Looking to purchase a plasma cutting machine for your personal workshop? This blog post goes over the technology itself, why a personal plasma machine is perfect for your workshop and which machines are best for you. Lets take a look.

Plasma cutting is a process that uses a high velocity jet of ionized gas that’s delivered from a constricting orifice. The high velocity ionized gas (the plasma) conducts electricity from the torch of the plasma cutter to the work piece. This heats the work piece and melts the material. The high velocity stream of ionized gas blows the molten metal away, severing the material and ultimately makes the precise cut. Now after reading that, don’t you want one in your personal workshop?!

A plasma cutting machine is perfect for cutting steel and non-ferrous materials that are less than one inch thick. And, for most projects you will be working on in your personal workshop, you won’t be needing to cut anything much thicker than that.  And before you go out and pick up the first plasma cutting machine you see, answer these few quick questions to insure you’re purchasing the machine that is right for you and the work you do:

1. What’s the thickness of the metal you most frequently cut?
– If you’re only going to be cutting metal with a thickness of a quarter inch, than there’s no need to get a high powered machine. Make sure the amperage that your machine is taking is compatible with your power-source. If you are overworking your machine or your power source, you are going to end up with lower quality cuts.

2. Did you check for those pesky hidden costs?
– Plasma cutting machines have multiple parts that need to be replaced from time to time, dependent on frequency of use and duration of use. Make sure you read the fine print and look for a machine that has the highest quality factory parts that won’t ware out on you after a few uses.

For more information and for great plasma cutting machines, click here.

Original Article written by: James Anderton
www.engineering.com