HF plasma cutter? worth the gamble?

I can easily get one of these credit cards and its not something i really need but would be nice to have and I have the capability for it in the garage already so its appealing. either this and or a 180amp welder 

are these worthwhile or am i just tempted at a good deal? Im leaning towards an eastwood 180 as my 220 mig but my fear is if I buy either (or both) of these will they E36 M3 out and I need to buy a more name brand one anyways. I realize a miller is about double my budget if not tripple but it would be buy once cry once but being cost concious wise can I give in to our chinese overlords? 

Bump for the evening crowd. 

If it turns out to be not so good, making videos of plasma cutting random items would probably do numbers on YouTube.

With enough views, you might be able to recoup the costs.

I don't know about the "Titanium" one, but I have a HF plasma that I gambled on, err... 7?  8? Years ago open box for ~200 I think it was.  It needed a new contactor (the older ones didn't have a switch, they literally just had you toggle the contactor directly) which cost ~$15 on ebay.  Other than that, it's worked every time I've used it, which admittedly is only a few times a year.   But man, it's nice to have those few times a year!   I bought a bag of nozzle tips and other consumables for cheap on ebay.   The Titanium ones are quite a bit different than that, so I don't know how many parallels you can draw.  There's not really THAT much to go wrong on them, but they're a lot more expensive than they used to be too...

What's your use case for it?

I have some creative cuts I need to make as I remove rust and flimsy panels off of the rx3 then graft tubing and structure back into the unibody. I dont need high power I may just opt for 110v one as I would be mostly cutting thin sheet metal but future random fabrication needs it would be handy. 

my other option is just spend 100 bucks on drill bits and sawsall blades/etc and chop away at it bit by bit. 

then save my money for a 180a mig which is something I could use/need more. 

I'm using one of these. PRIMEWELD CUT60 

I have been pretty happy with it. It has cut 3/8" plate without issue. 

My experience is that the Titanium line is quite good for semi-pro use. At that price point I don't think that you'll do much better.

Now what I'm jonesing for is a laser welder/descaler. The Chinese ones are down to around $10k now, which is amazing, because not long ago they were 2-4 times that much.

I use an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel......or if it's tight quarters an air powered saw.......on sheet metal you really don't need anything more IMHO.

You can buy both of those devices (assuming you have air - cause you need that for the plasma cutter, right?) for under $50 - total.

MiniDave said:

I use an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel......or if it's tight quarters an air powered saw.......on sheet metal you really don't need anything more IMHO.

You can buy both of those devices (assuming you have air - cause you need that for the plasma cutter, right?) for under $50 - total.

yeah I have all of those air and electric currently which is why I'm weighing it. there are some hard to reach places that would make it creative but not impossible. However the later part of the project will be more tube cutting and welding and forming where I think it could come into play for the assembly portion where thicker newer material will go in. 

I did bite my appetite by buying an air hammer, I don't know why I haven't had one before but to chop away at old frame rail or stamped pieces this should do the trick, an air saw does sound like something I could utilize too that may really take the need of the 1st step of the project. talking it out it does seem that plasma cutter is a bit more overkill for what I need. 

I'm just torn on spending my money towards this piece of equipment or put it into the welder. this whole 0% apr stuff always finances my bad ideas but to not have to use a current 0% card and save it for a rainy day or house projects would be nice financially speaking. 

Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:

My experience is that the Titanium line is quite good for semi-pro use. At that price point I don't think that you'll do much better.

Now what I'm jonesing for is a laser welder/descaler. The Chinese ones are down to around $10k now, which is amazing, because not long ago they were 2-4 times that much.

ive seen these too and mohrs law is pretty awesome so one day they will be obtainable for folks like us. 

Yeah, the 220V version works pretty well, I've cut up to .25" thk with no problem, but one issue you have using the plasma cutter in the car is that it's hard to control over-shoot.   BUT, I used mine to remove a stuck bolt in a NA Miata diff where getting an angle grinder would have been quite difficult.  It was awesome for that. 

I don't know if your project can justify it, but I will say that you'll find a lot of uses for it.

I have the less expensive HF plasma cutter and overall I'm happy with it. I think it could be better at times but I could also be using it completely wrong.

The main reason I like it is an alternative to the noise of angle grinders and vibrations of reciprocating saws. 

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