Plasma systems also make it easy to cut out new metal pieces like new panels or brackets for custom projects quicker than a band saw. What I like most about it are the three different settings: regular cutting for most cutting duties like completely removing a quarter panel or floor pan, Chopping a roof and trimming the ends off a bumper gouge mode for carefully carving away rusted bolt heads and old welds and expanded metal mode for cutting away rusted sections of panels, which comes in very handy for restoration work. I found that the Powermax45 served all the plasma cutting needs of my custom shop and I have had great success using the Powermax45 for the past two years. No more shakily holding the torch just above the metal. One big difference between the old and new plasma technology? Powermax systems have patented drag tip torch, which means you can drag the tip right along the surface of the metal. I was using Hypertherm’s Powermax45 Plasma System manufactures in the U.S. Of course, the quality of the equipment can make all the difference in the results. The quiet machine produced cleanly cut edges and the sparks were kept to a minimum. Twenty-four years later I tried out a new technology plasma system and was blown away by the difference. Not only did the loud machine produce sparks that flew everywhere, but the edges of the parts were also so rough, I had to spend hours grinding them smooth.Īfter two days I’d had enough, so I screwed up some parts and they moved me to a welder. At a hot rod parts manufacturer in Wallingford, Connecticut, my first job was to cut out parts using a plasma cutting system. And I have some experience in this area.īack in the mid-1980s, I worked at several companies as a welder/fabricator. Bending brakes, shears, English wheels, planishing hammers, bead rollers, shrinkers, Bridgeport milling machines and Logan lathes are examples of older equipment that perform as well as newer equipment.īut when it comes to equipment with electrical circuitry, there is no equal for equipment with the latest technology. There are some pieces of automotive fabrication equipment that are timeless and if properly taken care of, are actually as good or better than most of what is currently available now. Equipment needed to change with the material. Plus, automotive sheet metal back in the 50s was completely different from sheet metal of the 60s and later. Anyone who was doing sheet metal fabrication and restoration back then knew just how restricted the techniques were, due to the limitations of some of the equipment. He was a young guy who wanted to do things the way they were done back in the 1950s and 60s - the days of “real hot rodding,” he said.
There was just one problem: the fabricator.
It was one of those projects that get a gearhead’s heart beating fast. Remember standing in a dark, cold, cluttered shop two years ago looking at a car project with unlimited potential. NEW-AGE HEAVY METAL AUTOMOTIVE SHEET METAL FABRICATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY - OR IS IT?
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