Hello All
After the back and forth of my thread on multi-process welders I'm pretty settled on buying a Multimatic 255 in the near future and am waiting to see if Miller kicks off their "Build with Blue" or similar campaign in January and whether that includes a rebate on that machine. My thanks go out to those who responded there.
There's a fair chance that my budget will stay healthy enough to buy a good plasma cutter either at the same time or fairly soon after that. In the near term, most of my cutting will be 3/8" or under with 1/4" likely being the significant bulk of the plate along with some flattened expanded steel sheet for smoker racks and fire pans.
I don't expect to cut much in the way of heavier stuff and could always reach for the oxy/fuel torch but also don't want to paint myself into a corner in terms of capacity either as there's no telling what the future might bring. I'm not so sure that once I drop at least $1500 USD into a machine that the $500 or so jump to the next bigger size range may not make sense.
I have ample clean dry air, up to 100 amps 240 volt single phase and both 20 and 30 amp 120 volt power available in both the garage and basement (I'd be welding outside the basement doors but the receptacles are inside....)
I'm not married to any particular brand.
Looking at the Hypertherm Powermax30 XP versus the Miller Spectrum 375 X-Treme, the two units seem to be fairly similar with both having 120/240 volt capabilities and both are avaialble with transport/storage cases. Both seem to have street prices around $1500 USD.
The Hypertherm Powermax45 XP and the Miller Spectrum 625 X-Treme seem fairly similar, too, with the Miller having a transport/storage case and none available for the Hypertherm. Street prices vary depending on torch length etc but remain comparable in the $2100-2200 range.
The only plasma cutting I've ever done amounts to a few feet in an adult education welding class so aside from doing a lot of reading and watching videos I'm pretty new to plasma cutting. I have no interest in used machines and want to stay with a mainstream major brand.
Any insights you can offer would be welcome.
Thanks and best regards to all,
Lance
After the back and forth of my thread on multi-process welders I'm pretty settled on buying a Multimatic 255 in the near future and am waiting to see if Miller kicks off their "Build with Blue" or similar campaign in January and whether that includes a rebate on that machine. My thanks go out to those who responded there.
There's a fair chance that my budget will stay healthy enough to buy a good plasma cutter either at the same time or fairly soon after that. In the near term, most of my cutting will be 3/8" or under with 1/4" likely being the significant bulk of the plate along with some flattened expanded steel sheet for smoker racks and fire pans.
I don't expect to cut much in the way of heavier stuff and could always reach for the oxy/fuel torch but also don't want to paint myself into a corner in terms of capacity either as there's no telling what the future might bring. I'm not so sure that once I drop at least $1500 USD into a machine that the $500 or so jump to the next bigger size range may not make sense.
I have ample clean dry air, up to 100 amps 240 volt single phase and both 20 and 30 amp 120 volt power available in both the garage and basement (I'd be welding outside the basement doors but the receptacles are inside....)
I'm not married to any particular brand.
Looking at the Hypertherm Powermax30 XP versus the Miller Spectrum 375 X-Treme, the two units seem to be fairly similar with both having 120/240 volt capabilities and both are avaialble with transport/storage cases. Both seem to have street prices around $1500 USD.
The Hypertherm Powermax45 XP and the Miller Spectrum 625 X-Treme seem fairly similar, too, with the Miller having a transport/storage case and none available for the Hypertherm. Street prices vary depending on torch length etc but remain comparable in the $2100-2200 range.
The only plasma cutting I've ever done amounts to a few feet in an adult education welding class so aside from doing a lot of reading and watching videos I'm pretty new to plasma cutting. I have no interest in used machines and want to stay with a mainstream major brand.
Any insights you can offer would be welcome.
Thanks and best regards to all,
Lance
