IN THE DARK

[3505617]

HAVE A 50 ORDERED,FIRST ONE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT AM GETTING INTO(MEN ARE BOYS,ITS JUST THEY TOYS COST MORE),
CAN SOME ONE TELL ME IF GAS(ARGON) CAN BE USED INSTEAD OF COMPRESSOR,LIKE FOR OUT ,AWAY FROM AIR COMPRESSOR?

[LONGEVITY]

No,

The plasma cutter will work only of the air compressor. The argon is used for Tig, but the lp-50d is a stand alone plasma cutter.

Thanks

[Gadget]

I have heard of people using nitrogen instead of compressed air. I would verify this with Simon however just to be safe.

[Jake323]

never heard of the nitrogen thing, what would be the advantage?

[Gadget]

For one, you wouldn't have to worry about moisture.

Dan

[KHK]

Jake the air that we breath is about 70% nitrogen, 20% oxygen the rest is argon, neon, and other inert gases. I am not sure but I think the oxygen is needed for the plasma's operation.
Maybe someone else knows for sure.

One option that I comes to mind would be a scuba tank with a special regulator???
Some plasma cutters come with a built in air compressor, I think these are high $$$ machines.

keith

[BearNPum]

http://home.howstuffworks.com/plasma-cutter4.htm

"Plasma cutters work by sending a pressurized gas, such as nitrogen, argon, or oxygen..."

Don't see any reason why argon wouldn't work. The pressure and/or arc gap may change, but any gas should be able to be superheated to a plasma. Maybe the tip configuration needs to be tweaked as well.

Not sure what the Argon cost would be at typical flow rates, but it might add up fast. Assuming argon tanks can flow fast enough. Would have to research this.

[KHK]

BearNPum wrote;
Plasma cutters work by sending a pressurized gas, such as nitrogen, argon, or oxygen.

Thanks for the info, I was not aware of this, I guess that the cost pure nitrogin, argon, oxygen would be very high compaired to the price of air. It is good to know though, in a pinch, other gases will work.

keith

[robert]

I believe pure nitrogen is used when cutting extremely thick metals.

[matteh99]

Plasma uses a lot more gas that TIG. I have seen numbers in the 4-5 CFM for plasma, that is cubic feet per minute. TIG uses 10-15 CFM, cubic feet per min. So plasma uses ~30 times as much gas. You would need a pretty darn big tank to cut for any length of time. You still would need electricity.. Also a argon tank costs close to $200 plus refills. You can get a air compressor for that much money...

If you need portable cutting Oxi Acetylene is probably your best bet.

Eric