Cutting stainless with a small plasma unit?

Title say it all.

I'm past the point that I can chomp parts with a chop saw and grind/file a smooth edge.

Some of these parts have interior curves that make that impossible to any real degree. Even with my foolish stubborn streak!

So?

Would someone recommend a small and relatively inexpensive plasma cutter that can handle up to 1/8" stainless?

Preferably 110 VAC if that's possible.

Richard

Reply to
cavelamb himself
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I think the Hypertherm Powermax line is the standard recommendation these days. Check their site to see which will do the job. I know my Powermax 1000 would certainly do it.

Reply to
Pete C.

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0John Wayne

Can't tell you a thing about plasma cutters, but in case that plan goes awry, I think generally with a lot of stainless projects you can move past trying to get a perfectly smooth/clean edge by just crimping a metal, rubber or other material "ridge" over the rough edges. It's cheaper than buying major tools that you might not need again and you might really find something that adds to a quality look in your finished project.

Reply to
schizobeck

Try it before you buy it.

I know, its easier to sit in your tighty whitey's and type at a computer, but most real welding supply stores will actually let you try out a plasma cutter.

And with stainless, its a good idea to see what you will get.

Because of the alloy content of stainless, its a lot harder to get a perfect, slag free edge on it with an off the rack plasma cutter. The machine cuts stainless just fine- but it leaves a dark gray oxidized slag on the back that is sometimes very hard to grind off. For simple shapes, notches, and large radius curves, this is not a big problem- you hit it with a grinder, and then touch it up with a flap disc of alumina zirconia, and it cleans up. But it does take some time to do this.

However, if you are doing complicated shapes, with multiple interior cutouts, expect to do some time with a die grinder, with expensive carbide burrs.

In industry, they get around this by using Hi-Definition Plaama units (these start at $10,000) and then, instead of shop compressed air, they use an inert gas like argon, or at least a no oxygen gas like nitrogen. Expensive, in other words. Or, they use a laser or waterjet. Again, intial setup costs of $100,000 to a quarter million.

So given your budget, its probably gonna be hand held plasma. I would not buy anything but Hypertherm or Plasma Dynamics.

But like I said, go to a welding supply store with your own sample material in hand, and cut a few pieces, and see for yourself what you get, and how hard it is to clean it up.

Might be, you decide instead to scour ebay til you find a killer deal on a big 36" Do-all bandsaw.

Reply to
Ries

Whoops- I meant THERMAL DYNAMICS.

HYPERTHERM, OR THERMAL DYNAMICS.

these are the two companies that make the plasma cutters that every serious industrial shop uses.

Reply to
Ries

Yea, it's scary fast on sheet metal, basically as fast as you can move the torch.

Reply to
Pete C.

What kind of time frames? Is it something that you can make template guides for? I'm not all that far away (up in Denison) and my PM1K has plenty of idle time. I haven't got it CNC'd yet, but that is on the project list too.

Pete C.

Reply to
Pete C.

Interesting machine ya got there!

Product overview The Powermax1000 plasma cutting system cuts over 50% faster than any other competitor tested on 3/4" (19 mm) mild steel.

Hand torch cut capacity Recommended: up to 3/4" (19 mm) at cutting speeds of 22" (559 mm) per minute Maximum: up to 1" (25 mm) at cutting speeds of 12" (304 mm) per minute Severance: up to 1-1/4" (32 mm) at slow speed

Richard

Reply to
cavelamb himself

I certaintly appreciate the thought because I too am leary of spending a lot of money on expensive tools that may not pay their way.

But not in this case.

These are parts for yacht type sail boats. Appearance is important. As well as smoothing the edges of stress risers.

I've just gone as far as I can with a chop saw and hand tools. Now it's time to get serious about this stuff.

Question is - what will it cost verses what will it do for me.

Richard

Reply to
cavelamb himself

Thanks Rees.

I'll pull on my jeans and go visit a real welding supply store. And take a couple of pieces of metal with me to carve on.

In the end, this might actually be something that has to be shopped out rather than done in house (ok, in garage)

Richard

Reply to
cavelamb himself

Unless it needs to withstand a number of passes, I expect regular 1/8" masonite or similar would be fine. Probably get slightly charred, but the cut speed is so fast I don't expect it would go up in flames. The chart in the manual indicates that optimum cut speed for 10ga (3.4mm) stainless at 60A is 159 IPM (4039 mm/min).

The shield on the plasma torch is 7/16" OD, and the kerf is probably between 1/16"-3/32".

Perhaps not, but it's typically easier generate some G code than to calculate and cut a template.

Always good to make progress on the projects...

Reply to
Pete C.

I'm retired and grown plumb lazy these days, Pete. I don't do much of anything fast any more. So no pressure on time frame.

What would a template need to be made from?

I doubt CNC would be all that handy in this case. Only a couple dozen parts needed.

But, yes, I'd be real happy to get 'em cut out!

Richard

Reply to
cavelamb himself

Using plain old Google Groups, I get:

aux3(dot)doh(dot)4(at)snet(dot)net

Punctuation masked to protect the allegedly innocent.

Jim Wilkins

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

How about send me a email - cuz I can't figure out yours. (you are safe from the spam bots!)

Richard

Reply to
cavelamb himself

The Stainless is a vague term. Is it hard chrome stainless ?

304l cuts nicely. Others leave melted and sharp globs on the back that are very very hard.

Martin

Mart> Title say it all.

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Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

I think the 3xx size would. I cut 14 ga. Stainless 314 etc with it.

Martin

Mart> cavelamb himself wrote:

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Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

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