Plasma Cutter vs. Oxy-Acetylene: Should I make the change?

Use water or a laser. Oxy-Acetalene plasma cutters are outdated and inefficient.

Laser is generally limited to less than 1/2 inch thickness. Water can cut a little thicker. Plasma can cut over 12". Use the appropriate tool.

Laser is generally limited to less than 1/2 inch thickness. Water can cut a little thicker. Plasma can cut over 12". Use the appropriate tool.

Water jetting can easily cut most ANY material, stone, almopst all metals, glass and plastics WELL ABOVE .5"

It is safe to say a water jet can cut about anything to 6" thick.

cr3

I agree with you , high speed water jet with 60,000psi (4100 bar) can cut anything even above 6" , we have cut 30" slab of aluminium within 2 pass with abrasive added they seem more usefull compared to oxy-acetylene and plasma cutters and even lasers. you can visit www.jetedge.com www.multicam.com or related sites

Contact your local vendor. Yes you do need a separate air supply but the results you obtain are much cleaner and quicker than oxy/acet. This is great for single piece work or where different pieces are required to facilitate the construction.

If you are mass producing and need to make precision cuts multiple times, laser or water are preferable but at a greater cost initially.

check sites or companies such as Lincoln, AGL, grainger etc. They will all be happy to go over your requirements for shop work. If large production is needed there are plenty of sites on-line to peruse and get all the info you require for laser or water.

For production volumes, absolutely go laser or water-jet. For general fabrication, a plasma cutter is the cat's pajamas (sorry, Del) for cutting. But, you'll never replace your oxy-acetylene rosebud for heating and brazing.

On Friday 5th October 2007 the road and rail networks in this part of the World were paralysed by the effects of a small fire aboard a road vehicle carrying both oxygen and acetylene cylinders. Although no-one was hurt in the incident, the London-bound carriageway of the A12 trunk road was out of action for many hours. The effects were felt over a 40 mile radius, the jouney home for London-based commuters being particularly arduous that evening.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7031507.stm

Anything that can be done to reduce the carriage of hazardous materials, including acetylene, needs to be encouraged.

Both types have their application. I have a small plasma (25 Amps) that has replaced my Oxy-LP unit by 99.99%. We are a small fab shop and work with up to 3/16"

I say this about the plasma cutter. If you can draw with a Majic Marker you can cut with a plasma.

Speed is greater.

Cut is cleaner.

Cost is greater. You must have a good air compressor and tips cost more.

There are good places to buy these tips.

Quality of work is better.

We have made 2 drive units for our plasma. One for streigh cuts and another for circles. Power by Makita!

Question?

When cutting wood do you use a hand saw or a skill saw?

Advantages of plasma are it can cut stainless steel ,aluminium and some other exotic metals.It can cut thin sheet with less distortion than oxy/acyt Also for general purpose cutting you use your shop air usually around 70psi to 80psi well filtered and dried . Compressed air is a lot cheaper than oxy/acyt

Would recommend minimum size of 80 Amp. this will cut 5/8" steel or 1/2" aluminium 3/8" stainless You can cut thicker metals but have to go slower and end result is not neat jump up to 120Amp this should suite the average workshop, Be carefully with stated cutting capacities of some machines they are rated under ideal conditions which you will not repeat in the average workshop very often Your power supply will have to provide 8 to12 Kva

You should use the Plasma for non ferrous metals but if you know how to use a Oxy- Acetylene torch it would be better for regular carbon steel. I have both in my shop and they both work very well for their applications. We do not use plasmas on stainless steel pipe though, the slag produced sticks so badly to the inside of the pipe that it takes longer to clean it off than it does to just use a cut off wheel or saw. The new Metabo grinders with a thin cutting disk are amazing in how fast and clean they cut stainless. With plasma you need pure air that is moisture free or you will ruin allot of tips and possibly the unit. Allot of people these days never learn how to properly use an oxy-Acetylene cutting torch so they automatically assume it is not as good as a plasma. I am amazed at how many people think that you are using some sort of automated guiding mechanism to cut with and not just using a hand held type. There is a skill in manual cutting that will have to be perfected in order to make clean straight cuts with any kind of plasma or flame torch. I have seen automated plasma machines that can cut up to 8" thick metal and Oxy-Acetylene torchs that will cut 24" thick metal. The manual plasma torch I have in my shop will cut 3/4" metal pretty good but it is slow at this thickness. My manual plasma torch uses around 50 psi air and 50 amps 240volts. But they have some that will run on 110 power but will only cut up to about 1/4" thick metal very well.

Pipewelder

I worked at a place with plasma that sounded like the world was ending, tho the little ones are not very loud. Maybe this is a bonus for heavy metal fans, and apocalyptic types

Talk to ESAB

they invented the process (actually both oxy fuel and plasma)

they can provide the pros and cons

I would have both....

Plasma is fast, lower heat input etc etc etc.

Good Luck

ESAB invented oxy-fuel cutting?

All good points. Just wanted to add that the drier the air the less it costs to run. Doesn't eat up tips as fast and will cut more efficiently. If not available you can use nitrogen.

For what it's worth, the reliability of our 'toy' plasma in a car body shop environment was poor. This was usually blamed on wet air. Having said that, the unit lasted years but that was probably more to do with the fact that everyone avoided using it or that it was awaiting maintenance! Not quite in the same investment league as a laser is it? Can't say we used acetylene except for carving up 'breakers' and welding.

the plazma cutter will cut faster because it is moving at a faster rate compared to the oxy-acetylene torch which is just melting the metal.