Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys, I have not bought a plasma cutter yet and have a very basic question.

Can a plasma cutter cut box section in a single pass (say 1" 14 SWG) or does it need to be rotated?

I am guessing a chop-saw is a better solution for cutting?

Hey mate,

You will need to rotate it and make 4 cuts as the plasma will not cut across the air gap in the middle (neither will oxy cutting for that matter) If you set up the tube in a jig on its corner, like a diamond, you might be able to increase your speed by only having to flip it once. (cutting back towards you, up oneside and down the other, then a 180 degree flip and repeat. A simple tooling fixture could be made to guide the plasma.

Mick

PLUS 1 to what Mick said. It won't cut across the gap. When they say a plasma will cut across the air gap they mean that you can stack several pieces of flat stock or sheet and it will cut through the stacked pieces but it wont cut across a gap.

Thanks guys, though that was the case. I am definitely leaning towards a chop saw as it can easily do bevels.

I will ask for chop saw recommendations in another thread.