Were the Eubony's and a plasma cutter for years, or you've just come across this new fangled contraption, how are we using air to cut through metal and should I own this wizardry? First, it's not really the air cutting through the metal, but the electrically conductive heat the air is transporting into the metal. The super-heated air is what scientists call the four-stay-to-matter or a plasma. The plasma cutter was invented by Dr. Robert Gage of Union Carbide in 1957. A lot has changed since then. But most importantly, is the fact that plasma cutters are now available to everyone. So what is plasma? First, it has nothing to do with a clear fluid and blood that has the same name. What we're referring to here is ionized gas. This is a gas that has been energized to the point that the electrons break free from their atoms. A plasma is not as common as state of matter on Earth, as a solids, liquids or gases. They're actually the most common state of matter in the universe. In fact, stars, including our Sun, is just a big plasma ball. Some examples of plasma you might be familiar with are spark plugs and welding arcs. You may have even had a plasma ball as a kid. Regardless of the form, creating plasma involves pumping the gas full of energy. When you electrify a pressurized steam of gas in a controlled manner, you can create an electronic torch. Simultaneously, an electric arc is generated between the nozzle and the metal being cut. And this is one to become useful as a cutting tool. A plasma arc can reach 28,000 degrees centigrade, compared this to the surface of the Sun at 5800 degrees. However, don't get too excited as the core of the Sun is 27 million degrees. For those of you who don't use the metric system, let's just say a plasma arc is 40 times hotter than lava. It might be easier to understand the process of plasma cutting not as hot air cutting metal, but as air being used as a carrier for super hot electrons that etch and burn through the metal. You can compare this to how a water jet uses water as a carrier for grit that does the actual cutting of the object. However, this is a topic for another video. To make a plasma cutter, you have to have three components. First, you need a power supply. The power supply creates the power to ionize the gas, whereas long is as required to cut through the part. Second, you need a method of igniting the plasma arc so we'll cut through metal. Two common methods of doing this is with a high frequency circuit, or through a process known as blowback using a mechanical system to create a spark gap similar to how a spark plug works. Finally, you need some type of torch to direct the plasma into the workpiece. A torch itself has a high temperature constant electrode that creates an arc in a similar way to how a TIG welding torch works. Additionally, auxiliary equipment such as an air compressor is required to provide the air typically around 90 psi that the plasma cutter will ionize. When a plasma cutter is mounted to a CNC table, the possibilities for accessories become endless. LASMA is electrically conductive and magnetic. If you've ever welded near a strong magnetic welding clamp, you will have experienced how plasma arc is affected by an external magnetic field. Unlike OXIA settling welding, it's not so much the type of gas to use, but more about what the plasma cutter does to the gas. Technically, a plasma cutter could ionize any type of gas and cut metal with. However, certain gases provide benefits over others. Most plasma cutters utilize sharp air. This is just the air that comes out of an air compressor, and it's a mix of mostly nitrogen and oxygen, which is what makes up our atmosphere. This is a simplest and most inexpensive option, and it's suitable for most steel and aluminum cut. It'll also work for cutting stainless steel, but the results can be less than ideal, and can lead to a lot of finishing work. Compressed nitrogen can be used to get a cleaner cut on aluminum and stainless steel, because the nitrogen provides shielding from the oxygen in the atmosphere, oxygen can be used to accelerate the cutting of steel, similar to how we use oxygen with an OXIA settling cutting torch. Argon is a popular choice for thin metals, such as stainless steel, when minimal thermal distortion is required. However, because plasma cutters need high pressure gas, it can become very expensive in these applications. With lower-cost fiber lasers now on the market, plasma cutters are seen less use in precision applications. Plasma cutters are limited in materials it can cut. The key is that they have to be electrically conductive. Because of this, they're used exclusively for metal. The plasma arc heats up the metal to the melting point, and then uses the compressed gas to blow the melted or vaporized metal out of the way. This will not work for a non-conducting material, because it cannot sustain the art. The metal being cut must be attached to a ground clamp to complete the circuit. This is why we are stuck using other cutting methods, such as a water jet or laser, to cut non-conductive materials like stone, leather, wood, or plastic. Plasma cutters are also not a good choice for poorly conductive metals, like manganese, lead, tungsten, or tin. Plasma is also great at cutting pain at dirty or even rested metal. This makes it ideal for maintenance, harm, and construction applications. Plasma cutters are the best option where the environment cannot be well controlled. We have a lot of ways to cut metal. There are saws, shears, lasers, water jets, and oxyfuel systems. We even have an entire group on Facebook dedicated to grinders. So there's definitely a lot of other popular options. I will cover all these technologies and other videos, but for now, I'll try not to be too ADD and stay focused. You can think of a plasma cutter as the get it done tool. Using a plasma cutter handheld is not extremely accurate, but it's extremely versatile. The torches are small, and they can get into places that other tools can't. And the billy cut-through metal up to an inch thick, with a fairly inexpensive handheld torch is a real game change. For those doing fabrication, it can be as simple as tracing a cardboard template to cut out a piece of steel, or just holding the torch freehand for less critical applications. Plasma cutters can be invaluable for maintenance and repair operations. While I'm not known for its precision, a plasma cutter will quickly remove rusted fasteners, make short work and demolition projects. Simply mounting a plasma cutter to a CNC table turns a handheld torch into a semi-precision fabrication machine. While not nearly as accurate as a laser cutter or CNC mill, it'll quickly and inexpensively cut through thicker, thin metal. For many applications, especially parts that will later be welded together, the quality of a plasma cutter part is more than sufficient. Also, the learning curve, the facility requirements, and maintenance costs are hard to beat. For the average user, a plasma cutter will be more than sufficient for daily projects and prototype work. Plasma cutters have been used for decades, and many types of fabrication, such as construction equipment, ships, automotive parts, and building. The place where most plasma cutter struggle is in very thin materials, cutting accurately sized holes, and cutting more exotic materials. If you plan to work with mostly carbon steel and aluminum, a plasma cutter should more than handle your need. Plasma is an effective means of cutting thin and thick materials alike. Hand-tiled torches can cut up to 2-inch thick steel plate, and large computer-coupled torches can cut up to 6 inches thick. Since plasma cutters produce a very hot, very localized jet of air, they're extremely useful for cutting sheets of metal, in curved, or angled surfaces, without excessive heat distortion. CNC plasma tables often use a water table to keep down the smoke and minimize the heat-effective zone on the workpiece. If you like this overview, I will be making additional videos to cover all these topics in greater detail. Feel free to comment on what aspects you would like me to elaborate on next, and consider subscribing to stay up to date with my upcoming engineering and fabrication series.