For a while now Oxyfuel metal cutting technology has been the go to technique for cutting mild steel. However, big strides in plasma technology may soon cause it to overshadow Oxyfuel as the primary choice.
Plasma cutting technology has quite a few advantages over other techniques.
Plasma cutting results in higher:
- Versatility – Plasma cutting can be performed on diverse types of metal. Since it uses an electric arc to make the cut any conductive metal like copper, aluminum and stainless steel can be cut that much easier. Plasma can also cut different materials stacked on top of one another which techniques like Oxyfuel cannot duplicate.
- Cut Quality – There are various factors that contribute to cut quality. It takes an experienced operator, a steady hand and a minimum of dross to really make a clean cut. Plasma cutting takes very little time to train someone to use, it uses several types of automated systems to keep your cut accurate, it can be used with premade templates and plasma results in very little dross during cutting. The small amount it does produce can be easily wiped away.
- Piercing speed – This is where plasma really shines in comparison to Oxyfuel. When piercing 15 mm metal with Oxyfuel it must first be heated up to about 1000C and this takes upwards of 30 seconds. Since plasma doesn’t need this step it can do the same piecing in less than two seconds.
- Cutting speed – Most of the metal we cut today is around 25mm thick. At this thickness plasma is twice as fast as oxyfuel. As the thickness of the metal decreases the difference in speeds gets even greater, up to twelve times greater in fact
- Price Reduction – All of the above benefits and its increased safety add up to a lot of savings for your business. Plasma can cut things faster and with less waste, plus there is very little loss due to on the job injuries.