I have a HyperTherm 60. Nice machine, will rough sever 1/2" steel. I thought it would be the "bees-knees" for metal cutting, but it is not. Deve is correct, they are messy, not accurate, dangerous (heat, electric arc, sparks), and don't forget you need air to run one. If I had it to do over I would have saved lots of money to buy truck parts.
Like any other tool, there are times when it is what you need, but those times are far and few between. It is hard to think of something a plasma can do that you can't do with another tool and do cheaper (maybe not faster, but faster is not usually a "hobby" requirement). An oxy-acetylene torch is almost equivalent (ignoring aluminum). The plasma still leaves a (smaller) kerf, but you still have to grind a kerf, so it doesn't save much of anything.
Now, a plasma hooked to a CNC table...I think that would be a different story if you had some software that was easy to use...maybe one day when I have a big shop...
Last edited by R-Bo; 04/01/2015 8:11 PM.
