Everlast Power Ultra 205 plasma cut

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On the Weldingweb forum I did the comparison between the Hypertherm 30 and Everlast Multifunction PU 205 plasma cuts. This came about after I made the claim that my new Everlast 205 made cuts that were just as smooth as my friend Murray's expensive Hypertherm, except the Everlast will cut 3/4" cleanly wheras the Hypertherm will only do 3/8". Several people took issue with my statement (naturally) so Murray and I did cuts with the two machines, then I posted the photos. I let those who took issue with my statement try to figure out which machine made which cut.
They guessed, but got it wrong since the cuts were all very similar in quality.

Someone complained that I made the cuts by hand and that they should have been made on a plasma table.
I don't have a plasma table and this unit is not designed for plasma table use. (duty cycle)
The comment did get me thinking about trying a cut with perfect feed so that I could see what the machine is ultimately capable of in terms of smoothness of cut.

Here is a cut made by the little Everlast using my milling machine table as a feed unit.

I clamped a piece of 1/4" flat bar to the mill table and temporarily rigged a fixed support for the plasma torch over top the flat bar. I then fired up the torch and used the mill table feed to move the bar under the torch. The feed was perfectly even and I think you will agree that the cuts are super smooth.
Cutting done at 25 amps, 65 psi, 3.7 inches per minute. Faster feed (up to 12 inches per minute) produces cuts that are almost as nice as this, but not quite.

Those cuts look better on our site for some reason. lol. No really, they are prime examples of what matching the amps to the material thickness can do. It may not cut as fast, but quality is there and it does work well.

Very nice cuts. Clever idea as well, I'm sure you're careful around the milling machine, they are expensive.

Thanks for posting, good work.

Yes, I was careful, there was no danger to the milling machine as the bar was cantilevered out about 2 feet off one end. The cutting was done well away from the machine so that no sparks or dross touched it

Here is a little cordless drill powered weld positoner you might find interesting. I built from some junk under my bench. I built it primarily for tig welding round tubing joints but it works well for plasma cutting circles too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI0qbNjLCHs

this cut was done at 29 amps ,65 psi.
The plate is 3/16" mild steel, two layers at once.