Which Plasma Cutter

[George Erasmus]

Hi guys another stupid question looking at Plasma cutters I found a Hypertherm powermax 380 but a bit concerned over torch spares I have only found one online retailer selling consumables very tempting
If it was your money what would you invest in

What do you guys think is it worth the investment

 

[DTS]

Old machine the 380. Budget?

 

[George Erasmus]

I am also looking at these I like the fine cut feature of the Hypertherm although the Esab kit seems a lot included for it's price and gives a thicker cut but does not offer the fine cut that is where I thought the
Hypertherm powermax 380 will fit the budget with change to spare but a bit worried over torch parts availability

Esab Cutmaster 40 Plasma Cutter
Hypertherm Powermax 30Xp 240 Volt Plasma Cutter
Hypertherm Powermax 30Xp Plasma Cutter 240/110 Volt

I will prefer the 45XP but that is just waaaay out of my budget

 

[George Erasmus]

Old machine the 380. Budget?

Yes that is what I thought with only one supplier selling parts in the UK I have doubts about its longevity. And it is a fixed torch

 

[Appyasme1]

Hi guys another stupid question looking at Plasma cutters I found a Hypertherm powermax 380 but a bit concerned over torch spares I have only found one online retailer selling consumables very tempting
If it was your money what would you invest in

What do you guys think is it worth the investment

Hypertherm without a shadow of a doubt!

 

[George Erasmus]

Hypertherm without a shadow of a doubt!

What does Hypertherm do differently than all the others that makes your statement so confident

 

[zzr1200]

They make the Rolls Royce of plasma cutters and charge you for it......simples

 

[Hood]

I bought a TecArc Opticut 65 and it works well. Not as portable as an inverter though still not that bad as it is on wheels. As long as you don't have to carry it then it is fine.
The one I have is dual voltage, so either single or 3 phase but if using on single phase you need a 32Amp supply for it.
It will cut up to 28mm clean cut and 35mm severance.


TecArc also do the Oxford range of Plasmas.

 

[George Erasmus]

I bought a TecArc Opticut 65 and it works well. Not as portable as an inverter though still not that bad as it is on wheels. As long as you don't have to carry it then it is fine.
The one I have is dual voltage, so either single or 3 phase but if using on single phase you need a 32Amp supply for it.
It will cut up to 28mm clean cut and 35mm severance.


TecArc also do the Oxford range of Plasmas.

Bit big for my needs and my garage power feed would probably fizzle away with something like that plugged into it which leads me to my following question

 

[George Erasmus]

After reading lots of forum posts watched hours of video's I think I am going to stretch the boat on a Hypertherm 30XP as it will suit my needs perfectly. Now a question for other 30XP users I see that the 30XP comes with this really weird 220Volt plug "NEMA 6-50P" what do you guys do for a a power feed. I am slightly worried that the power feed to my garage will not be able to cope with it's need. My garage is about 25 Metres away from my house it was fitted with a Armoured cable Twin cable the armour is used as earth I measured the thickness and it is about 1.5mm rated around 27Amps acording to sources online further considerations is distance and weather it is in a duct or buried mine is definitely just buried.

Now it is not something I can just upgrade as I could probably buy 4 X Hypertherm 45XP's for the cost of upgrading the feed to the garage as it is under Tarmac and I cant see a duct as at both ends it just seem to materialise from the ground. and it sounds like these babies need some serious amperage.

So I am keen to know what other 30XP users use for wall sockets etc. I was considering replacing the plug with a 32 amp socket but would like to hear what others have done
Thanks in advance

The specs from the manual is a bit ambiguous.

From the manual
Cutting a thicker workpiece with the general-purpose (standard) consumables requires a higher amperage setting. It
is preferable to operate on a higher rated circuit (240 V / 30 A) when cutting thicker metal. See Voltage
configurations on page 23.
Referencing again the below

 

[skotl]

The input current is over 16A so I would say definitely fit a 30A plug (and cable)

You'll likely be drawing much less than 16A most of the time but. for the price of the unit, you should put in the cabling that will support it across its range.

 

[George Erasmus]

The input current is over 16A so I would say definitely fit a 30A plug (and cable)

You'll likely be drawing much less than 16A most of the time but. for the price of the unit, you should put in the cabling that will support it across its range.

I would agree, but my garage is opposite my house 25 metres away in a straight line but the house is lower than the garage so it has 2 meter rise and then across a communal drive the last time I looked at it the neighbours wanted me to re-tarmac the whole drive if I was too upgrade the wiring to the garage, and it isn't a small area, it is a large area that needs to be re-tarred, I am considering installing a beefy cable to my back-door so that in the event I need to cut anything above 6mil I will have to lug the compressor and the cutter to the back-door. I will be mainly cutting 1-3mm stainless occasional mild steel and maybe if the cut results are decent ALU up to 3mm

 

[bigegg]

I would agree, but my garage is opposite my house 25 metres away in a straight line but the house is lower than the garage so it has 2 meter rise and then across a communal drive the last time I looked at it the neighbours wanted me to re-tarmac the whole drive if I was too upgrade the wiring to the garage, and it isn't a small area, it is a large area that needs to be re-tarred, I am considering installing a beefy cable to my back-door so that in the event I need to cut anything above 6mil I will have to lug the compressor and the cutter to the back-door. I will be mainly cutting 1-3mm stainless occasional mild steel and maybe if the cut results are decent ALU up to 3mm

run the cable to the roof of your house, and over a (catenary?) cable to the garage.

 

[George Erasmus]

run the cable to the roof of your house, and over a (catenary?) cable to the garage.

not that I tried that the neighbours would not approve I have had a history of frustration with this and it is probably time to move to a new home with a decent garage

 

[George Erasmus]

fftopic: back to Topic is there any Hypertherm 30XP or even 45XP users that can chime in and advise on what Plug they use I am also considering one of these Nema L14-30R 30A 125V/250V or NEMA 14-50R but curious to know what others have done for a wall socket

 

[indy4x]

Is there some sort of kit you can use to burrow under the drive? When British Gas connected my Dads house they dug 2 holes either side of the pipe run and used some sorta mole device

 

[skotl]

I would agree, but my garage is opposite my house 25 metres away in a straight line but the house is lower than the garage so it has 2 meter rise and then across a communal drive the last time I looked at it the neighbours wanted me to re-tarmac the whole drive if I was too upgrade the wiring to the garage, and it isn't a small area, it is a large area that needs to be re-tarred, I am considering installing a beefy cable to my back-door so that in the event I need to cut anything above 6mil I will have to lug the compressor and the cutter to the back-door. I will be mainly cutting 1-3mm stainless occasional mild steel and maybe if the cut results are decent ALU up to 3mm

You're pretty much answering your own question then.
Do you have the run in the garage already, that will support a 16A socket? If so, go for it. It will likely be fine, And, if you've fitted a 16A MCB, then it should trip at the first sign of panic.

I was assuming you had the choice, which it seems you don't...

 

[George Erasmus]

Is there some sort of kit you can use to burrow under the drive? When British Gas connected my Dads house they dug 2 holes either side of the pipe run and used some sorta mole device

Excellent thought haven't considered that, will take some pictures and measurements and get in-touch with my local impact moling team according to this post its about £800 for 10 meter's , roughly I reckon about £3000 - £4000, will have to save the pennies in the mean time will just have to make do with lugging stuff about luckily my compressor is reasonably mobile if I need extra Umph

 

[skotl]

Excellent thought haven't considered that, will take some pictures and measurements and get in-touch with my local impact moling team according to this post its about £800 for 10 meter's , roughly I reckon about £3000 - £4000, will have to save the pennies in the mean time will just have to make do with lugging stuff about luckily my compressor is reasonably mobile if I need extra Umph

I presume you're being facetious.
You asked whether you could get away with a 16A socket on a machine rated at 18A and above, and we gave you some options.
I presume that you're as capable as the rest of us in reading machine rating plates, so I'll duck out now. Best of luck.

 

[George Erasmus]

You're pretty much answering your own question then.
Do you have the run in the garage already, that will support a 16A socket? If so, go for it. It will likely be fine, And, if you've fitted a 16A MCB, then it should trip at the first sign of panic.

I was assuming you had the choice, which it seems you don't...

Yes the supply in the Garage is a 2 core SWA 1.5mm thickness which is about 25 amps buried I need to check the run from the distribution board to the SWA Termination in the house as the neon lights flicker when the Mega 350 runs so will keep a close eye on the voltage drop, once I have done some upgrades I will run most of these off a 20 amp breaker.