Plasma Cutter

A plasma cutter is a tool that cuts electrically conductive metal, commonly steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass or copper, by plasma cutting: forcing compressed gas through a focused nozzle at high velocity while an electric arc between an electrode and the workpiece ionizes the gas into a channel of superheated plasma, completing a circuit back to the cutter through a grounding clamp. The resulting heat melts through the metal while the high-velocity plasma and gas blow the molten metal out of the cut. Plasma cutters range from small, affordable hobbyist models to large computer-numerical-control industrial systems; a handheld torch typically cuts up to about one and a half inches of steel plate, while a computer-controlled unit can manage up to about six inches. Their combination of speed, precision and affordability has made them common in fabrication shops, automotive repair and restoration, industrial construction and salvage work, and their concentrated cone of heat makes them well suited to cutting curved or angled patterns in sheet metal.