julianf
Member
- Messages
- 8,775
- Location
- devon, uk
I finally ordered a plasma cutter, and it arrived yesterday.
Ive only used a friends clarke unit before. Even on a vat free day, theyre £500, or about £85 more than my delivered price for the r-tech.
The rtech is a dream to use in comparison, if only due to a single factor -
When you pull the trigger on the clarke, there is about a 1second delay before it arcs. Maybe a touch longer.
This does not sound like much, but it makes it a chore to use. Every time you move, there's another second. Every time you loose the arc, you have to wait for it to re-fire.
Being inexperienced with plasma, id assumed all units were like this, but the r-tech fires up instantly.
If you loose the arc the hf start kicks in immediately, and it keeps trying to re-fire until it does.
Just that small change makes so much difference in use. Im going to try not to let my friend (the owner of the clarke) ever use this machine, least he realise how frustrating the clarke is in comparison.
I have some clarke kit, that, if it broke, id buy again, as its paid for itself times over - but, in this instance, the cheaper r-tech would be more desirable even it it were more expensive.
From my brief use, it seems that i may burn a number of tips (but then i am cutting ropey old steel that isnt nice to cut) and the PCL fitting on the regulator had been stuck in with some sort of gunk which made it a right pain to remove (i use different fittings)
All in all, pretty pleased. I very rarely buy expensive things new, and would have purchased used, but got sick of waiting.
Ive only used a friends clarke unit before. Even on a vat free day, theyre £500, or about £85 more than my delivered price for the r-tech.
The rtech is a dream to use in comparison, if only due to a single factor -
When you pull the trigger on the clarke, there is about a 1second delay before it arcs. Maybe a touch longer.
This does not sound like much, but it makes it a chore to use. Every time you move, there's another second. Every time you loose the arc, you have to wait for it to re-fire.
Being inexperienced with plasma, id assumed all units were like this, but the r-tech fires up instantly.
If you loose the arc the hf start kicks in immediately, and it keeps trying to re-fire until it does.
Just that small change makes so much difference in use. Im going to try not to let my friend (the owner of the clarke) ever use this machine, least he realise how frustrating the clarke is in comparison.
I have some clarke kit, that, if it broke, id buy again, as its paid for itself times over - but, in this instance, the cheaper r-tech would be more desirable even it it were more expensive.
From my brief use, it seems that i may burn a number of tips (but then i am cutting ropey old steel that isnt nice to cut) and the PCL fitting on the regulator had been stuck in with some sort of gunk which made it a right pain to remove (i use different fittings)
All in all, pretty pleased. I very rarely buy expensive things new, and would have purchased used, but got sick of waiting.
