Any HiDef Plasma and Fiber Laser Users Willing to Give Feedback?

[dbchaplin03]

Greetings,

I've spent that last couple of years planning the opening of a small custom fab shop. I've been active duty Air Force for over 20 years and have been a hobby fabricator my whole life. We got unexpected orders to Germany 3 years ago and were forced to sell all the years of fabrication equipment that we had acquired.

So I'm going to be starting over 100% from scratch. I'm wanting to start a part time business partly to offset the cost of the equipment and eventually to get out of the rat race of working for the Government. I have a very secure and well paying job and will be able to continue that as a civilian when I retire in 2 years. However, I have always loved metal fab and would love to be able to eventually do that fulltime as either a hobby or family business.

I've spent the last 3 years planning a CNC plasma purchase but the more i research the more people try and point me towards Fiber Lasers. However, one of the folks I've been talking to was saying they burn through approximately $120 worth of nitrogen per cutting hour. That seems like a lot of extra expense over air plasma. I'm tracking all the benefits of laser like speed, cut accuracy, and limited clean up. But if I'm doing mostly thicker carbon steel, that could be hundreds of dollars a day in nitrogen not to mention that our shop will be rural so exchanging bottles would be pretty inconvenient or potentially expensive if we had them delivered.

I would be cutting a lot of 1/2" plate and occasionally some 1". I've been looking at a 3KW Fiber Laser but I'm having a hard time justifying $120/hr in expense just in nitrogen if that is a realistic number especially when this will be part hobby, part business and may never be full-time.

I've seen Jim Colt post many times about hiDef Hypertherm units and was wondering if there are users of both who could give feedback? I'm also curious about what the most cost effective table/ XPR plasma combination would be for a part-time business?

Last thing, the shop would be on our farm so we would only have single phase power so was wondering if it's possible to run off a digital or rotary phase converter?

I know air plasma would be a much cheaper route to go but I just want to explore all options before finalizing the decision. That whole buy once cry once thing you know?

[adbuch]

I don't have a fiber laser, but I do run my Hypertherm Powermax 85 on 3 phase from a 30hp cnc rotary phase converter with no problems. This is on my Plasmacam table. The main reason I purchased the phase converter 20 years ago was to run my other 3 phase shop equipment - cnc machining centers, cnc turning center, conventional mill and lathe, etc. This is at my home shop where 3 phase is not readily available.

David

[adbuch]

I was checking out the LDSCNC site you mentioned. Lots of gas bottles for that machine. I'll bet it get's real expensive real fast. What kinds of parts do you anticipate cutting from 1/2" and 1" plate? When you say "Custom fab shop" - exactly what does that mean? What sorts of projects to you expect to be working on?

David

lots of gas bottles.webp

[dbchaplin03]

Right before we got orders to Germany I built a custom log splitter and had a bunch of requests from folks who can’t afford a $15-20k one like the big names charge. I also have some plans for some farm implements as well.

[adbuch]

It looks like there is quite a range of prices for log splitters. Some less expensive on Amazon and more expensive elsewhere. Do you have any pictures of the one you built? Here are some I found - I suppose the price varies with the capacity of the splitter.
Thanks,
David

log splitter.jpg

expensive log splitter.jpg

[BTA Plasma]

3kw is too light for .5 steel in production. Also you will be using low pressure oxygen at that thickness unless you go 20kw then you can cut .5" with nitrogen. Many use high pressure shop air. Many import compressors have come into our land of the USA and a handful of them have started fires. Mostly chasing burrs down a rabbit hole with high pressure shop air. Laser is the worlds current finest cutting process. The beam is often doubled or tripled when it comes out. The kerf can be .007 or smaller. Most lasers are heavy high performance machines. Often installed poorly they often suffer from major component failure within the first 2 years. On average an import chinese laser will end up costing you double the quote for a proper setup. Some of these companies have come under USA sanctions which also presents an issue with warranty. Buyer beware. But it is the worlds finest cutting process. Before you jump in...get your parts quoted

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Last thing, the shop would be on our farm so we would only have single phase power so was wondering if it's possible to run off a digital or rotary phase converter?

How big of a service do you have at the farm? Running a phase converter is going to up the amperage demand, Cutting 1" requires some serious juice. My 105 requires an 80 amp breaker on 240V / 3 ph. The rest of your fab equipment will only add to that demand

Hypertherm offers a trailer mounted diesel driven 125, I know what it cost to upgrade electrical service as I checked into upgrading to 480 / 3Ph so I could go with a 125 but it was going to be about 25 K and I was only about 2 blocks from the transformers.. Did I mention how happy I am with the 105

[dbchaplin03]

I've sent some DXF files into SendCutSend and OSHCut today and found their prices to be very reasonable all things considered especially when you figure the cost of these machines. I think I'm going to go back to the original plan of buying an air plasma and a less expensive table for prototyping and one-off parts and then order from one of those sites when needed for laser cutting. I'll also shop around to see if there are any laser guys local to me when we get settled as well.

I uploaded all the DXF files for a tab and slot welding table I designed in Fusion 360 and so far it appears that if i went through OSHcut it will end up being about half of what CertiFlat would charge for a similar setup but this one is customized to my anticipated needs.

[dbchaplin03]

Last thing, the shop would be on our farm so we would only have single phase power so was wondering if it's possible to run off a digital or rotary phase converter?

How big of a service do you have at the farm? Running a phase converter is going to up the amperage demand, Cutting 1" requires some serious juice. My 105 requires an 80 amp breaker on 240V / 3 ph. The rest of your fab equipment will only add to that demand

Hypertherm offers a trailer mounted diesel driven 125, I know what it cost to upgrade electrical service as I checked into upgrading to 480 / 3Ph so I could go with a 125 but it was going to be about 25 K and I was only about 2 blocks from the transformers.. Did I mention how happy I am with the 105

Do you have true 3 ph or are you running a rotary phase converter? I was looking at a Phase Perfect (Digital Phase Converter) setup for a HT 105 and that would run anywhere from $10-13K. The nice thing is that it could power many other 3 ph tools as well but that is a steep investment. I think i could get buy with a HT 85 for all my known needs but no one ever regretted buying too big of a plasma cutter.

[SegoMan DeSigns]

Last thing, the shop would be on our farm so we would only have single phase power so was wondering if it's possible to run off a digital or rotary phase converter?

How big of a service do you have at the farm? Running a phase converter is going to up the amperage demand, Cutting 1" requires some serious juice. My 105 requires an 80 amp breaker on 240V / 3 ph. The rest of your fab equipment will only add to that demand

Hypertherm offers a trailer mounted diesel driven 125, I know what it cost to upgrade electrical service as I checked into upgrading to 480 / 3Ph so I could go with a 125 but it was going to be about 25 K and I was only about 2 blocks from the transformers.. Did I mention how happy I am with the 105

Do you have true 3 ph or are you running a rotary phase converter? I was looking at a Phase Perfect (Digital Phase Converter) setup for a HT 105 and that would run anywhere from $10-13K. The nice thing is that it could power many other 3 ph tools as well but that is a steep investment. I think i could get buy with a HT 85 for all my known needs but no one ever regretted buying too big of a plasma cutter.

My shop has 240V 3ph power, the 105 is 240 3ph minimum or like you mention add a converter to it. adbuch (David) has that setup in his shop and could give you better answers on it. The trouble I see is with other tools and possibly 1 or more being used at once I could see the need for a 400 amp service with you 240 single ph. converter

The 85 would be a good option for you as it can be ran on 240 1 or 3 ph simply by hooking up the correct wire configuration (no converter needed).

Cutnweld loves pushing the limits with his:

https://www.plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?t=35583

Like posted at the end of the thread you can always mount an O & A machine torch along with the plasma torch and do some really heavy metal with it. It just burns a lot of oxy / acet and burns up everything under it LoL

[adbuch]

I run my Hypertherm Powermax 85 from my American Rotary 30HP CNC rotary phase converter and it works fine. The phase converter is on a dedicated 100 amp circuit.

I already had the rotary phase converter installed to power the cnc machining centers and cnc turning centers in my machine shop. It was more convenient to wire the 85 up as 3 phase than to install an additional dedicated circuit. I discussed using the rotary phase converter with Jim Colt and he said it would be fine, even though the manual discourages the use of phase converters with the Hypertherm cutters.
David

[adbuch]

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[PlasmaDon]

One thing I have not seen from the OP.
what is the accuracy you need ?
That will help define laser/Plasma.

[MidnightMechanic]

Hey there! It sounds like you have a solid plan in place for your custom fab shop, and it's great to hear about your passion for metal fabrication. Considering your situation and the type of materials you'll be working with, it's understandable to weigh the pros and cons between a CNC plasma and a Fiber Laser. While the Fiber Laser offers speed and cut accuracy, the expense of nitrogen can add up. Have you considered looking into alternative options for assisting with thicker carbon steel cutting, such as hybrid machines that can switch between plasma and laser cutting? It might be a good middle ground for your needs and budget. Additionally, exploring more cost-effective table options and considering running off a digital or rotary phase converter for single phase power are definitely worth researching further