What The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Working With A Plasma Cutter are
Plasma cutters have many benefits over other forms of metal cutting such as Oxy-fuel, Abrasive water jet and Laser.
If you’re cutting steel, iron, copper, brass, aluminum or any other metals, It is worth considering adding a plasma cutter to your arsenal.
But what are the notable advantages of this tool?
To find out the answers, take into account the following three fields:
- What can a plasma cutter cut?
- How does a plasma cutter cut?
- What’s the fabrication time it saves?
You’ll definitely notify that the plasma cutter is one of the most fine-tuned, broadly used, efficient and versatile tools for slicing even heavy and thick materials quite easily.
Table of Contents
Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Plasma Cutter
Advantages
Moveable
One of the advantages of the plasma cutter is the tool is portable and moveable. If you’re a user of a traditional cutting tool, obviously you know what a pain to move around this massive tool. With the advancements in technology, plasma cutter comes with lightweight and compact design without sacrificing on performances. These lightweight plasma cutters are portable and you can easily move this where ever the job demands. Some brands are so portable that just one person can easily handle this.
Fast Cuts
Working with a plasma cutter is a time saver and lot of easier than other cutting equipment. You can compare the plasma cutter like a warm knife through butter. An industrial plasma cutter can rapidly produce 40,000 degrees F temperatures and you’ll get a fast cutting experience through relatively thick metals. If you compare the cutting speed of plasma cutter with any cutting tools, you’ll find a plasma cutter as a winner. A plasma cutter gets the jobs done in one-fourth the time of any other cutting tools. This tool doesn’t require to be preheated before cutting. Thus, it saves the cutting time. However, faster speed can be obtained on thinner metals with plasma, with minimal or no metal distortion.
Precision cut
Precision or accurate cutting is one of the advantages of a plasma cutter. The tool utilizes an innovative process in which a cone shape high-temperature steam makes your cutting result more precise. A plasma cutter cuts precisely with minimal slag and provides cutting with a narrower kerf. Making many different shapes or angles with sheet metal by plasma cutter is a breeze.
Versatility
If you expect versatility in your cutting tool, what can be a better option than a plasma cutter?
Yes, it is the tool that offers benefits for cutting thinner non-ferrous and ferrous metals. The device is able to cut virtually all types of metal including copper, titanium, cobalt, carbon steel, cast iron, nickel alloys, stainless steel and so on. Plasma cutter provides the facility to shape metal- channels, tubes or angles. You can easily cut large volumes of thin sheet metal with the fastest cutting speed. The ability to cut a wide range of thickness and types of metal makes a plasma cutter a perfect solution for industries that need to cut various thickness and types of metal.
Lower Cost
Comparatively the plasma cutter costs less. If you expect “return” on your investment, choose a plasma cutter as your cutting tool. What Oxy-fuel costs to cut 12mm thick steel, a plasma cutter costs half the amount of money. If you compare the energy used by the other cutting system, you’ll find that a plasma cutter uses less energy. Ultimately it saves your utility bills. On the other hand, most of the plasma cutters are made for use year after year. So, you may not need to replace it very often.
Ease Of Use
Most of the metal cutters need some training and practice to use efficiently. But plasma cutters are easy to use and don’t need much training to handle. If these tools are used in the industry, it will save training cost of employees. The plasma cutter torches are usually user- friendly and easy to operate. Even a new user can make almost perfect cutting on the first try.
Safe To Use
If you look for a safe cutting machine, what can be better than a plasma cutter?
Unlike Oxy-fuel system, plasma cutter doesn’t need to store or handle any explosive gases. There is no matter of dealing with an open flame too. Hence, working with a plasma cutter is safe and risk-free.
All The Great Advantages Of Plasma Cutter At A Look
- Faster cutting
- Wide cutting ability
- Able to cut all electrically conductive materials
- Perfect for cutting sheet materials
- Superb performance in small and medium -sized thickness of construction steel (30 mm)
- Narrow HAZ
- Low consumable costs
- High-quality cut edge (HTPAC)
- User friendly
- Safe to use
Disadvantages
Unfortunately, there are few disadvantages to working with a plasma cutter. These are :
- When cutting thick pieces of metal, it produces noise
- Typically limited to cut about 50mm thickness
- It produces a lot of fumes
- The arc is very bright
Conclusion
Considering the cutting speed, efficiency, accuracy and user friendliness, undoubtedly plasma cutter is a perfect companion of your cutting job. If you think the cost of some high-quality models, you should also see the work that a plasma cutter does for you. Then, you’ll perceive that this tool is really worth every penny.
