What's new
By:
Filters

Are plasma cutters with integrated air a bad idea?

Lil'John

Lil'John

Former #278
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
488
Messages
1,144
Loc
Walking to the Rubicon
Title is the short.

I'm considering one for a dedicated plasma table(2x3) Mostly a hobby use(brackets, etc) with occasional decorative shit. Think 1/4" and sheet metal.

The one downside I've seen in the one I've looked at is 'small' cutting capacity especially vs price. Hypertherm Powermax 30 Air gives 3/8" cutting @ $2250. Razorcut 40PCi gives 3/8" @ $1700.

I've got a Cut 50 sitting on the shelf with no useful air compressor handy; I believe my Craftsman 110V is way under capacity, gas powered one that stalls when it builds pressure. I was using it for a blasting cabinet.

The gas powered one is striking me as not appropriate for this use case due to snow in the winter that would make it difficult to run(ie no dedicated garage or covered outdoor spot. Thus no rush to figure out current issue with the gas compressor.

The two mentioned are compatible with the plasma table I chose. The Cut 50 will work with a little bit of help;)

I'm not above getting a 220V compressor but my basement currently has one 220V plug.
 
Is 3/8" enough? I thought you said you wanted 1/2?



They arent neccessarily a bad idea. To include it in the housing they have to be small. Good compressors are vibraty, hot, and big.
In a box with complex elec isnt a great idea.
 
I picked up a small plasma with a built in compressor. I think it was a Hobart 30amp. I sold it to a friend after a short test drive. It worked fine.

I don’t think I’d focus on cut capacity/price much. You either justify buying a real air compressor or you don’t.
 
total newb said:
Is 3/8" enough? I thought you said you wanted 1/2?
Click to expand...
I think for my intended use of the plasma table(brackets and decorative shit), the 3/8" should be good. If I need stronger brackets, I'll do laminated and reinforced brackets.
total newb said:
They arent neccessarily a bad idea. To include it in the housing they have to be small. Good compressors are vibraty, hot, and big.
In a box with complex elec isnt a great idea.
Click to expand...
Good and fair point. I'm always leery of multi-functional equipment like this... hell, I still buy only computer printers and avoid scanner/copier integration:homer:

Bacho said:
I picked up a small plasma with a built in compressor. I think it was a Hobart 30amp. I sold it to a friend after a short test drive. It worked fine.

I don’t think I’d focus on cut capacity/price much. You either justify buying a real air compressor or you don’t.
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity, why did you get rid of it? Just a capacity issue?

I did spend a pretty penny on the gas powered air compressor and it wasn't worth the money so far:shaking: With intending to use the plasma table during the winter, I'd rather not run it in my basement and commit suicide:homer: I do not have a shop or garage. I could build an outbuilding for the compressor but it comes back to the compressor not functioning correctly.

SomeGuyFromOlympia said:
my plasma table has melted probably five compressors
I now have a 80 gallon, plumbed into a dead 80 gallon tank, with another 60 gallon tank for volume:laughing:

But it runs all day
Click to expand...
Are you saying you plumbed the running compressor into a dead compressor and a 60 gallon tank?

How often does the compressor run when you are using your plasma table? How many inches/feet of cutting?

Adding air capacity to my geriatric Craftsman might work for my intended use. I'm not doing full blown production with thousands of pieces. Depending upon how things work, maybe once or twice a day.
 
In my case, I bought it state surplus just because it was pretty darn cheap 75 bucks or something like that. Sometimes you can’t pass up on a deal :laughing:


The hypertherm 30 XP looks like it only needs 4 CFM at 80PSI. I’m not too knowledgeable on exactly what the small compressors put out but that’s not much.
 
Bacho said:
The hypertherm 30 XP looks like it only needs 4 CFM at 80PSI. I’m not too knowledgeable on exactly what the small compressors put out but that’s not much.
Click to expand...
That is it? :eek: My Zeny Cut50 isn't specifying minimum CFM just that it needs 60-70PSI.

My small Craftsman(919.164180) is 25 gallon tank and rated at 6.2 scfm @ 90psi. While scfm doesn't translate perfectly to cfm, it is close depending upon temp/atmosphere pressure.
OIP.jpg


Always nice to start a thread and then save money:homer:
 
Lil'John said:
That is it? :eek: My Zeny Cut50 isn't specifying minimum CFM just that it needs 60-70PSI.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it occurred to me that that entire package on that little plasma I was talking about was so small. It must be a pretty small compressor inside there.

It looks like the PowerMax 45 requires 6scfm.

I wonder if maybe you could get a smaller consumables for your 50 amp machine and have some good margin on air.

I reckon you could just hook it up to it and see what kind of air pressure you can maintain while the machine is purging.
 
I always figured if they worked well, they'd be common. I think only Hoblart has them.

Would be nice to not have to drag out an air hose.

I'd imagine water separation is minimal.
 
AKnate said:
I always figured if they worked well, they'd be common. I think only Hoblart has them.

Would be nice to not have to drag out an air hose.

I'd imagine water separation is minimal.
Click to expand...
Good point.

I don't think that how well they work has an impact on commonality. I think usage and buyer have a bigger impact.

To me, the use case of a stand alone plasma cutter is more toward plasma tables to cut back on clutter... maybe a very small case of a hobbyist that doesn't have a shop/garage with multiple 220V plugs. So a very small subset of plasma cutter buyers. I think the cost on them kind of drives the market smaller.

Good point on the water separation issue... but one would think they would have an integrated dryer.
 
I’ve done an awful lot of plasma cutting with no air dryer at all.

I’m imagining the average buyer of a bigger more expensive plasma already has shop air available.

When I bought the little all-in-one unit, I kind of had the thought I might want to use it somewhere outside of the shop with only 120V available.
 
IMO a all in one unit is for doing on site sheet metal cutting, HVAC, metal building etc.

The dryer will have to be purely mechanical, ie filter type seperator of very limited capacity just be because there is physically no room available. Even a motor guard filter is fairly large.
 
Bacho said:
I’ve done an awful lot of plasma cutting with no air dryer at all.

I’m imagining the average buyer of a bigger more expensive plasma already has shop air available.

When I bought the little all-in-one unit, I kind of had the thought I might want to use it somewhere outside of the shop with only 120V available.
Click to expand...
I did to, and it'll work, but takes little moisture to blow out a tip. Which still cuts, but will be crooked, wide kerf, etc.
Can kind of deal with that doing "rough" work, like hand cutting but on CNC it'll make a bunch of junk parts pretty quick.

I put a desiccant dryer on my little plasma cutter and made a huge difference in cut quality/tip life.

It's just a "can" with maybe 2 cups of desiccant beads. Dump it into a bowl and dry in oven or microwave and it's good for a while. Changes from blue to pink when needing recharged.

Was something Keith Fenner on the You Tube had probably 10 years ago and I found one online.

They make larger ones and setups with multiple cans.
When I setup my air system all proper I plan to mount one inline and valve it so I can run air through it for painting, blowing off electronics, etc.
 
Last edited:
Bacho said:
I’ve done an awful lot of plasma cutting with no air dryer at all.

I’m imagining the average buyer of a bigger more expensive plasma already has shop air available.

When I bought the little all-in-one unit, I kind of had the thought I might want to use it somewhere outside of the shop with only 120V available.
Click to expand...

I've used mine out in the woods, running off the gen set and gasoline powered air compressor on the service truck.

I had looked into the integrated air compressor units as it seemed like a great thing.
Just cost, cut capacity and availability made me never get one.
 
Lil'John said:
Are you saying you plumbed the running compressor into a dead compressor and a 60 gallon tank?

How often does the compressor run when you are using your plasma table? How many inches/feet of cutting?

Adding air capacity to my geriatric Craftsman might work for my intended use. I'm not doing full blown production with thousands of pieces. Depending upon how things work, maybe once or twice a day.
Click to expand...

My situation is a little different , my machine will run all day when it runs
I guess I am just trying to say, that a plasma table can and will kill your underpowered compressor, and when your compressor is working hard, they like to make heat and that makes water, and water will kill a tip in no time flat, and that kills your quality, and why did you get a CNC? quality:grinpimp:

those all in one tools just don't do any of it really good, it just gets it done. They do have their place, if you are cutting sheet metal, then go for it


As for myself, yes production, and yes 80gal to 80gal to 60gal to Refrigerated air Dryer to a mechanical air dryer.
and probably the came old craftsman as you on standby incase something breaks but the shop still needs air.
 
2x3 table in a basement doesn't scream "production" to me.

80 gallon compressor would be pretty serious overkill (not a bad thing imo).

Compressor didn't kick on for this one at all I think.

14wx18h
1000015671.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh