Must have tool for turbo car builders

[oil pan 4]

After being in the mail for a month I got my plasma torch, I wouldn't call this one a "cutter".
I got the miller 625 it takes 40 amps of 220 VAC.
The lowest amp setting cuts 1/8'' SS no problem, it wasted 1/4'' mild steel like nothing. It is rated to cut 5/8'' steel, I belive it.
If you want to do turbo work you must have this one and big air compressor like a shop compressor. My home sized oilless one is to small i'll have to pick up a second one.
You can cut flanges, exhaust pipe, air piping, intake manifold mods, cut up exhaust manifolds, oil pan drain holes and more.
It cuts so much cleaner than a regular torch.

[nikon]

ya but can it cut the cheese as good as I can? ;)

[MegaHertz]

Where did you get it and how much?

Can u weld with it too or does it just cut?

I'm trying to gather tools & resources now for a turbo build up in the future, plus having a torch like this is just a handy thing to have for general repairs (lawnmowers ect..)

[oil pan 4]

It was $1700, I got it off ebay from indianaOxygen company.
It is only a cutter and it was the biggest one that took power that I could supply to it, the model just above it took 440-675vac 1 or 3 phase.
This one is a little big for general stuff.

[hou-tex-six]

Originally posted by oil pan 4:
If you want to do turbo work you must have this one and big air compressor like a shop compressor.

WHY?? Sawzall, grinder, and cut off wheel will handle anything you need. Im sure its a nice *** tool to have, but for $1700 hardly a must have for doing most fabrication, unless you already have a full on shop. You can cut the hell outof a frame with that though...

Cp

[wantmorepower]

Plasma cutters are the cats ***. Can do so much more than oxy fuel cutting alone.

This is a must have for stainless.

[Tiago]

deffinately not a must until receently all I used was a sawzall and a hand held grinder along with a ordinary mig welder. Now days I got me a chop saw which helped tremendously. No need for anything else unless you have a full shop gig.

[slow]

itsa great tool to have, but most people can't justify it.

if your a super baller, go for it [img]smile.gif[/img]

Ryan.

[Speed]

I thought about getting one but I bought a Miller Syncrowave 180SD TIG instead ;)

[mattsv6]

i would buy a tig instead of a plasma cutter. i bought a bridgeport for what you spent on that cutter.lol.

[oil pan 4]

That torch is a little over kill, but when ever I meke a bracket, brace, block off, alter some ones exhaust or remove there beat up cheap @$$ factory runing bords cutting is more than half the work in most cases for me.
Cuting and shaping the inside and out side of a flat peace of steel takes a while. If I could cut down 10minuts of work into 30 seconds why not.
I got tired of thinking "I could have been done with this thing 10minutes ago if I had that plasma cutter" and did some thing about it.
I wanted a TIG but I couldn't and didnt know how to get gas over here then.
It would realy help if you wanted to punch out a bunch of 1/4'' or 3/8'' steel or SS flanges for turbo kits that you were building.

[ May 17, 2004, 06:57 PM: Message edited by: oil pan 4 ]

[Speed]

I would LOVE to have a plasma cutter. Unfortunately for me, I don't really "need" one. I have an oxy/ac torch and I use a chop saw for most of my plumbing work. I have my flanges made for my on a laser cnc (if I can get them to actually MAKE the flanges).

I weld alot more than I cut and the only thick material I really cut is where I need to make a one off bracket when fabricating something. I just haven't said that enough to go out and buy one!

But no one is getting down on your new toy! Toys rule and that's the bottom line!!!

[oil pan 4]

You can get to a computer numeric controaled laser cutter, that's cool.
I know that there is no way I would have the money to buy a 30,000 watt laser or the many 100's of volts it would need to be hooked up to.
That things got to take 3 phase power.
Over here I can't get oxy/fuel for a torch (they don't lest us have fire works in my housing they would sh!t if I had a torch and gas in here) I think I found a guy that can get me some argon for my MIG at lest for now.