Plasma Cutter

I looked at the plasma cutter last week and from what I can tell, it seems like the is an issue in the plasma torch itself. When I brought that up at the meeting last night there was mention that someone else had looked at it and voiced the same thing.

From what I have been seeing a replacement torch will run us $200 - $250 for that unit. For $350 we can get a brand new unit that should serve us pretty well.
https://www.amazon.com/Lotos-LT5000D-Plasma-Voltage-Compact/dp/B004VFJL14/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1499879800&sr=8-4&keywords=lotos+plasma+cutter

That Lotos unit has gotten decent reviews on some sites I’ve seen. It is a hobbyist unit, and not an industrial unit. That means that the consumables are more expensive, which would matter if we are using it heavily. It has a maximum clean cut of 1/2" thick and a maximum of 3/4" thick for turning 1 piece into 2 pieces, but right now we have a maximum of 0" on both of those. It only has a duty cycle of 60% which would be an issue if it was seeing lots of use. It is also not $1500.

As I have only ever used 1 single Lincoln Electric plasma cutter I’d love to hear another opinion or two before I put up a vote on this or another unit.

I have the Lotos CUT50 machine… works pretty good. However, that price you have is almost twice what it should cost. You can find these all over the place for $200 or less. Lotos raised their price due to the name… but they’re made on the exact same factory line as all the others.

I actually bought my machine for $169 a while back… but these others are identical except color and shape of the metal cover.

Bill

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zeny-Plasma-Cutter-50AMP-CUT-50-Digital-DC-Inverter-110-220V-Cutting-Machine-/371994245981?epid=0&hash=item569c95bb5d:g:eDwAAOSw~e5ZUbrL

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CUT-50-Electric-Digital-Plasma-Cutter-Inverter-50AMP-Welder-Cutting-Dual-Voltage/182434172971?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D44758%26meid%3D02ef49c132e34feab38051a163d50aaa%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D201822006488

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CUT-50-Electric-Digital-Plasma-Cutter-Inverter-50AMP-Welder-Cutting-Dual-Voltag-/252968358443?hash=item3ae616d22b:g:VbUAAOSwfpVZL~KP

In fact, just doing a search on Amazon yields this: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cut50+plasma+cutter

Bill

Awesome info bill. I tried looking at it and seeing if it was just the torch end or in the electronics. For that money on a cutter it would be a great deal.

While we are looking into cutters may I suggest that a knockout pot and fine particulate/coalescing filter unit with desiccant dryer be procured prior to placing one into service as this will ensure proper operation of the unit as well as increase the service life. One is already needed to run the blasting cabinet so may as well get one installed in the welding room. And maybe some sheet metal to go over the floor and lower walls too to help with the “burninating” issues from slag as was brought up in the meeting.

We use a hypertherm powermax 45 xp at work, quite a bit higher than the average Chinese manufactured models but works wonderfully cutting 1/2" stainless plates.

There's a Miller on Facebook marketplace right now worth looking into for $300 https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/323628178080633