Mobile Plasma cutting

[hudr]

About to pull the trigger on a Hypertherm600. However, I want to be able to use this away from the shop as well (like on the miles of fence I have to build). I know my Lincoln Ranger 10000 will pull it w/ no problem, but...looking at the specs it looks like it requires 6 CFM @ 72PSI of air to operate. Anyone doing anything like this already? Any suggestions on the air compressor to run this jewel? Looks like I will be dedicating my 5x8 trailer to this task so here is another item to be allowed for in the design. Any help is much appreciated.

[hudr]

Well, found out the answer to my own question. I don't think plasma would be a good choice for what I plan to do. After talking to several people around here who use plasma it seems it works best in a "controlled" environment. By the time I got one big enough to handle thick enough steel and then got a compressor big enough to supply air I would be taxing my generator a little. I also think the consumables would catch up pretty quick cost-wise.
End result, I bought a new torch.

[mffarmall]

I was looking into getting a stick welder to do my fences. I wanted to get an electrical one that was like the old ones used in school shop. I am doing steel pipe fencing. Can I use the wire fed welders to create a bond that will hold horses. I have been Drilling holes and using bolts to hold things. The only good thing about this is that I can take them down fast.

[hudr]

There are people a lot more "in the know" than me on welding. I have always used a stick welder on fence corners. Something about penetration of the weld, ease of use. I don't know all the ins and outs. But I do know this, I see guys out building pipe fences and don't think I have ever seen one of them using a wire welder. They may own one, but it stays at the shop most of the time. I asked a couple of them and was told it had to do w/ wind blowing the shielding gas away from the arc. Wire welders it seems work better in the controlled environs of the shop. May be a cost thing too, but I don't know what consumables cost for wire since I don't own one.
As far as bolting corners together for takedown, hmmmmm.... I remember few times we ever needed to move a fence, but that is us, your situation may be different. When we did move a fence corner/brace, it involved a torch and a tractor w/ a loader.
Biggest reason I bought a welder (Lincoln ranger 10) was that at $35/hr to hire it done, I could pay for a welder w/ savings. I am no master welder, but stuff I have stuck together has held so far. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
Also, I have found lots of projects around the ranch that are a lot easier when you involve a welder.

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Having worked off a "welding truck" for years and years in my own businesses, I can tell you that wire welding in the field can have it's disadvantages. Portable welding work often involves dragging the leads into places that are inconvenient, a long way from the truck, and hard to get to. Yes, wind is a problem unless you use inner shield wire and even that is problematic. We used to hire a guy who had a special wire-feed welding setup on a service rig that he used for running "electric bronze", a process that we used to rebuild large pump impellers right at the location; without moving the huge pumps to the shop. That was really the only portable wire-feed welding application that I ever saw. Just get yourself a nice 200 Lincoln DC machine, one of those multi-colored welding hats, a good flip-front helmet, some gloves, maybe some leathers to save your arms, and a plug of chewing tobacco. That should set you up nicely. You'll soon come to regard it as a badge of honor to have every tee shirt that you own full of little burned holes from overhead welding, and you'll like the idea of sliding under a pipe to do a bellhole triple-pass weld. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Dave, Your seniority is showing. I suspect your advisee would be betteer served by an auto-darkening shield with adjustable shade and delay time. A good flip front shield is way better than a fixed one where you have to raise and lower the whole thing but the auto-darkening version is SUPERIOR in just about all attrubutes except maybe grinding.

I'd like to have a flip front auto-darkening shield so I could flip the auto unit up out of the way when grinding since the grinding sparks trigger the auto-darkening circuit and your view of the grinder is repetitively shut off unless you are working in very very bright light like full sun.

My wire feed unit works just as good as my stick unit out of doors even in the wind, at starting grass fires but strong wind will blow the shielding gas away which makes for poor welding.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Tarps [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] I don't know why this is, Pat, but I have a illogical fear of the auto-darkening helmets. I just don't know it I could actually strike an arc with a clear lens or not? Usually I'm OK with technology, but this is one thing I'm having a problem with. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]