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Plasma cutter 1 yr later + cheap MIGs from Eastwood?

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  • Plasma cutter 1 yr later + cheap MIGs from Eastwood?

    I had a post on corner-carvers I figured I'd share here

    Originally posted by fair
    I searched for Plasma Cutter Tech but came up empty, so I figured I'd ask in here. We need a plasma cutter ... thinking of buying this HF deal... its kinda big, and I know its Chinese made, but it just might do the job (and then some), and its only $800 retail: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95136
    Wanted to follow up on my post from 12/2009. I ended up getting this cheap HF 220V plasma cutter, against the advice of several people here. It was so cheap it was worth the risk, I felt. I paid a paltry $480 for this thing, after it went on sale. We've had it for the better part of a year and it has worked like a champ.



    We used it on countless items when "adding lightness" our $2010 E30. We plasma cut much of the trunk floor, structure from the hood & trunk, cut all 4 fender openings for the wider wheels, removed the sunroof structure, made room for the lowered radiator, and more. Most of our use has been on thin 16-20 gauge sheet metal, which it gobbles up with ease. We have cut some 1/4" plate with it too, but mostly we use other tools for that. After a year of use I do highly recommend this low cost plasma unit for hobbyists.



    Recently one of the guys at AST-USA came by to use the plasma (to gut a pair of new doors for their Subaru WC race car; see below) and it wouldn't work for more than a few seconds, then it stopped cutting altogether. And then I remembered that it had started to flake out on us the last time we used it, several months ago, too. Hmm.... well I know next to nothing about plasma cutters, so we pulled the tip apart and found that there was an electrode inside. This thing had vaporized down to almost nothing. A trip to Northern Tool and $45 later and we had 5 replacement new electrodes and 5 new gas cups. Popped those in and it was back up to speed. So a year of use ended up with about $9 worth of consumables.



    Originally posted by modmustang97gt
    We have a few different welding threads on here, so I just picked one that I thought would work.

    I am thinking lately that I want to get a smallish welder. Something like a 90 AMP Lincoln. I'm wondering though, alot of people have said to just go straight to a welding class at the local Tech School. But since that costs as much as the welder, I'm wondering if it would be more worth my time (as well as my interest) if I teach my self with the help of online and tv sources on a bunch of scrap. I would imagine I might gain more from the hands on approach in my own garage, than from taking a course.

    But, I also know Jack about welding or the courses, so I'm curious what you all have to say.
    I found this ad in a magazine for MIGs. Eastwood looks like they are private labeling some nice MIG welder set-ups. These all look exactly like and have similar model names to Miller welders (I have a Miller 175 that's identical to their Eastwood 175). Might be worth a look? Figured I'd share it here.


    Click above for LARGE versions

    Cheers,
    Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
    2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
    EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

  • #2
    Re: Plasma cutter 1 yr later + cheap MIGs from Eastwood?

    Thanks for letting us borrow it. The car already went to paint and might be done the week after Christmas! HF FTW.
    Brian Hanchey
    AST Suspension - USA

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