One of the welders I'm looking at has a package deal with a plasma cutter. If I wait until after Christmas/Birthday it might be affordable. Who out there in Bronco-land has a plasma, and how much do you really use it?

They are awesome! You will need a good compressor to keep up with it tho! If you're building a bumper, or anything that requires sheet metal or thin plate steel, you'll love the plasma!!

If I had a big compressor, I would have already had a plasma. But it was just too much to spend all in one fail swoop.

I LOVE my plasma! I haven't used it a lot but when I do I don't want to ever go back to any other method! I used it to cut 8 pieces of 1/4"plate that were 45"long with curves recently and do not know what else I could have used. Anything else I could have used would have taken 100x longer, that's for sure! The only thing that is a pain for me is having only one 220 outlet in my garage as I have to fill my compressor, unplug it, use my plasma until the compressor drains too much, unplug it, fill the compressor again and start over. The compressor is big so I get a lot of cut time but it's still a pain. Only other recommendation is to make sure your tip is good before you almost throw the plasma away (ask me how I know!). My plasma is one of those cheap inverter plasmas. I paid $250 for it on craigslist and have definitely gotten my moneys worth! I have severed 3/4"plate and cut 1/2"clean. Cuts through sheet metal as fast as you can move it. 1/4"is a piece of cake too. It does tend to leave some kind of residue that doesn't like to cooperate with welding but touch it with a grinder and you are good to go..

It depends on the plasma cutter and what you are cutting. My dad (where I do all my metal work) had an Esab 110 unit with a built in air compressor and it did everything I asked of it until it was stolen. He got it replaced with a Miller Spectrum 125 that also has a built in compressor. Both are only rated at 1/4" steel, but I have cut 1/2" with both of them. As a matter of fact, with the Esab, I used it to fine tune the fish mouth cuts for my cage and it worked amazingly well. The Miller is a much, much better unit too. It's only 110v, and is a completely self contained unit, no need to have a compressor hookup with it. For automotive work, you really don't need anything that has the external compressor requirements. Frames are usually only 1/4" to 5/8" in thickness at the max and even bumpers are typically only 1/4" plate. With a self contained unit, you don't have the down time that Crawler mentioned and you have extremely accurate cuts. I made a log property sign for my parents last year that had a steel insert in it and one of the designs that I put in it was a bull elk head. I was able to do all the antler cut outs, a cursive name and mountain design on it and it took a grand total of 30 minutes or so. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a good self contained plasma cutter.

Good purchase if its a deal and you can justify it. Its one of those tools that you dont *think* you need, but once you have it, it gets used alot. We have two down at the shop. Ran one for a long time, doing double duty on the CNC table and around the shop, but the table is so busy I got another one. They both get used alot. Sheetmetal, frame work, hacking up scrap, etc.

Oh, an make sure to tell all your buddies they can use it, and then sell them a set of consumables cause they will mess em up and it will cost you an arm and a leg while all your buddies tear em up lol

Look at www.multiplaz.com. I'm really debating if I want to pick one up. It does it all. Runs on water and rubbing alcohol.

Interesting looking machine. I'm a bit leery, as you'd think Miller, Lincoln, etc. would be all over the tech if it was as amazing as the site makes it look. Could be the real deal for some folks, though. See Southpaw's review about halfway down this:

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t= ... laz&page=2