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I had a post on corner-carvers I figured I'd share here
Wanted to follow up on my post from 12/2009. I ended up getting this cheap HF 220V plasma cutter, against the advice of several people here. It was so cheap it was worth the risk, I felt. I paid a paltry $480 for this thing, after it went on sale. We've had it for the better part of a year and it has worked like a champ.
We used it on countless items when "adding lightness" our $2010 E30. We plasma cut much of the trunk floor, structure from the hood & trunk, cut all 4 fender openings for the wider wheels, removed the sunroof structure, made room for the lowered radiator, and more. Most of our use has been on thin 16-20 gauge sheet metal, which it gobbles up with ease. We have cut some 1/4" plate with it too, but mostly we use other tools for that. After a year of use I do highly recommend this low cost plasma unit for hobbyists.
Recently one of the guys at AST-USA came by to use the plasma (to gut a pair of new doors for their Subaru WC race car; see below) and it wouldn't work for more than a few seconds, then it stopped cutting altogether. And then I remembered that it had started to flake out on us the last time we used it, several months ago, too. Hmm.... well I know next to nothing about plasma cutters, so we pulled the tip apart and found that there was an electrode inside. This thing had vaporized down to almost nothing. A trip to Northern Tool and $45 later and we had 5 replacement new electrodes and 5 new gas cups. Popped those in and it was back up to speed. So a year of use ended up with about $9 worth of consumables.
I found this ad in a magazine for MIGs. Eastwood looks like they are private labeling some nice MIG welder set-ups. These all look exactly like and have similar model names to Miller welders (I have a Miller 175 that's identical to their Eastwood 175). Might be worth a look? Figured I'd share it here.
Click above for LARGE versions
Cheers,
Originally posted by fair
I searched for Plasma Cutter Tech but came up empty, so I figured I'd ask in here. We need a plasma cutter ... thinking of buying this HF deal... its kinda big, and I know its Chinese made, but it just might do the job (and then some), and its only $800 retail: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95136
We used it on countless items when "adding lightness" our $2010 E30. We plasma cut much of the trunk floor, structure from the hood & trunk, cut all 4 fender openings for the wider wheels, removed the sunroof structure, made room for the lowered radiator, and more. Most of our use has been on thin 16-20 gauge sheet metal, which it gobbles up with ease. We have cut some 1/4" plate with it too, but mostly we use other tools for that. After a year of use I do highly recommend this low cost plasma unit for hobbyists.
Recently one of the guys at AST-USA came by to use the plasma (to gut a pair of new doors for their Subaru WC race car; see below) and it wouldn't work for more than a few seconds, then it stopped cutting altogether. And then I remembered that it had started to flake out on us the last time we used it, several months ago, too. Hmm.... well I know next to nothing about plasma cutters, so we pulled the tip apart and found that there was an electrode inside. This thing had vaporized down to almost nothing. A trip to Northern Tool and $45 later and we had 5 replacement new electrodes and 5 new gas cups. Popped those in and it was back up to speed. So a year of use ended up with about $9 worth of consumables.
Originally posted by modmustang97gt
Click above for LARGE versions
Cheers,
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