Powermax 45 consumables

[gordon stephenson]

Hello Everyone,
I'm thinking of buying a Powermax 45 here in the U.K. The best price I have found is £1800, Also can you chaps tell me what sort of price the consumables are in the U.S. and what life would they have in a general hobby type of use Nothing above 1/2" as a rule,
Thank you Gordon.

[specter]

Hi Gordon there are several good internet sites out there for Hypertherm consumables. When I got my 45 from http://www.weldersource.com besides having the lowest price they also threw in some extra consumables. I am not sure if weldersource ship to England but you might want to check them out.

Their current price is
Regular price: $2,019.00
Sale price: $1,510.00
Option: 088016 20' Hand Torch088022 25' Machine Torch (+478.00)

I know they ship UPS. You could use their point of contact on their site and ask if they ship overseas. If they do you might save some money over buying locally

[gordon stephenson]

Thank you Specter,
Lowest price in the U.K. I can find is equivalent to $2855.00 Folks on your side of the pond have it good in some respects, What about the price of consumables over there?
Gordon.

P.S. just done the conversion to £s and it works out nearly half price, $1510-00 = £970-00 if bought in U.S.
$2855-00 = £1800-00 if bought in U.K.

[Matt_Maguire]

With clean air the consumables get pretty cheap. In 10 years with the PM600 I've spent maybe 300-350 and have enough on hand to go for a very long time. I use it moderately gouging cracks (lots of short cuts and re-starts).

Maybe the difference in price is the duty, I don't think VAT applies. That VAT is a vicious affair.

If that is the lowest price you found, I'd hate to ask what the highest is.

Matt

[SundownIII]

Gordon,

UPS/FedEx both ship to England. I used to use DHL a lot to ship to London, but think they may have gotten out of the business.

Even with customs, I suspect you'd be better off (price wise) by buying in the states and having the unit shipped to you. Definitely worth a phone call or an e-mail to one of the US distributors/dealers.

As far as consumables, they last "a long time" as long as you use the "genuine" Hypertherm parts and feed the unit dry air. Spector, if I remember correctly, used the same torch parts (the consumables) for months before replacing.

I don't have the PM 45 (would love to have one--have the PM 600 and 1250). I've had good luck (service and price), from Hypermax located in Maryland. Since I'm in VA, I normally have my order in two days.

You may also want to PM Jim Colt on the board. He works for Hypertherm and is a "straight shooter" and very knowledgeable.

[LarryO]

I used my 45 consumables for a year, and cut/severed stuff up to 1 3/4".

Here is a thread that i did a quick test on old VS new consumables. I kept the old ones as they still cut fine.

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=37524

[specter]

I used my 1st set of Powermax 45 consumables for "over a year" (and even posted pics at the time of replacement showing new versus old for cutting).I rarely cut anything less that 1/2". I am still working on the free consumables that weldersource sent me when I bought my Powermax 45.

You may want to ask weeldersouce about shipping along with any related costs involved.

Not to be dishonest (or at least I have to state that here ) if you were to ship it to a friend here in the states have them open the original package then reship it to you you could avoid some of the customs and duties. Say as one welding friend or company shipping it as a Birthday gift or a company shipping it to one of their company's welders overseas. once the item has been opened or supposedly used they sure cannot collect customs & duties as it it were new from the seller. Again that is an option you could check into.

I did that for a relative in France.

[gordon stephenson]

I would love to buy a Powermax 45 at U.S. prices, but the last foot pedal I bought from SCC for just over $100 cost me £32=00 in import duty, If there was a surefire way to navigate around the duty I would order one tomprrow,,
Thanks Guys.

[jimcolt]

Gordon,

The Hypertherm systems that are sold in Europe must meet the CE electrical requirements, the ones sold in N. America (US and Canada) meet CSA electrical requirements. They are different units, with quite a few different internal components that are required for safety in the regions they are shipped to. The CE units actually require an input EMI filter that is rather costly....and adds to the manufacturing costs. There obviously are additional shipping costs that have to be added as well since all Hypertherm systems are built in the U.S. The torch parts are all essentially the same, except all of the consumables must be shielded on the European units, so there a are a few parts that are not available to you.

Our U.S. Distributors do not have the authority to export products...and they do not have access to the CE certified units. If they do export a CSA unit outside of its accepted regions....then it will be difficult for any after sale service to be performed (warranty) as the dealers in regions are only authorized to do repairs (warranty) on the units that are destined for that region.

Hope this clarifies things a bit.

Best regards, Jim Colt Hypertherm

[Mick120]

Gordon,
Try the guys at Rapid Welding & Industrial Supplies in Hampshire.
Tell them, Mick from Possum Plasma Cutting in Aussie sent you....they'll probably charge you twice as much...joking of course.
Worth a try anyway.

[gordon stephenson]

Thanks for the replies chaps,
I believe it's rapid welding that have the lowest price in the U.K. and it's still £1800-00. But I was truly amazed by how long the owners said the tips and nozzles lasted, Just have to keep putting the pennies away for a while longer,

[Mick120]

Judging form what I know about Hypertherm products and, the gains that have been made over the last couple of years, your pennies will be well spent.
I 've had both a Powermax 1000 & 1650 and have nothing but praise for the way the machines keeps working.
I cut a lot of plate and, never had a problem....apart from the occassional operator error.
Plus the way Hypertherm treat their customer base....if you have a problem, tech support is only a call away.
Of course, having Jim Colt available to answer almost any question regarding the product helps a lot as well.
Keep saving Gordon, money well spent.

[gordon stephenson]

Well chaps, Finally bit the bullet and ordered the Powermax 45, It should arrive on Tuesday,does any body have any do's and don'ts for this machine,Every single report you read on this machine says it can't be beaten in it's class by any other cutter,Just wondering there was anything I should know for better cutting and consumable life that might not be in the manual, Can't wait to fire it up!! I have a Lincoln PC40 at the moment, and to be honest has been pretty good but about 3/8" is max and then quite slowly,
Best regards Gordon,
P.S. on-line manual says to use Powermax 30 parts for finer cutting on thinner material, is there much difference or not worth bothering about.
Thanks again,

[gordfraser]

sure youll be happy with yours.

I certainly am with mine.