Spectrum 625 & OA

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Saw a thread recently where a plazma butchered a piece of thicker material. Since I recently acquired a 625 courtesy of the little lady of the house I started sweating it's abilities. I realize they are primarily a convenience item and the reasonably sized/priced ones are restricted to thinner stock. It's not something I would have bought for myself-------and she knew that----that's why she bought it. Anyway dingin around today I gave it a short one on one go with a OA torch and the plazma. An old chunk of tapered ripper shank, ductile, about 1" thick at the back, hard stuff but cuts good with whatever you want.First cut was a torch with victor #1 at 4&30. Who knows what tip I would have chosen except that is what was on there and I ain't big on swapping on a whim. The second cut was the miller spectrum 625, 75lbs air, extended freehand tip. No guides with either. I know the torch has by far the best range on thickness but the plazma is darn handy and I wanted to get that warm fuzzy feeling for the 1/2" ± range. I feel better now. Attached Images
Reply:I wish the pictures were a little more representative of the actual "in hand" pieces. They are both somewhat jaggedy which has nothing to do with the cutting method and everything to do with the hand holding it. The pics tend to smooth that out. My camera doesn't have a macro and I'm not much with lighting and angles and such . I'm just tickled that the plazma isn't going to be a problem with stock in the 1/4" to 3/4" range. The documentation says it can do it and it did. Thanks for looking.
Reply:no dought plasmas are great within there abilitys, i wouldnt try it on 3" steel but for its rated size if used right they are great. they are also realy nice for the hoby guy that dosent have a lot of seat time with a torch. plasma is much easyer to jst pick up and cut with. and the convieneance is hard to beat. cut, set it down any where, pick up and cut again, no running flame to deal with. its also great for any painted work like body work where you want to keep as much of the paint as possible.i have ther lil kid of miller's the 125C and i think its great for the thin stuff. found lots of uses for it. cuts pipe to fit realy nice and its a lot quieter then the chop saw.given fairly clean air and kept within its rated cut capasity they realy are great. i have pushed mine up to about 1/4", its not pretty but it got the cut done. truth be told i should have fired up the O/A but just didnt want to mess with setting it all up, plasma has gotten me a bit spoild.plasma gets my vote for shore, well provided you get a good one. i dont know about some of the cheepo options out, i dont think i would want to chance one. if ya got a bad one you could get turned off plasma all togather and then think of what you would miss out on.sounds like ya owe the wife a diner out for bringing the old dog into the new age toys.i always like to here of other wives that are suportive of our shop habbits. i think it might just be about getting us out of the house so they can have some "ME TIME" but it still works out good no matter why they do it. summer is here, plant a tree for mother earth. if you dont have time or space, sponcer some one else to plant one for you.feel free to shoot me a PM or e-mail me at [email][email protected] i got lots of time.
Reply:Even though pics are foggy, it still shows a good representation. Thanks for sharing Sandy. I WANT A PLASMA!!   I'm watching this ESAB on ebay...John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:Nice comparison, particulary cleaver using a tapered piece to cover a range of thicknesses.  Thanks