Last week we learned how to use the plasma cutter to cut metal shapes based on vector images. The most interesting thing about the plasma cutter is how it is such a different cutting machine than the laser cutter. In comparison, the plasma cutter is less accurate, and cuts fewer materials. It is designed to do only full cuts–no engraving–on metal. The plasma cutter works by generating an arc of electricity through the metal, heating it up and liquefying it, and then shooting a high speed stream of gas out of a nozzle to cut the material. This cuts through metal, but creates slag on the edges of the piece. The advantage of this system is that it can cut metal, unlike the laser cutter. Harrison had worked with handheld plasma cutters before, but never with an automated system.

Figure 1. Torchmate & Plasma Cutter

Before we were able to successfully cut a piece, we initially experienced absolute failure. On the Torchmate application, when we did a test run, we failed to realize that the scale of our drawing was massive – many times larger than we had wanted. We then re-did the drawing with the correct dimensions and were able to properly cut the OEDK logo of proper size.