I’ve got a welder and various blow torches – but does anyone have any first hand advise on using a budget cutter ? Thinking of car exhausts, guttering type stuff.

Lidl are doing Parkside ones from tomorrow I think. Check the welding forums.

No experience of budget ones – mine cost about two grand. A bit like a mig welder theres the machine and then a bunch of consumables and dependant bits. If you’re buying cheap make sure theres a reliable source of nozzles, shrouds and tips as the machine will be an expensive door stop without them. They also need to be used in tandem with a fairly beefy compressor – mines a 100ltr / 3hp one and is going full pelt when in use although its used for CNC so can be cutting for half an hour non stop.

For small parts / cuts you could get away with something smaller but its still a lot of free air required.

You also want the air to be clean / dry otherwise you’ll get through consumables pretty quickly

Lidl are doing Parkside ones from tomorrow I think

If they are they look a lot like bird feeders 🙂

That’s good info – thanks! I hadnt thought about the dry air part.

So I’ve got a 3hp compressor with 2x 50l tanks. For an realistic job of say cutting a 3″ rotted exhaust – is that just going to be frustrating?

If they are they look a lot like bird feeders 🙂

Tomorrow is the 13th, not the 6th 😉

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/p/diy/parkside-plasma-cutter/p29579

Tomorrow is the 13th, not the 6th

I rarely know what month it is to be honest,

So I’ve got a 3hp compressor with 2x 50l tanks. For an realistic job of say cutting a 3″ rotted exhaust – is that just going to be frustrating?

Shouldn’t struggle – if you’re using a hand held torch then you can just stop for a bit and let the compressor catch up but you’d never be doing cuts by hand that run for as long as a CNC programme. But yes – drying the air is a good idea if you can.

Thanks again – much appreciated!

The Lidl’s got to be worth a punt at £80. Looks like it’s got a filter on it for clean air etc . Paired with a decent compressor , should be good for thin guage steel.
I’m spoilt with a Hypertherm Air 30 With built in compressor for handheld and a powermax 125 for the CNC. IMO Hypertherm head and shoulders above the rest, but come at a premium

A plasma wouldn’t be my first choice for cutting an exhaust/thin gauge pipe/tube. Handy tool to have though.

As above, make sure you can pick up consumables, otherwise you’ll soon come to a stop.