and operating correctly:
• Power Source
• Gas
• Ventilation
• Spark Control
Power Source
This is very important. If you don’t have a 220V circuit
in your shop or garage, you may have to wire a new circuit
to power your plasma cutter. If you do have a 220V circuit,
will it supply enough current for the plasma cutter? A larger
plasma cutter will require more power than a small one.
Keep in mind that you will also need to supply power for
the compressor that will most likely be used to supply gas
to your plasma cutter. This may require a separate 220V
circuit as well.
Here is an example of some power problems that I
encountered. I have a detached garage that is not part of
my main shop. It currently has three 110V 20 amp circuits
and one 110V 15 amp circuit. I cannot easily add more as
the cables are buried. That said, I was able to combine two
of the 20 amp circuits into a 220V circuit. This is enough to
power my Everlast 50s but not my Powermax65. The 15
amp circuit powers the lights and a small blower I use for a
downdraft table. The remaining 20 amp circuit powers my
20 gallon 110V air compressor. It all works very well on the
smaller Everlast plasma cutter. I even plan on building a
plasma CNC using those components.
Gas
Let’s face it. Most of us will be using compressed air as
our gas source. Just like power, some plasma cutters require
more gas than others. While experimenting with my 50s
plasma cutter on one of my KRMx02 CNC machines, I was
able to use my 6. 5 CFM 20 gallon air compressor without
any real issues. The same air compressor just would not
work for more than a couple seconds when my
Powermax65 was connected to the CNC. I ended up
moving the 20 gallon compressor to the garage and
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
54 SERVO 09.2016
Figure 11
