I was experimenting with my new cut 50 pilot arc plasma cutter and came up with the idea of finding what amount of air pressure for plasma cutting is needed to cut a metal plate of about 3.5 mm and when the air compressor will need to restart again.
I did my plasma cutter air setup experiment by switching the level of air to 60 psi on my new machine while I set up my 3 hp, 120-liter air compressor to 100 psi. As I’ve said, my goal in this experiment is to know what would be the cut 50 plasma air requirements when cutting a metal that’s about 3.5mm thick and how long before the compressor starts up again and then if I use another compressor that’s about 1/3 smaller in size of my old compressor.
I switched on the old 120-liter air compressor to fill it up with air then measure the length of the cut before the compressor kicked out. I have also set up my pilot arc plasma cutter to 55 amps which is usually the maximum level this machine can reach. As expected, it takes about 25 to 27 seconds before the old 120-liter capacity air compressor starts up again and I was able to cut about 3 feet long off the metal sheet.
Now, it’s the turn for the smaller compressor to test, and this machine has a maximum air capacity of 24 liters. Just the same, I filled it up first with air and with the same setting for air pressure for plasma cutting and plasma cutter setup for the amps. Now, I need to see how much air it would need before I was able to cut the metal to the same length.
As a result of my experiment with my new pilot arc plasma cutter, I cut about a foot long before the small compressor starts so I was able to cut only about 1/3 the length of the cut compared to the old air compressor.
Now, what I want to emphasize in this video is that if you are to cut small pieces of metal like bolts, metal rods, or any thin metal, having a small air compressor would not pose a problem. But if you’re likely to cut thick metals, you will expect that a small compressor would constantly restart as it would need to refill its loss of air over and over.
So I would suggest that if you are to buy an air compressor for your pilot arc plasma cutter, it’s better to opt for a bigger one with a larger air capacity and there would not be any problem with cut 50 plasma air requirements and your air compressor can have a longer time to rest.
