plasma or oxy acetylene

[thinfourth]

Considering getting either a plasma cutter of oxy acetylene for a small workshop where i am fixing the odd landrover and working with mostly ordinary steel.

So questions are

Can a plasma be used for heating up bolts etc

How does a plasma deal with paint,rust and snot etc.

How much does oxy acetylene coat to run?

 

[Hitch]

Plasma cant be used to heat stuff, it cuts it, and thats it.
Paint rust, depends on the machine, decent machines such as hypertherm dont really have a problem with it, can't comment on lower end machines as ive never used them.

Unless you plan on doing brazing/gas welding, oxy/propane is probably cheaper solution.

Plasma will cut stainless and ally to a point, where as gas wouldn't do either.

For thinner stuff, 3mm and under, i think plasma is the way forward personally

 

[stormin]

I'm not totally sure but I feel plasma could be used to cut into smaller nuts and bolts and effectively sever them. Not sure you'd be able to save the threads on bolts like you can with skilled use of the gas though.

Plasma removes the need to have potentially lethal gases stored on your property and your insurance should thank you for it.

 

[the snooper]

plasma doesnt have bottle rental or increased insurance premiums or refill costs

 

[irondarren]

Gas is lovely for heating rusted parts and freeing them up, but you have lots of heat involved when cutting. plasma heat is more confined to where you are cutting. gas in my opinion is better for thicker materials 3mm up (can get sheet cutting nozzles)
http://www.weldequip.com/gas-weld-cut-set.htm that little baby will cost you just shy of 200 notes, then you need to hire cylinders (not sure what rental is but guess around £50 a bottle) then you got refilling price. guessing but even with that cheap gas kit you are looking at around £350 to get running.
http://www.weldequip.com/plasma-cutters.htm
that will cost just shy of £560 doesnt need bottle refills just compressed air. if its just cutting go for the plasma more intial out lay but then its only the odd few consumables (they are cheap enough) if it sits in the corner and does nothing it isnt costing you, if its a gas set its costing you just to sit there because of bottle rental

 

[Damaged]

Untill recently I had both oxy / prop and plasma.

Obviously in an ideal world you would get both, but trust me, if you are playing with old LR's you will use burning gear the most!

HTH's,

Mick.

 

[SirDick Diodenob esquire]

I ran a BOC Portapak with the small oxy / accetylene bottles , it was great for cars but I often couldnt resist helping people out cutting RSJs and doing this will empty the bottles double quick , very impressive that you can slice through thick steel easily but would cost you £15 now in gas to make one cut using the small bottles . In the early 80s the bottle rental was £70 total for the two bottles for a 10 year contract , then they reduced it to 7 years , then 5 and each time increased the price, I think they have reduced the hire period even more now to the extent its very expensive ? When I started it was £12 for a refill and it made economic sense to have them , now you would need to be doing something with a very good return to make it worthwhile , in my opinion a plasma cutter is the way to go . I wanted the large bottles but BOC would not give me a contract without showing them I was insured and whereas they didnt ask for the small bottles .