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Bought a cheap plasma cutter for a side job and it crapped out after two cuts.
Lost $400 and a full day's work waiting on a rental. Are the high-end brands actually worth it, or did I just get a lemon?
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gavin_allen486mo ago
Ugh, that's brutal. So was it just a straight-up failure, like the arc wouldn't stay lit or it just died? Or did it start acting weird, maybe cutting out and coming back before it quit for good? I've seen some of the bargain ones just can't handle a real work cycle, they overheat if you look at them funny.
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nina_hall6mo ago
Man, I feel that. My first cheap welder basically turned into a very expensive, very sad paperweight after one weekend. It's like that old saying, buy once cry once, but sometimes you cry twice when the cheap one dies and you're stuck paying for a rental anyway. For side jobs where time is money, that downtime kills you. I've had way better luck with the used pro-grade stuff from pawn shops, honestly. It's beat up but the guts are built to last.
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nina_hall5mo ago
Yeah, the "buy once cry once" thing hits hard. My buddy had a similar cheap cutter that worked okay for thin stuff, then just sputtered and died trying to cut a quarter inch plate. The tip basically melted into a weird little blob, and the machine never sparked again. He was stuck halfway through a fence repair job.
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