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I got this ColossalTech CUT50 50A a year ago for $299. Has been working great. Easily cuts up to 1/4" mild steal in one pass. 5/16-1/2 needs real slow speeds or two passes. I made sever cuts on 3/4" mild steal, but it wasn't pretty. Consumables don't last real long, but are cheaper than dirt. This guy had real good communication and supports his units well. You can't beat it at this price, especially since it is only $255 now. I wouldn't use it if I were cutting every day and burning up consumables, but for the once a month that I use it, it works great.
Shortly after I bought my cheapo plasma cutter my buddy at work got the eastwood 200A TIG and 40A Plasma cutter combo. His plama cutter looks real nice, much nicer torch, but also 10-15 more expensive consumables. The 40A has HF start which seems to be nice, but I have not had a job that my non HF start cutter could handle. Also the 40A Eastwood unit had a hard time cutting 5/16 and above.
If I would do it again I would get the ColossalTech dual voltage 50A unit. It is nice to be able to cut thinner sheetmetal wherever I want to, even without a 220V feed.
Mine is similar to the ColossalTech and it cut 18 ga. aluminum fine. I couldn't tell a difference between cutting aluminum and steel. Haven't tried anything thicker.
Supposedly the eastwood plasma is a direct copy of a hypertherm from 1987, and uses all the same consumables. Theres a couple of those cut50s on craigslist near me for $200 used. So screw them. If the next guy who wants one of my pimpy custom muffler exhausts wants stainless pipe and not aluminum then I'll probably snag one of those from your link.
I have mostly cut steel, but it cuts aluminum too. When I got it I cut some 1/4 and 1/2" stock laying around. The thicker aluminum is a little harder to cut due to the slag formation, but I think that is just a plasma cutter issue or settings issue, not necessarily an issue with this plasma cutter.
Last weekend I started fabbing the fan shroud for my Supermiata radiator and used and I made a similarhole cutting jig like m2cupcar has above to cut the two holes for the fans outof 18ga aluminum. It cut like butter and left a real clean edge. I will beusing my plasma more for sheetmetal work now. Proper speed control of the torchis key on this thin stuff. You need to move pretty fast and at a steady speedto help to keep the edges clean and keep the kerf at a constant width.
This thing loves anything under 1/8" thick and cuts it like butter. I love making brackets out of the 1/8" mild steel plate I have.
I don't have a picture of the shroud without the fans installed. Will try to take one later.
Purchased the 2015 AHP on Amazon. I was considering the Eastwood and then read the duty cycle- that works out to about 20% at 200amps, compared to the AHP's 60%. I was surprised.
You will not be able to hold an air cooled torch at >20% duty cycle and 200A. I was looking at the duty cycle too, but realized the torch is the limiting component. You need a watercooled torch to take advantage of any longer duty cycles.
Right- I was referring to the unit duty cycle. Torch duty cycle is different. None of the torches that come with these units are going to survive at 200amps. Unit duty cycle improves on both as amps go down.
<p>Whats the cost of plasma cutting vs cutting wheels. I go through cutting wheels like no other, how are plasma consumables?</p><p>I'm hating cutting with a cutting wheel, and it makes projects suck lol.</p>
I think i've changed a nozzle maybe once or twice at work and i've never changed the one at home.
If you boys are still talking "plasma & tig" as in owning two different machines i gotta tell you to stop. Buy a multi process machine for a few more bucks and live happy.
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