Homemade Plasma Cutter Power Circuit

Homemade Plasma Cutter Power Circuit. This vid shows all the needed connections for the power circuit of the plasma cutter. It must be wired this way. If you put the resistor on the torch and not on the work clamp then it WILL NOT WORK. The value of the inductance changes based on your capacitors and frequency, but I have found that most any inductor that does not have much resistance works fine. Use a MINIMUM of 1000uF photo flash capacitors; wire them in parallel. Solder all these connections and use more if you can. Do not hook the caps up backwards or they WILL explode. Remember this plasma cutter is not isolated from ground so YOU AND WHAT YOU CUT MUST BE ISOLATED FROM GROUND. There is almost no measurable voltage between ground and work or tip when on dry concrete, but be safe and wear rubber soled shoes and gloves anyway. The contactor disconnects the work clamp from the power supply when not cutting for added safety. I will be building a 110 volt version when I get the time. It will as safe as any other commercial product. This cutter however, is more like the older industrial robotic cutters.

Please note this is for informational purposes only! This device is not isolated from ground and in this current version could, under correct circumstances, cause a lethal shock. This device was tested on a dry concrete slab and show a open to ground voltage of 7.3 volts.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• home
• made
• plasma
• cutter

[SupermaxCNC]

DO NOT BUILD THIS! IT IS A DEATH TRAP!

By code and law plasma cutters are required to have their output isolated from mains power. This means that there is a isolation transformer in between the mains and the input rectifier.

If you were to come in between ground (Lets say kneeling on wet pavement) and the tip it would kill you in a split second. There are NO safeties in this machine.

[cheaphardwarez]

So go to miller and buy your self a cutter.

[omaga99]

Im sorry to saiy that you poorly explain that. The directions were confusing. I would highly sugest a longer more descriptive video. that would would make you vido much beter. beacuse what i hear for that video makes absolutely no sense. and i would not sugest that video to anyone. (no offence)

[cheaphardwarez]

You need to watch all the videos and read the info on each video to get to whole picture. Draw it out on paper as the connection points are discussed and if you can connect one component to the next component as this video shows then I would suggest you not ever try to build such a dangerous device!

[dancy66510]

ok you dork, if you want an isolation transformer on the input then add one to yours. Like the boy says, "If you don't understand the concepts presented here, this project is not for you". As for me, I am not going to put my tongue on the tip of the gun and pull the trigger.

[Alientraveler003]

Bla bla bla diode bla bla ,common bro ?

[Alientraveler003]

Too much Mac n cheese bro , and u start talking that space talk , remember people are learning Here .weres your junk and that camera is swinging to fast ,we're you goin to the crap room ,

[Downrite100]

ya good idea asshole. just leave a few things out ya no biggy, little johnny just fried mom pop sister and the fucking neiborhood!. if your going to post something at least have your head outa your ass.

[tannersword1]

how about just a schematic...

[SupermaxCNC]

@deltaxcd

There are, in general, only two instances here where you have a neutral wire. That is with 120/208 Wye and 277/480 Wye. And the only time I have seen an outlet that has all 5 wires (3 hots, 1 neutral, 1 ground) is when a machine or piece of equipments specifically needs 120v like some power supplies. But usually the machine designers build a machine to run with only the three hots and use an internal transformer is 120v is needed. This makes machines more compatible for installation.

[deltaxcd]

@SupermaxCNC

You do not have neutral wire? I have never seen such case, since where I live we always have neutral wire.

[SupermaxCNC]

@deltaxcd

Well, I guess it is safer since it will not work. What do you connect your ground too? If you had a neutral wire with your three phase you could use that but if you are on delta you wont have one and even when you do have Wye often the neutral is not dropped to an outlet. Unless a machine needs 120v internally the neutral is left out.

110v is anything but harmless. Its the current that kills you, not the voltage. Higher voltage just makes it easier to get through the dry epidermis.