Plasma upgrade time?

[WorkshopChris]

As far as I'm concerned you have to go a very long way to beat a Hypertherm. (And I don't even sell them so you can't accuse me of self promotion, this time )

I have used a good few from generic Chinese through to a Hypertherm that gave a clean cut on 40mm plate, and have come to the conclusion that with plasma cutters there are only 2 categories either:-
Hypertherm
And everything else,

Providing they work they all cut and sometimes may gouge, but nothing touches a Hypertherm when it comes to quality, durability, reliability.

However they come at a cost.

 

[Tom Orrow L]

GYS used to have a poor reputation for back up, but they now have a huge operation in Rugby, just around the corner from me. I've been in there and it really is huge, they are obviously very serious about the UK now.

They've just invested 1.5M into the UK, you won't find many companies doing that at the moment.

 

[chunkolini]

Stoppit!!!! Just looked on the bay of fleas, far enough above my bracket to make think.
But I must keep it around £1000 mark

 

[Tom Orrow L]

I looked at Hypertherm Way to expensive. I am looking at £1000 being above my top whack really, but will have to accept the expense.
I have been offered a Stahl digicut 40 for £600. Cant find out much about this one, looks good for the price though. But is it worth it?
A parweld XTP 40 for £800
and a Jasic 45P for £800 advertised on the net for £1200.
I am pushing the boat out a bit but feel the need for reliability and would rather buy new from a dealer than from ebay Jack The Lad trader.
Any thoughts on these three models?

By Stahl, do you mean Stealth? I think i've had one go out the door and never heard anything concerning it.. couldn't comment whether its good or bad but I know that its backed by SWP in the UK.
Parwelds plasmas are pretty generic imo, nothing to rant and rave about but they do the job.
Jasics plasmas are good quality, we've got some of their bigger ones in railway lines etc.. and they've not skipped a beat.

I'd definitely avoid the generic ebay sellers.

 

[chunkolini]

I think it may be the Stealth one, similar spec and price.
Thanks, I seem to be narrowing it down to the Jasic.
Now I have to get paid by my customer.

 

[Kent]

They've just invested 1.5M into the UK, you won't find many companies doing that at the moment.

Bet you they will!

 

[Kent]

I think it may be the Stealth one, similar spec and price.
Thanks, I seem to be narrowing it down to the Jasic.
Now I have to get paid by my customer.

In all fairness I am being more and more impressed by jasic. Was doing some work in a fairly large local fabricators the other week and they ran a big three phase mig. The warranty aint too bad either so it should pay its way before it dies

 

[roofman]

They've just invested 1.5M into the UK, you won't find many companies doing that at the moment.

that seems peanuts in the world of high tech machinery

 

[julianthegypsy]

Did you want an inbuilt compressor or not? The GYS is around £760 without a compressor on evilbee but from Oxford Welding Supplies, or £900 from the same people for one with a compressor. There issomeone doing almost the same deal but with a small inverter arc welder thrown in too. Buy the plasma and flog the inverter welder would be a possibility!

 

[chunkolini]

I think inbuilt compressor sounds a nice idea, but something else to go wrong down the line.

 

[Hitch]

It's a shame you can't quite justify the Hypertherm Chunko, they really are solid and very reliable bits of kit. The oldest one we have at work must be 10years old. Never had a problem with it. That replaced one that never really cut cleanly. Being impressed with it, when the small Thermal Dynamics gave up it was replaced by another hypertherm. And just last year, another hypertherm added.

Looks at the torches and consumables, on different machines. Some of the torches can be very awkward for detailed work.

Dross problems can be caused by various problems... even if you haven't got a hypertherm, have a look at their website, a wealth of information.

Re Jasic, only used two of their machines, one a stick/dc Tig, the other an AC/DC tig, but can't fault them so far. Had both sets for about 2.5 years now, no issues... the basic one hasn't had all that much use, but the other one has had is fair share, including in and out of the van, in the workshop, covered in grinding dust...

 

[henry Kadzielski]

Good morning gents.
I think I can comment on plasmas in general. I have had and still do have two transformer 3phase machines at my place, one 40 / 80amp and a 40 / 80 / 120 / 150 three phase also. Both still work and havent missed a beat. I got the bigger one to make it easier to cut thicker material 1" plate. They both cut, but the differance is the cut quality and the consumable life. When at the higher power settings, just a small blow back and the tip is toast, on the transformer types. These machines are made in Hungary. Compared to Hypertherm the tips are cheap. I have a Hypertherm PM 125, which I got primarily for the CNC machine, but have also used it out on site. I wanted to give myself as little trouble as possible when out on site and when doing cnc work. Yes you can have dross problems with a Hypetherm machine, however there will be a problem and it can be resolved. In direct comparison with the 150 transformer machine, the PM125 weighs about 45kg as compared to about 320kg. The Hypetherm is much kinder the the power supply and above all the quality of the cut there is no comparison. I have learnt over time that there is no substitute for horse power and (some is good but more is better) all ways works. If you want to play then choose your disability.
Fore those that may be interested I cut up an old steel redundant diesel tank (about 10000 liters) into pieces that could be carried out by hand including the stand, using the 65amp tips and setting. Used only one tip for the entire job and they wern't new. Once that was finished also cut up some ally walkway and some hand rails. There was 4 gents carrying out the scrap and they were amased as how fast the cutting up was going. The whole job took 6 hrs
Now if the PM125 keeps going as it has it will be a fantastic machine.
The only problems I have had is when cutting up the walkway, which was over the water (sea water in harbour) the walkway on it's way down hooked up with the torch ripped it out of my hands, ripped up the sheath on the torch leed and pulled it into the sea water. Fortunately, I was lucky that it didn't pull the PM125 into the harbour, just gave it a good yank. I blew it out with compressed air and completed the job
The torch did fail some months later and I have put in the spare, will fix when I have time, but the spare 'OUCH'. You can get many burgers an beer for that

 

[Tom Orrow L]

Did you want an inbuilt compressor or not? The GYS is around £760 without a compressor on evilbee but from Oxford Welding Supplies, or £900 from the same people for one with a compressor. There issomeone doing almost the same deal but with a small inverter arc welder thrown in too. Buy the plasma and flog the inverter welder would be a possibility!

Aye, that's a deal that most have on as its from GYS themselves. Any single phase plasma gets a free stick set from them.
Buy one of their 125A Tri plasmas and they're offering a free 207 ACDC at the moment too

 

[arthur]

I have a hypertherm, I'd try and find a second hand one maybe, mine is the 30XP, it also has fine cut nozzles. I cut a few lace spades with it, the fine cut nozzle is right up your street. On the other hand I use it for thick sheet and the odd RSJ, it works on any 240v supply and does not seem to matter if it's strapped to the end of a 50m extention lead. I thought about buying a bigger one but it looks like the next one I get will need the built in compressor, that seems to be the only limitation of this 30XP.

I see you can buy a 30XP for a grand from Germany, see HERE

 

[norlander]

that seems peanuts in the world of high tech machinery

Welding kit aint particularly high tech is it?

 

[Kent]

that seems peanuts in the world of high tech machinery

It will buy a tidy distribution base, I doubt they will be having much made here?

 

[chunkolini]

I have a hypertherm, I'd try and find a second hand one maybe, mine is the 30XP, it also has fine cut nozzles. I cut a few lace spades with it, the fine cut nozzle is right up your street. On the other hand I use it for thick sheet and the odd RSJ, it works on any 240v supply and does not seem to matter if it's strapped to the end of a 50m extention lead. I thought about buying a bigger one but it looks like the next one I get will need the built in compressor, that seems to be the only limitation of this 30XP.

I see you can buy a 30XP for a grand from Germany, see HERE

Stoppit!

 

[RussT]

I have a hypertherm, I'd try and find a second hand one maybe, mine is the 30XP, it also has fine cut nozzles. I cut a few lace spades with it, the fine cut nozzle is right up your street. On the other hand I use it for thick sheet and the odd RSJ, it works on any 240v supply and does not seem to matter if it's strapped to the end of a 50m extention lead. I thought about buying a bigger one but it looks like the next one I get will need the built in compressor, that seems to be the only limitation of this 30XP.

I see you can buy a 30XP for a grand from Germany, see HERE

I am looking at the hypertherm powermax 30 air, but it uses proprietary nozzles and cannot use the finecut kit from what I have read, which would have been useful

 

[Tom Orrow L]

It will buy a tidy distribution base, I doubt they will be having much made here?

They make a majority of their kit in France. The 1.5M invested was for new warehousing and offices / new on the road reps.

 

[arthur]

I am looking at the hypertherm powermax 30 air, but it uses proprietary nozzles and cannot use the finecut kit from what I have read, which would have been useful

I never knew that, but yes as you say it uses the AIR T30 torch, the fine cut nozzles do give a noticeable "finer" cut, however they do not have the castellated cap so you need to watch the gap rather than just drag the normal nozzle over the work. I am told you can run the finecut consumables on the 45, wonder why the 30 Air has a different torch.