basic plasma questions

[CPOM]

I understand for long straight cuts plasma is king, or for curved cuts, or really any type of cut on clean plate or bar. But what about cutting tubing (rectangular and round)? How about existing work, painted tubing? Do you have to strip the paint and rust?

What about where you want to cut a piece that's attached to something you want to save? Usually a cut off wheel works pretty well for that... How well does the plasma work for when precision cuts are required around say fuel lines?

[jnutter]

The ability of plasma to cut shapes is limited by your hands or any guides you can set up. Tubing is no problem. There is no need to remove paint or light to medium rust, but paint in the vicinity will be damaged from the heat. If the rust is really heavy and scaly I hit the rust with a hammer and chip the majority of it off before I start cutting.

Plasma cuts throw heat and sparks and sometimes drips molten metal if you happen to be doing something particularly creative. If the situation would be a fire hazard with an O/A torch, it's also a fire hazard with a plasma cutter.

As far as cutting bits off of parts you want to save, it's going to depend on the situation. If you are trying to salvage a pair of Dauntless V-6 motor mounts from a Commando frame so you can use them on a CJ2A, a skilled hand with a 4 1/2" angle grinder is the better choice. If you are trying to remove ladder bar mounts from a bent axle housing, the plasma is probably going to work out just fine and will probably be quicker and easier.

Nutter