harbor freight plasma cutter

what up

i can get a sweet deal on a harbor freight plasma with the digital screen on it any body use one off these are they good for cuting up cars

please let me know what you think and what you would pay for one

If you want to cut up cars, use an O/A torch. About 6 months ago my uncle was showing me how to dissasemble a vehicle. With two torches going, once I got the hang of it, we turned a quad cab long bed chevy into a pile of scrap in under 20 minutes. It was fun. All we saved were the axles.

I'll put my vote in for O/A torch also. We have a nice hypertherm plasma at work that just collects dust. I only use it if I have to cut stainless or aluminum. If you get good with a torch, you can cut steel just as clean as a plasma

O/A is fine until you shell out the money to get the tanks refilled. Oxygen goes fast when cutting, and acetylene is a very unstable gas IMO. I dont like having a bottle of it in my house, but thats just me.

the o/a would be the better choice for alot of work, and the plasma doesnt work like an o/a torch does, i'd def say the torch for cutting up cars...... for cutting up metal to be used for making parts, i'd use the plasma anyday, there is less heat on the part, and less clean up, and faster. we use the miller 625 at the shop i work at, i'd like to upgrade my 375 at home to that one....

if you are chopping up cars the best thing is a sawzall. I chopped up an RX7 last year, took me about 5 hours (including cleanup) and a 6 pack of blades. The best thing about using a sawzall is you can cut right through gas lines or leave the interior in and just cut it too. With a torch (OA or plasma) you would light things on fire pretty easily. The whole car fit in the bed of a fullsize when I was done, so it wasnt like I only made big chunk cuts.

That said, I love my hypertherm 600. I call it the time machine because stuff that used to take HOURS to make now takes like 4 minutes. Bagging is so much faster. The cost savings was apparent when you compare what a notch kit and shipping costs. Or a set of behind axle bag mounts.etc etc. But I didnt use it for chopping up a car, it would have just caught stuff on fire.

i agree with what everyone else said about the fire hazard, but as far as the harbor freight thing is concerned...be careful.
the saying, you get what you pay for is especially true. i use a lot of their stuff just because they exchange stuff easier than walmart. for example; i paid like 10 bucks for a 4 1/2" grinder about 7 years ago & they've taken back about 15 of them. best $10 i've ever spent, but i've noticed that a lot of their electrical tools are crap. i've never used their plasma, but i'd spend the extra $$ on the hobart (that they sell) or a miller.
just my 2 pennies