Thermal Dynamics (www.thermal-dynamics.com) also has seen portability as key to advancements in plasma cutting.

It recently added the PAK 200 to its product line. Designed to meet the most demanding of manual cutting applications, the PAK 200 provides 200 amps of cutting and gouging power in a manual system.

Compared to conventional air carbon arc gouging, plasma arc gouging with the PAK 200 offers superior removal rates and clear visibility of the gouging area, the company said.

It also provides high gouging removal rates, to allow for the removal of as much as 25 lb. of carbon steel per hour.

Plasma Arc gauging is a fast, economical, and environmentally friendly method of removing just about any metal, including carbon steel, stainless steel, cast iron, aluminum, brass and bronze, the company said, adding that it is suitable for a wide variety of applications from railroad car repair to tank manufacturing, and heavy equipment repair to foundry work.

While users who are comfortable with oxyfuel equipment may be slow to convert to plasma, plasma cutting often can be the better choice.

Plasma cutting represents a more expensive initial investment, but can cost less over the long term because its faster cutting speeds allow the user to be more productive. In addition, it provides higher quality cuts, and the ability to cut with fewer consumables, and does not require preheating or external gases.

Plasma also can be used to cut a wide range of metals from gauge metals to metal slabs that are several inches thick.

“You can do a lot more with plasma. It opens the window of opportunity for more applications,” Twarog said.

Hypertherm has developed innovations in plasma cutting for the past 40 years, when founder Dick Couch, then a twenty-something engineering graduate, and his associate Bob Dean, discovered that by radially injecting water into a plasma cutting nozzle, they could create a narrow arc, making it possible to cut metal with a speed and accuracy never before seen while eliminating the issues of dross and the double-arcing phenomenon previously seen in plasma systems.

Today, the company has 75 patents as a result of its efforts to innovate based on the way plasma equipment is used, and the challenges that its customers confront in plasma cutting.

New Plasma Products:

Thermal Dynamics (www.thermal-dynamics.com), a producer of plasma cutting systems, introduced the Ultra-Cut 200, an automated unit that is capable of cutting steel up to 1 ½-in. thick at 100 percent duty cycle.

The Ultra-Cut 200 was designed to produce exceptional cut quality in mild steels at higher speeds, and to have improved part life.

The company said it is competitively priced.

The Ultra-Cut 200 features Water Mist Secondary (WMS) for improved performance on non-ferrous materials.

The company said the Ultra-Cut 200 has a unique, keyless consumable cartridge design to allow users to move quickly between ferrous and non-ferrous materials and different thicknesses; a SpeedLok torch head that aligns its consumables with one twist; and a coolant tube check valve to prevent coolant leakage as consumables are replaced.