Best Plasma Cutters 2023- Reviews & Buyers Guide

Are you hesitant to use a plasma cutter without training or experience? The best way to cut metal cleanly, precisely, yet accurately while reducing costs and time is by using a high-quality plasma cutter. Regarding plasma cutters, you do not need years of expertise to get started because many of them are simple enough for beginners to use.

A renowned welder, David from America, says an excellent best plasma cutter not only provides you with faultless metal cutting. We have listed the best ten plasma cutters with all of their advantages and disadvantages as well as professional advice after 8 weeks of analysis. To ensure you get the greatest plasma cutter, we’ve gathered 10 of the top models currently available.

You don’t need to have years of experience to get started with the plasma cutters as many of them are user friendly, and newbies can easily go with them

Before buying a plasma cutter, knowing the basics of a plasma cutter is extremely important.

After researching the top brands of plasma cutters on the market, we have penned down the top ten plasma cutters with all of their pros and cons and expert advice.

Don’t forget to read the buyer’s guide before choosing your plasma cutter, as it highlights all the important factors a plasma cutter must-have. Here is a comparison chart:

Top picks

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Comparison table for best Plasma cutters 2023

1. Lotos LTP5000D  Non-Touch Pilot Arc Plasma Cutter- Best for Money

 

Lotos LTP5000D 50 Amp is a non-touch plasma cutter that gives a clean cut through any rough and rusty metal surface without any or minimal slag. It brings quality, cost-saving, and heat efficiency with ease of use. Either you use it at your backyard workshop or want to make cuts professionally, it hits the best spot among the best plasma cutters because of its supreme cutting quality and long-lasting product.

Lotos LTP5000D 50 Amp is famous for:

• Non-touch arc technology plasma cutter

Lotos plasma cutter tip does not touch the metal while cutting as it uses the arc technology. This way, it can be used to cut intricate cuts while providing top-quality metal cut with a longer consumable life.

• Safety and portability

The plasma cutter has a compact and small design that uses compressed air to cut the metals like aluminum, steel, stainless, alloy steel, mild steel, and copper.

The compact design assists portability and the handle/torch makes the cutting process convenient and efficient.

• Fast and easy setup

The cutter has an easy and fast setup that is possible within one minute. It has a pre-installed NPT i/4″ industry type D plug and an air filter regulator that instantly connects the air compressor with the help of a stand coupler that comes with the air compressor.

• Hi-Tech PPST cooling system

As heat dissipation spoils the efficiency and increases the downtime, this plasma cutter has an advanced cooling system to avoid this heat. This cooling system increases the durability and performance of the plasma cutter.

2. Miller Spectrum 625 X-TREME- Best for professional work

Spectrum 625 plasma cutter is one of the top-rated plasma cutters because of its lightweight, ability to cut clean, and capable of professional use. It works on the dual input voltage of 120 and 240V while giving up to 40 Amps output and a 60% duty cycle efficiency. The important highlights of the plasma cutters are:

• Air pressure compensation

It has the automatic air pressure compensation that adjusts the arc’s air pressure according to the requirement when the cutter is cutting or gouging a metal thickness.

• Ergonomic design

The torch is designed to provide easy hands-on grip and practice to the user. The non-slip and easy-grip design keeps the fingers intact with the torch, keeping the hand movement steady and consistent. The thumb guide and easy contours help to firmly grip the torch while reducing fatigue.

• Auto refire system

When a mesh-type structure or multiple objects type cutting process is done side by side, the auto-refire control system adjusts itself to control the pilot arc. The system fires, control, and refires the torch according to the user’s need and stops his immediate fatigue. When the auto control system controls the torch, the auto consumable technology also adjusts its settings according to torch settings.

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3. PRIMEWELD CUT60 -Best overall for Home Use

The prime weld dual voltage operates on 110v/220v and offers a huge fabrication power to the cutting process while increasing the cutting efficiency. The dual voltage conditions allow withstanding tough fabrication conditions, cutting from too thin thickness of 22 gauge metal sheet to a metal thickness up to ⅞ inch thick. The following features make the product highly demanding among the users.

• Modern and versatile 

The prime weld is made on an easy-to-operate agenda. As it is user-friendly and does not require any special skills to operate, newbies can easily work on it without having any hands-on experience. It is a long-lasting product and has a fast turnaround with ease and convenience of working. The versatile plasma cutter can handle both industrial and DIY projects. You can have straight to intricate shape cuts with minimal or no slag.

• Multiple power options

It has a continuous pilot arc that is capable of cutting expanded, rusted, painted metals. Moreover, 60 Amp plasma cutter has blowback start technology,60% duty cycle, and dual voltage 110V/220V with an adapter.

• PT60 Torch

The plasma cutter has a PT60 torch that has a blowback and a complete euro central connection.

• Materials

It can make top-notch cuts in alloy steel, stainless steel, aluminum, copper, mild steel, alloy steel, and many other ferrous and non-ferrous metals.

4. Hobart 500564 Airforce- Best with Built-in air compressor

 

Hobart 500564 Airforce hits the sweet spot of lightweight, efficient, and portable that offers supreme level metal cutting and comes with a five years warranty.

As it is one of the best plasma cutters we have chosen for reviews, it offers high heat efficiency with a built-in air compressor.

The popularity of Hobart 500564 is because of:

• Fast and accurate cutting

The Hobart plasma cutters are the best cutters that provide precision, accuracy, and a fast cutting process. Precision cutting is so advanced that it has minimum slag production while cutting.

• Inbuilt air compressor

The built-in air compressor ensures a smooth and hassle-free cutting as it eliminates the need for any external compressor. Moreover, the post-flow air cools down the cut, making it a fine and top-notch quality cut.

• Small heat affected zone

The pilot arc technology cuts confined to the point only, and it makes a small spread of heat. As the heat-affected zone is small, it controls the warping of the workpiece.

• Easy setup    time, ready to use

The Hobart 12ci plasma cutter takes less than a minute time to set up. The speedy and fast cutting process not only helps timeless and effortless cutting but also assists the portability of the cutter

5. Everlast PowerPlasma 62i -Best value plasma cutter

 

Power plasma cutter is one of the best plasma cutters because of its versatile combination of efficiency, power, and technology. It offers a beautiful display to show large and bright readings, even in bright sunlight. As it offers high-quality cut, digital inverter technology, and less power use, it hit the sweet spot of reliability, economy, and efficiency.

Having the following features makes it highly desirable to fulfill all the metal cutting requirements. It is popular in UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and NZ.

• Blowback torch style

The power plasma has a blowback arc technology that starts the arc that it does with the technology that does not need high frequency. As the high frequency may interfere with the surrounding electronics, this technology offers the best plasma cutting practice.

• Easy control panel

The power plasma has an easy-to-use panel that helps to operate the machine easily. The operator can easily and instantly start the machine to continue the cutting process.

• Lightweight and portable

The plasma cutter is built with IGBT modules (made by simons). The use of hi-technology modules makes the plasma cutter reliable and lightweight. The compact design with lightweight features makes the product highly desirable and portable.

• ¾” metal thickness cutting capacity

You can easily cut a metal thickness of ¾” for any DIY projects, commercial projects, or even for HVAC repairs, CNC cuttings, and automotive.

6. Lincoln K2807-1 Tomahawk 625 – Easy to Use plasma cutter

This lincoln plasma cutter is a high-end product among all the other plasma cutters. Because of its top-quality internal components and strongly built contained box to absorb any vibrations and to be shock resistant, it offers the features that no other plasma cutter of this price range can give.

• Power:

The K2807-1 Tomahawk 625 can cut sheet metal as thin as body sheet metal to the maximum thickness of ⅜” while providing an amperage of 10-40 Amps.

• Continuous output control:

Lincoln has a continuous output control that keeps a check on the surface condition of the sheet metal. Suppose the metal’s surface has any dirt, rust, paint, coating, or grease. In that case, the output system changes the arc frequency to regulate the plasma intensity for optimal performance.

• Touch start system

The lincoln plasma cutter has the amazing feature of using a touch start system instead of using any high-frequency no-touch arc system. This system helps avoid any interruption caused by high-frequency no-touch arc systems because of digital gadgets like computers and phones. A restrike arc system just shuts down the whole system because of its redefined technology, in case any mishaps or gaps occur.

7. Hobart 500565 Airforce 27i – Best dual voltage

27i  is Hobart’s modern version that brings quality, convenience, and clean-cut with super-fast technology and versatility. If you want to have a long-term plasma cutter that serves you without any overheating, this 27i is the best choice to opt for. It brings the following top-notch features to the machine.

• On-demand fan

It has a built-in fan that turns on when needed. When the debris/dirt gathers around the torch’s flame, it turns on to remove the dirt and increases the flame efficiency and cuts clean.

• Up to ⅝” severance cut thickness

The Hobart 27i offers a clean cut of ⅜” thickness for mild steel and severance it can cut up to ⅝” thickness.

• Wind tunnel technology

The wind tunnel technology doesn’t let any debris, dirt, or dust particles go inside the plasma cutter. It keeps the interior of the plasma cutter safe from dust and dirt.

• Multi-voltage plug (MVP)

The Hobart 27i has a featured multi-voltage plug. This plug allows us to connect to either 120 V or 240 V power.

• Cutting with precision

It has precision cutting features that ensure the cut has less kerf with minimum slag and it is up to the mark. Moreover, the XT30R torch has a long lead of 12 feet.

8. Hypertherm Powermax 65 -Best plasma cutter for sheet metal

Hypertherm Powermax 65 offers enhanced productivity and efficiency because of its smart sensor technology and LCD control panel. The smart sense technology adjusts and regulates the air pressure itself for a top-notch user experience. It hits the spot among the best plasma cutters for sheet metal as it can cut through 1″ metal thickness and 1 1/14″ severance thickness. The following features make this plasma cutter a great choice for industrial sheet metal cutting equipment and heavy-duty projects.

• Smart sense technology

It has smart sensor technology that controls the gas pressure when the user wants to change the cutting mode. Moreover, it also controls and handles the torch lead length to achieve the best possible performance.

• Fast and speedy

The Hypertherm Powermax 65 offers the best cutting capabilities that offer fast, speedy, precise, and highly accurate cuts with no slag and maximum high speed. Having a longer consumable life makes the product highly desirable.

• Cut thickness

The manufacturers recommend that a cutting thickness of ¾” is what this cutter is made for, but it shows the efficiency of up to 1″ without compromising cut quality. The severance thickness can increase beyond this and goes to 1 ¼”.

9. Forney Easy Weld 20 P -Best small Plasma Cutter (Single phase)

Forney easy weld is one of the best small plasma cutters. It is famous for its small size, lightweight, and compact design. The plasma cutter’s drag torch technology helps to drag the cutting tip/torch directly on the metal surface. This helps to cut the metal easily and cleanly. Moreover, the small compact design helps in portability, and a user can easily handle and move the machine.

The salient features of the product are:

• Additional parts with the plasma cutter

When you buy the plasma cutter, the package includes a 13 ft lead, 8 ft ground clamp, 20A-15A adapter, 12A-15A adapter, one electrode( additional), and one additional nozzle. All of these parts have a one-year warranty.

• Easy to Use

The small, compact, and portable design makes the plasma cutter an easy-to-use cutting machine. You can start, operate and work on your cutting projects only with the help of a 120-volt power source and 1.5 CFM of compressed air. Moreover, it can be run on generators, so it can be taken anywhere for cutting jobs.

• Material and thickness

The plasma cutter is best suited for mild steel, stainless steel, and aluminum for thickness up to ¼”.

• Drag torch technology

As the Forney easy weld 251 has drag torch technology, you can drag the torch on the metal surface for cutting. This allows a clean cutting process with precision and accuracy, even for newbies.

10. LOTOS LT5000D 50A – Best Inverter Plasma Cutter

The Lotos brand is always on the top for cheap plasma cutters as it brings the best plasma cutters for the money. Having the quality, durability, and ease of use feature, Lotos LT5000D is among the best plasma cutters for the buyers’ price. It comes with a pre-installed NPT ¼” industry type D plug and an air filter that quickly connects to the air compressor. As it takes even less than 1 minute to set up, it is the best efficient plasma cutter that starts the cutting process without wasting time.

The LOTOS LT5000D has the following features:

• Suitable materials 

The suitable materials for this plasma cutting include copper, aluminum, stainless steel, alloy steel, and mild steel. As it uses non-hazardous compressed air during the cutting process, the cutting is safe and low cost.

• Low cost and safe

This plasma cutter is the best plasma cutter for safety and price. As it uses non-hazardous gas in its air compressor, it provides low-cost-cutting with safety. The whole machine takes only one minute for the setup and starts the cutting process within no time.

• Dual Voltage Input

It operates on automatic dual voltage/ dual frequency -110/120V,220/240V, 50/60Hz.

• Output and efficiency

When the plasma cutter is set on 10-50 A DC, it gives an ideal cutting of ½” thickness and maximum thickness of ¾” severance cut under 220/240V. At 10-35 A DC output, it gives a clean-cut of ⅓” thickness and ⅖” for severance cut under 110/120V.

• PPST cooling system

PPST cooling system does not let the cutting torch heat up and keeps it cool by the advanced cooling system. This cooling system helps in the durability and high performance of plasma cutters.

Buyers guide to buy a plasma cutter

Buying a plasma cutter can be challenging, even if you know all the plasma cutters on the market. Every plasma cutter is built for a special purpose and has its applications. If you know your required model, that’s great, and you can easily buy it.

But if you don’t, no worries. We have compiled a handsome piece of information to choose the best plasma cutter you need.

      Before buying a plasma cutter

As the market if full of plasma cutters with all the new emerging products, it is really hard to choose one. But many factors are involved in a plasma cutter’s performance and the things you must know before buying one.

Before buying a plasma cutter, you must know all the essential factors that you need to know. The following factors are the important points in a plasma cutter’s performance.

• Power output 

The power of a plasma cutter plays a vital role while choosing a plasma cutter. The efficiency, thickness, and speed of a plasma cutter strongly depend upon power output. If you choose a plasma cutter of 12 amps from a 120V power source, it will cut a metal thickness of ⅛ inch. A plasma cutter of 60 amps from 230 volts cuts a thickness of ⅞ inches. So more the power of a plasma cutter, the higher the cutting thickness will be.

Moreover, the inverter-based plasma cutters offer more output power while being lightweight and portable.

• Cutting speed 

Optimizing the cutting speed of a plasma cutter is important. This speed is measured in inches per minute IPM. The choice of plasma cutter speed depends upon your requirements, workflow, and amount of work done in an hour. A plasma cutter may cut a length in one minute, while others may cut the same length in four or five minutes, depending upon the cutter’s speed. Your choice of a cutting machine with good speed affects your productivity. So choose a plasma cutting machine according to the speed you require.

• Duty cycle 

Knowing about the duty cycle of a plasma cutter is essential as it determines a plasma cutter’s efficiency. During a ten-minute operation of a plasma cutter, the amount of working time is the duty cycle of a plasma cutter. For example, if a plasma cutter works for five minutes before turning it off for cooling, the duty cycle is 50%.

When we run a plasma cutter at lower power, the duty cycle is more, but high heat dissipation may reduce the duty cycle. If you use the plasma cutter beyond the duty cycle, it reduces the torch life and overheats the machine.

Choosing a high duty cycle increases your productivity and helps in the long cutting process. If you choose a plasma cutter for industrial application, go for long-duty cycle plasma cutters. For small cuts and DIY  projects, a short cycle plasma would be an ideal choice.

• The thickness of the material

You can use any plasma cutter to cut any thickness, but the quality of the cut and the efficiency of the cutter matter a lot. To have a tidy, neat, and professional cut, you need to buy the right kind of plasma cutter. All the plasma cutters go fine with thin materials, but in the case of thick material, the plasma cutter’s amperage should be high to have more power output.

A plasma cutter of the same amperage cuts the different maximum thicknesses for different metals. The expert’s advice is not to cut the thickness equal to or beyond the plasma cutter’s capacity; if you leave a tolerance between the limit and cutting capacity, the cutter’s lifespan increases.

• Quality and finishing of the cut 

Almost all the plasma cutters offer the same cutting thickness, but the cut’s quality doesn’t need to be the same. If a low price plasma cutting machine cuts the same thickness as the high price plasma cutting machine, the user might think of the difference.

The low price plasma cutters don’t offer a high-quality cut and finish, and the final cut appears in poor quality cut and untidy finish.

Before deciding to buy a plasma cutter, make sure that you know about your requirement of the finish and cleanliness final cut. Even if your required cut is not for decorative purposes, a high-quality, clean-cut finish is the top priority in most cases.

• Requirement

Highlight all of your requirements before you choose a plasma cutter. Think about the thickness, production per day, portable or bench item, material, industrial or domestic, professional or hobbyist. All of these factors narrow down to choose among the plasma cutters on the market.

• Budget

If you know your requirements, you can easily decide your budget for the plasma cutting machine. Best plasma cutters for money are high ticket products and mostly used for professional purposes. On the other hand, a hobbyist can opt for the best budget plasma cutters available at low prices and can satisfy DIY projects’ requirements. A high-end product may look costly in the first place, but it saves a lot of time and effort.

 Types of Torches to consider

There are different types of torches for all the plasma cutters, but the torch’s purpose and working are almost the same. What makes a plasma cutter torch different from others are the following factors. One must know and consider all of these factors for the sake of high performance and productivity.

Lead:

Lead is an important element that attaches to the plasma cutting torch. One may think it just an ordinary cord that connects the plasma cutting machine with the torch, but it is not only this thing. It is much more than this because the length, durability, material, life span, and deterioration rate highly affect the cutting torch’s performance.

If you want a portable plasma machine and move around your object to have multiple cutting operations, you will need a long cord while keeping the plasma cutter safe. For this reason, you want to have a lengthy and durable lead.

On the other hand, when you work on a table, and all the cutting process goes on the table, you don’t need much longer lead, and even a small lead can facilitate your cutting process.

The quality of the lead material also has a significant impact on your plasma cutting experience. A high-quality lead increases productivity and eases the cutting process, while poor low quality, thin material just wastes time and may result in some dangerous and non-safe circumstances. Overheating of substandard lead material may lead to irreversible problems too.

Non-touch torch with High frequency:

The non-touch torch cuts the metal with the help of plasma technology. It does not touch the metal surface, and the high frequency creates the plasma that helps to make the cuts on metals from a distance. The amount of plasma and the distance are adjustable and can be changed depending upon the cut we need. The torch has a standoff feature that regulates and adjusts the distance between the torch and the metal surface.

The high-frequency non-touch torches are best for producing high-quality cuts with precision, consistency, and accuracy. Moreover, these torches’ efficiency can be enhanced by keeping the nozzle clean and tidy and safe from debris/dirt from the workpiece.

Drag technology

There are other kinds of torches that touch the workpiece surface during the cutting process. It happens because of the technology called drag technology. Drag technology helps the torch to drag on the surface and cuts the surface cleanly and smoothly.

If the drag technology does not work, the nozzle sticks to the metal surface because of the double arc fault. It results in poor, inconsistent, and jittery cuts having no precision and accuracy.

Moreover, the torch gets ruined, makes the workpiece untidy, and leaves dirty marks of irregular plasma on the workpiece.

The drag technology makes the intricate cutting patterns easy by eliminating this whole tiring cutting process. One can easily trace the lines and work on decorative and artistic cutting processes too.

Touch Start Technology:

The touch start technology is not a very common type, and usually, buyers don’t prefer it because it needs a lot of practice to master the cutting process. In this technique, the torch is first touched to the metal surface to create an arc to start the plasma. Then the torch is lifted off the workpiece, and the user slides the torch on the workpiece in a steady way to complete the cut.

As you need a handful of practice to get started with this technology and a steady hand is required to have clean and tidy cuts, it is harder than a non-touch torch and drag technology and is not recommended.

The touch start technology has the only advantage of low price and only people with low budget choose it.

Top brands of Plasma cutters

Hobart welding products:

Hobart is one of the leading companies in the industry of welding line equipment. Established in 1917, they provided top-of-the-line welding equipment, including plasma cutters, welding machines, consumables, torches, and much other cutting and welding equipment. Whether you are looking for a home, industrial, farming, maintenance, manufacturing, or any other industry, they have a solution for everything you look for.

In 2000, Hobart added a state-of-the-art series of welding accessories, including auto-darkening helmets, graphics, wires, tools, hardware, and many more.

Lotos Technologies:

Lotos technologies, situated in California, is one of the top brands that bring small-sized plasma cutters and other welding and cutting equipment for your DIY projects. As all the products are designed as a compact package, they help you best in the portability and mobility of the equipment. Lotos technologies bring plasma cutters, TIG welder, MIG welder, plasma TIG/stick combo, consumables, and other accessories at affordable prices and easy user experience.

The cutting equipment of LOTOS Technologies is well optimized with MOSFET/IGBT transistors to cut thick metals or thin metals with the help of high output, steady, power voltage.

Lotos Technologies provide the best cutting equipment for small DIY projects and household applications.

Lincoln Electric

Lincoln electric is the world’s leading manufacturers of welding and cutting equipment and famous for arc welding products, robotic arc welding systems, plasma cutters, oxyfuel cutting equipment, and brazing and soldering alloys. Providing the best in terms of design, quality, technology, they are the leaders among all the cutting and welding solutions to DIY or industrial projects. Dealing with thin metal cutting to thick metal cutting processes, Lincoln provides everything to meet your requirements in any industrial field, including farming, manufacturing, automotive, and construction.

Millar Electric

Millar electric is the largest company of welding line equipment for all the industries one can think of. It has various solutions for every cutting and welding technology, from the tiny intricate soldering of circuits to the aerospace industries. It has a vast line of welding technology, including TIG, MIG, stick, submerged arc welding, accessories, consumables, and other industrial equipment.

With the ever-growing and evolving features, Millar’s plasma cutters are top-rated and high in demand. Construction and maintenance of heavy machinery, aerospace, shipbuilding, transportation, work trucks use Millar’s projects on large scales. The applications also include non-ferrous cutting and welding solutions.

Hypertherm

Hypertherm is also a well-reputed company. Since it has vast experience in making quality cutting tools, this brand is not the wrong choice.

Conclusion

It is concluded that you can choose from a wide variety of special equipment in our 10 reviews.

Here is the top best Plasma cutters 2023 as follows:

1. The Miller Spectrum 625 plasma cutter was selected as the Overall Best Choice due to its intersection of functionality, power, pricing, and customer satisfaction.
2. The well-known PRIMEWELD CUT60 is the ideal industrial quality, American-made machine for anyone needing one.
3. Our top pick for the money was the Lotos LTP5000D. With a good selection of functions and minimal quality compromise, Lotos created this plasma cutter.

We really hope our reviews were helpful to you. 

FAQs

1. What is the best plasma cutter for money?

The PRIMEWELD CUT60 Plasma Cutter is the best plasma cutter for the price because of its versatility and ease of use over the range of features it offers.

2. What kind of plasma cutter should I buy? 

Mainly the plasma cutters are evaluated depending upon the cutting capacity and the amperage they work on. To cut a thickness around ¼”, a low amperage plasma is fine. Otherwise, choose a high amperage plasma cutter for cutting thicknesses up to ½”.

3. What are the different types of plasma cutters? 

There are two types of plasma cutters, depending upon their torches. One type uses a touch-type torch-based on drag technology to produce the plasma for cutting. The second type of plasma cutters has non-touch torch technology that produces the plasma without touching the workpiece’s surface.

4. What are the disadvantages of plasma cutters?

There are certain disadvantages of a plasma cutter, including large heat-affected zone, poor quality compared to laser cutting, large kerf, less precision, and accuracy compared to other cutting techniques.

5. Who makes the best plasma cutter?

Miller, Lincoln, Lotos, and Hobart are some best brands in the market. These brands have very positive ratings from users.

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