Powermax 85 review

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For the record, I’m a TD Cutmaster 52 owner at the home shop, but for the last month I’ve been a Hypertherm Powermax 85 user on a job site. Contractor supplied machine with a bunch of monkeys (including me) squeezing the trigger, and from the looks of it, we ain’t the first bunch of flunkies to have a go at it. I’m positive we’ve done things Hypertherm engineers would cringe at the thought of. Looooooooong cobbled together extension cords, minimum amount of air pressure, lots of water, mud, stuff the epa probably regulates getting poured on it, cutting in very severe conditions, knocked over, dragged by the leads, duty cycle.....what’s that?? And the green hardhat kid who likes to use it as a flashlight. I’ve been impressed and should the need ever arise to replace my own TD machine, I’ll definitely be looking at Hypertherm."You can't out puke a buzzard"
Reply:Well. Ya hand a great tool to a bunch of meatheads a young death is eminent.


Reply:

Originally Posted by Bonzoo

Well. Ya hand a great tool to a bunch of meatheads a young death is eminent.


Reply:If you could see what the Hypertherm reliability lab technicians do to all newly designed Hypertherm products you would be impressed. Dragging Powermax units by the leads, dropping units off ladders, running them at elevated temperatures and amperages, humidity. Then there are dust chambers, the shake n bake tests and much more. Before a single unit is sold there are roughly 12 to 18 months of abusive tests that are designed to make the units break and fail.  With each failure comes an autopsy, redesign and more tests until the units are extremely robust. Nothing can stop some types of failures, but this kind of testing minimizes the issues that are bound to occur in the field. The lowest priced 30 amp Hypertherm units go through the same types of reliability tests as do the 800 Amp industrial systems. A couple of the units I use in my home shop are Alpha prototypes that have been through the reliability lab testing......my Powermax85 lived in the rel lab for over a year before I procured it (8 years ago), it still runs like a champ.  Jim Colt  

Originally Posted by Pipeliner

For the record, I’m a TD Cutmaster 52 owner at the home shop, but for the last month I’ve been a Hypertherm Powermax 85 user on a job site. Contractor supplied machine with a bunch of monkeys (including me) squeezing the trigger, and from the looks of it, we ain’t the first bunch of flunkies to have a go at it. I’m positive we’ve done things Hypertherm engineers would cringe at the thought of. Looooooooong cobbled together extension cords, minimum amount of air pressure, lots of water, mud, stuff the epa probably regulates getting poured on it, cutting in very severe conditions, knocked over, dragged by the leads, duty cycle.....what’s that?? And the green hardhat kid who likes to use it as a flashlight. I’ve been impressed and should the need ever arise to replace my own TD machine, I’ll definitely be looking at Hypertherm.