plasma cutters

torch guy

Member
I'm getting more and more aluminum fabrication requests and am beginning to need one. I was looking at the Miller spectrum 875 and a thermal dynamics cut master 82. My shop is all blue and was leaning toward the Miller but I'm not against another color/brand. Let's hear some suggestions and experiences. Thanks.
 
Some brands have very expensive consumables. Investigate that aspect before purchase. Hypertherm was my choice.
 
The Miller is the better of the two you are talking about. I personally have an older Hobart and it works fine. The newer Hobarts are not the same machine. They are more of a consumer grade product now.

You will find that you will use the Plasma cutter much more than you thinking. I even use mine to cut bearings out of cases and such. Fast and the surrounding metal does not get as hot.
 
Hypertherm and Thermal Dynamics are hard to beat. With my Hypertherm 1250 on my CNC table I get a minimum of 250-feet of cutting before I ever see any drop in quality of cut from the electrode or nozzle.

Remember if you're going to Tig weld aluminum after plasma cutting, you want to cut the object 1/32 to 1/16-inch big, and grind / sand to the desired size.
 
Thermal Dynamics is the machine of choice. We sell all of them, but if it was my money it would be the TD. They were running a special for a while, buy the plasma and get a free 115V inverter stick machine.
 
I just did considerable research on plasma cutters and ended up with a Hypertherm. Miller makes quality equipment, I have a Miller mig and it does all I want it to. You probably already know this, but I learned that you want to buy a plasma cutter that will cut material thicker than you intend to cut.
 
What are you basing it on that the Miller is the better machine? I work at a full line Miller dealer and we don't even bring in Millers for display but try to keep the TD units in stock. Not saying the Miller isn't a good machine but the TD machines sell a lot more and we don't have any complaints with them. A lot of standardized parts as well.
 
Stan it is the contaminates in the dross. I've been told only other way around this is to cut with Argon instead of air.
 
Hypertherm hands down! I researched and talked to several owners, and pro shops. Almost everyone told me Hypertherm. Only thing I do not prefer about mine is the switch on the back.
 
Thank all you guys for the replies. I'll be looking more into the hypertherm and thermal dynamics and go from there.
 
I have often used wood working tools to cut aluminum (table saw, band saw, even a wood router). So long as you don't go too fast it works great.

I also want a plasma cutter, and have settled on the Hypertherm 45.

Bye for now,

Troy
 

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