CNC Plasma Cutters - A brand New Dawn Arises in Cutting Metals

It is important to understand how plasma can impart such tremendous cutting abilities. Plasma is formed at elevated temperatures when the atoms attain high energy and ionize into their respective nuclei and electrons. The electrons move at tremendously high velocities and the collision that takes place results in the release of huge amounts of atomic energy. This high level of energy facilitates the plasma to achieve the cutting effect.Plasma cutters work by passing a gas through a narrow opening and bringing this in contact with an electric arc. The gas used can be nitrogen, oxygen, argon or compressed air. This causes the temperature of the gas to rise astronomically resulting in the production of plasma. This high energy released is passed to the metal under operation by the electrical conductivity property of the plasma. Also the residue formed after the metal cutting is automatically removed from the metal surface due to the fluid property of the plasma.Traditional metal cutting devices such as saws and shears have a serious disadvantage associated with them. The rate of work was slow and the cost of replacements brought down the overall efficiency drastically. Special labor had to be employed to clean up the metal cutting leftovers.Conventional plasma cutters elicited a serious disadvantage because a human operator was required to operate the equipment manually. Highly skilled labor, a scarce commodity, would be required for complicated and high quality cutting works. The cutter generates heat of approximately 22000 degrees Celsius;  therefore special safety measures were required. But with the introduction of CNC plasma cutters, this disadvantage has been overcome. Since the cutting operation is monitored by a computer, complicated works like multi-axis cutting could be carried out quite easily.There are various models available which are unique in design and performance. Well known brands include Miller 701, Samson and Torchmate. Based on reviews by experts, the Miller 701 plasma cutter was found to be a high performance plasma cutter.It is essential to have a basic idea about the metal thickness that will be cut with a plasma cutter. The metal thickness has a direct affect on the equipment size. For operations where cutting thin metals are involved, a smaller machine will be sufficient whereas for cutting thick metals heavier equipment is required.A CNC plasma cutter involves working with plasma at elevated temperatures; therefore all safety procedures should be strictly enforced and accepted.