Greg acquired a plasma cutter from his office that was not functioning well and needed some TLC. Since he doesn't have a garage with a compressor, I encouraged him to let me "store it" in my garage.
I did the internet/ebay search to see what parts I could find for this Chinese made "Mitech Cut50, 220v" plasma cutter and found a few sites that specialized in these relatively inexpensive machines. With Greg's encouragement, I found a new torch with 150 piece consumable package for $140.
I had to chase down the package since the shipper sent it to my old address, my fault for not deleting all my addresses on ebay (do this if you've moved. I thought I had taken care of it by changing to my new address but it kept my old one as the default), got the package in my hands and went home to give it a try.
It worked, cut through some 16g sheet metal, then tried a piece of 1/4" plate, no problem.
I laid out the templates I'd made to fix/replace the fenders on my ExPed trailer, damaged as I've shared on the way to Harlan. Traced out the pattern on the sheet metal, fired it up and in no time at all, everything cut out slicker than sh!t.
I would have easily burned through a couple cut-off wheels to get the done, spent a bunch of time grinding edges and having to shape corners and cut outs. If only I had this thing when I was building the trailer. It just brings to mind the old adage...time is money.
I'll post pics up of the finished product tomorrow but all I can say is that I'll have my own for sure if I ever plan to continue working with metal.
And, just to share...I'm not endorsing this particular machine or saying that the "chinese" machines are at all comparable to US made units. The biggest problem is finding consumables locally (can't) so ordering them is an internet only condition. But, consumables are easy to find and relatively cheap as compared to the US manufactured units. The site I bought the parts from sent me a "coupon code" for a new unit. From my research, all these "chinese units" are virtually the same.
I know I went through over $100 in cut off wheels on the trailer. Now I just have to figure out how long I can keep this from Greg so I can know if I should take advantage of this price. Bottom line is that a plasma cutter will be in my shop as long as I own a welder...
I did the internet/ebay search to see what parts I could find for this Chinese made "Mitech Cut50, 220v" plasma cutter and found a few sites that specialized in these relatively inexpensive machines. With Greg's encouragement, I found a new torch with 150 piece consumable package for $140.
I had to chase down the package since the shipper sent it to my old address, my fault for not deleting all my addresses on ebay (do this if you've moved. I thought I had taken care of it by changing to my new address but it kept my old one as the default), got the package in my hands and went home to give it a try.
It worked, cut through some 16g sheet metal, then tried a piece of 1/4" plate, no problem.
I laid out the templates I'd made to fix/replace the fenders on my ExPed trailer, damaged as I've shared on the way to Harlan. Traced out the pattern on the sheet metal, fired it up and in no time at all, everything cut out slicker than sh!t.
I would have easily burned through a couple cut-off wheels to get the done, spent a bunch of time grinding edges and having to shape corners and cut outs. If only I had this thing when I was building the trailer. It just brings to mind the old adage...time is money.
I'll post pics up of the finished product tomorrow but all I can say is that I'll have my own for sure if I ever plan to continue working with metal.
And, just to share...I'm not endorsing this particular machine or saying that the "chinese" machines are at all comparable to US made units. The biggest problem is finding consumables locally (can't) so ordering them is an internet only condition. But, consumables are easy to find and relatively cheap as compared to the US manufactured units. The site I bought the parts from sent me a "coupon code" for a new unit. From my research, all these "chinese units" are virtually the same.
I know I went through over $100 in cut off wheels on the trailer. Now I just have to figure out how long I can keep this from Greg so I can know if I should take advantage of this price. Bottom line is that a plasma cutter will be in my shop as long as I own a welder...
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