasma cutter assuming that it would meet my needs for the present
AND the future, but it didn't. I'm not saying that you should buy a machine as
big as the one I bought...but...go around to the welding shops (not suppliers) and
ask which brand and model they use. HyperTherm and Thermal Dynamics seem
to be the most popular and most will easily cut 1/2". A bigger (commercial)
machine will certainly cost more, but it will also retain its value much longer
than a cheap machine. Just remember....no bucks...no Buck Rodgers.

Randy
[email-masked]

---

From: "Les Whitaker" <[email-masked]>
Date: 9 Dec 1996 22:25:52 GMT

[email-masked] wrote in article
<[email-masked]>...
> In article <[email-masked]>, Mike
> <[email-masked]> writes:
> Peter:
Being new here, I wasn't aware that anyone other than Smithy built/sold a
mill/lathe combo. Is the Sherlin such a beast? I don't have room for a mill
and a lathe, and I'm too old to worry about precision to the nth degree
anymore, +/- .002 will do. What attracts me to the Smithy is the complete
availability of all the goodies that (presumably) bolt right on, and the
std. MT setup. I know about the pitfalls of combo machines, and decided I
can live nicely with those.

Les Whitaker
> >
> >
> 
> Try and resist. Once you own a Sherline you will be hooked. Kiss your
> spare time, your wife the dog the cat and the kids goodbye. You will
begin
> to live in the garage. It gets worse. You will want bigger machines, you
> will justify their cost and you will have them. Stick around we are
mostly
> all in the same boat.
> Peter