plasma cutter

[mattiemjbb]

hi there im looking to get a plasma cutter as i have lots of sheet metal cutting to do around 2mm and also some 5mm all mild steel, it takes too long with the jigsaw, and is a pain in the ass for tight intricate corners. im looking to get one as cheap as is absolutely possible as I wont be using it much. I would prefer an onboard compressor but can get air free if necessary but don’t really want to be messing around doing this. 2nd hand used stuff is fine.

 

[DIY Welding]

5mm is the max you can cut with a built in compressor they are not cheap the cemont will do 5mm with compressor I would not buy s/hand plasma you WILL be buying trouble I dont even sell s/hand plasma it comes back to haunt you if you want one without biult in compressor cuts up to 12mm pm me

 

[irondarren]

Interesting thing about plasma cutters, it they can be kind of like welds in that it say it does 6mm. Yes it does do 6mm but looks like it was chewed to shape, if you want to cut 6mm get one that cuts 8mm. A good plasma cutter will cut clean and leave a little dross on the bottom side, which falls off real quick when shown a grinder

 

[Wozzaaah]

Some makers give 2 figures, a 'clean cut' thickness and a 'severance' thickness. Most models only give the severance thickness. If the one from diywelding cuts 12mm severance it should give a lovely clean cut on 6mm+

 

[snowcat]

Iron darrens bang on the money I wanted a machine to cut 1" but had to go to 1 1/4" cut to get a clean cut so be warry, people like hypertherm quote max cut and severance cut, so you get a true picture of the machines proformance, many dont.

 

[migmag]

Sounds like buying car speekers with the rms power (actual sound) and the max power (distorted to death)..

I'd quit like a plasma myself cos they are cool.

 

[irondarren]

I used to own a working telwin one (doesnt work now, but thats what you get for buying cheap junk). Great little tools just like flame cutting plate except quicker, and so much cleaner. You can easy cut car body thickness material without making a mess of it, as well as Aluminium (normally at reduced thickness to steel) and stainless. The great thing about a plasma is the lack of heat compared to flame cutting

 

[Wozzaaah]

And me! Anyone know how easy they are to use for cutting say, 12mm wide slots in stuff? I find myself having to do that quite often and it's so laborious with a drill and a grinder.

 

[irondarren]

Woozz cutting a 12mm slot with a plasma, in say 6mm plate is a breeze, infact when my plasma used to work ok, thats was my ownly method of cutting slots, now i have a little hydraulic punch to do it

 

[Wozzaaah]

Sweet! I want one, someone quote me happy, 12mm severance I've got some pieces of 40x8 flat which I need to slot and it's so time consuming, the trouble is I'm doing them for someone else and they're not worth much so the quicker I can do them the better. Darren, tell me more about your punch.

 

[irondarren]

Wozz ill take a pic of it later and post it here, its basically what they call a selfer punch (thing there is a few on here that will know what that is) i just made a table to hold it so to speak, but ill post a pic for you wozz. It did cost me £900 second hand a while ago, but ihave seen them on ebay

 

[murex400]

http://www.nitto-australia.com.au/Products/product.cfm?IDPRODUCT=49

 

[mattiemjbb]

So… I got a plasma cutter , but it wasn’t my fault…. I should have learnt by now from previous experiences that ebay and alcohol don’t mix . So yea. I bought a £300 plasma cutter from china. But now I have no money and wont be eating for the remainder of this month , the misses is livid. And has threatened to kill me. So if I don’t post ever again that will be why

 

[Ratty]

Oh dear. I hate to say this, but if you're importing it from China expect another hefty bill; VAT, import duty, etc. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but better you are prepared.

 

[DIY Welding]

Also £200 quid to return it if its faulty

 

[mattiemjbb]

i know, its all happend before thats how i got my car and thats why i learnt to weld. im not drinking ever again

 

[Wozzaaah]

Mattie, I have to say at £300 it's probably worth a try as long as there's no other import duty and vat to pay but if there is then it will be probably somewhere near the price that DIYwelding has quoted me and at least he's in the uk to give support if needed. As the old saying goes, you pays yer money, you takes yer chances! Please let us know how it all goes though, there's so many threads on here about getting stuff from china and so many people (including myself ) are tempted to give it a go. It would be good to get an opinion from someone who has done it. O/T I did get a continuous ink system for my printer from china, came through in a few days, no duty to pay. It was rubbish though and ended up in the bin Still got loads of ink though so if anyone wants any?
Woz

 

[snowcat]

I did a few years back import 3 sets of DRO' boxes and scales from singapore, They arived the same week with no import tax, he had boxed them up as a $300 replacement part, and have worked very well, I think the total shipment was around £800 they would have cost me about £3000 here so I figured it was worth takeing the punt on.

 

[Wozzaaah]

That was a good result then! They usually put 'gift' or something else on the package to throw customs off the scent but let's face it, customs and excise people aren't daft. I can't say I haven't been very tempted to take a chance on a chinese tig or plasma but It's such a big gamble if it doesn't work or packs up during the warranty. Can you imagine Weldequip or DIY's reaction if someone posts 'I've got a chinese tig that's broken' can you fix it?

 

[t'rusty duck]

Hi Snowcat and Wozzaaah,
that's more like a lucky result, since afaik HMCE usually want their cut if the value of the goods being imported is over £18 or the import duty exceeds £7.
The bad news, if they do discover that an attempt has been made to mislead them is that as well as having to pay what's due, the goods can be confiscated. This works both ways as recently I had to refuse a sale to a potential customer in Sweden because he would only buy from me if I 'cooked' the paperwork to reduce the amount of import tax he would have to pay on receipt of the goods.
If you've ever had to endure an investigation by the IR, lasting 6 months and finding nothing out of order, the last thing needed is to give an open invitation to HMCE to repeat that process...

Ken.

That was a good result then! They usually put 'gift' or something else on the package to throw customs off the scent but let's face it, customs and excise people aren't daft.