Oxy Fuel cutting and Plasma Cutting both have their pros and cons and both are extremely useful.
I thought I would use both for this video and talk a bit about the pros of each.
Here are some of the pluses for using oxyfuel equipment
Some drawbacks to oxyfuel equipment:
Now lets list a few pros for using plasma cutters:
And now some drawbacks of plasma cutters:
Bottom line is that its great to have both pieces of equipment.
Even though I have a more than one Plasma Cutter, I use oxyfuel cutting routinely for cutting thick steel for a couple reasons.
Here is how I got started welding for myself.
I got my first oxyfuel equipment as a result of needing a new tailpipe on a car.
I already had the torch, hoses, and gauges so all I needed were the cylinders and a cart...and I made the cart by cutting the metal with a torch and welded it with a buzz box someone gave me.
I had just taken a pay cut so Money was tight and the auto parts store quoted me about 400 bucks for a tailpipe assembly...all I needed was a muffler.
So I decided to buy oxygen and acetylene tanks instead and weld on a new muffler.
I saved about 100 dollars and from then on, I had oxyfuel equipment for other projects. That is what got me started welding for myself.
Later came a Miller syncrowave 250, and all kinds of other stuff.
I dont regret getting that first piece of oxy fuel equipment at all. That is what got the ball rolling for my shop.