Comments on: Hands-On: Hobart’s AirForce 250A Plasma Cutter

By: brandon

brandon — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:21:55 +0000

Hobart is a chain store brand of Plasma cutters and usually they are cheap that is how they can be marketed in chain stores. If you want a real plasma cutter you need to go to a welding supply store. I prefer Thermal Dynamics products because of their reliability. Plasma cutting is what their business is based on. They just celebrated their 50th anniversary in the field of plasma cutting and their products show it. I had the privilege of cutting with their new CM TRUE 52. Now that is a serious plasma cutter, not for the faint at heart.

By: mike b

mike b — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:29:27 +0000

don’t worry about the clothes. how can you see what you’rte doing with a welding helmet on??? i find shade 5 torch glasses to be sufficient eye protection.
as for the performance of this unit: i have used larger ones (rated for 1/2″ or better) and this unit, IF NOT USED BEYOND CAPACITY, will perform. the key here is to cut not more than 1/8″. just because it can “severe” 1/4″ DOES NOT, in my opinion, mean it can cut 1/4″. nor does it mean you should even try. if you need to cut thicker material, get a bigger unit.
btw, never buy “reconditioned” items. you’re asking for a let-down. you may get lucky once in a while, but play it safe. stay away.

By: Doug B

Doug B — Mon, 28 May 2007 17:48:54 +0000

I am realllllly surprised to see any positive comments about the Hobart Air FArce 250A Plasma cutter,I have owned 2 of them and they wouldn’t make a pimple on a real plasma cutters hiney.I bought a reconditioned unit from Harbor Frieght,after trying to use it I figured it just wasn’t reconditioned good enough and returned it,I then bought a brand new one from our local welding supply house,and it cut just as crappy as the recon unit.This is one experience with Hobart,don’t get me started on the Hobart 140 Mig welder.A word to the wise.buy quality equipment.Hobart used to stand for quality,but since Miller bought them out,you may as well buy Chicago Tool.

By: dennisl

dennisl — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:43:12 +0000

Thanks for the story, but I have one quibble: I’m surprised and dismayed to see pictures of someone using a plasma cutter wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Is that really good safety practice?

By: Mat

Mat — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 22:06:45 +0000

Not sure if you do much welding/cutting/brazing and the like, but you should really be wearing not flammable clothes that cover large parts of your body, i.e. legs, arms, and chest. You only have to get a bit of slag in your shoe once to find out you need to wear pants.

By: thomas

thomas — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 21:12:54 +0000

The pictures are actually scaled to 399×300 (at least for me) when clicked on for the first time, then 450×338 after the second click. Seeing as the second click brings you out of the format of the webpage and simply displays the picture alone, I dont see why they cant be bigger?

By: Eric G.

Eric G. — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:25:53 +0000

it might be worth mentioning that plasma gives you the option to cut non-ferrous (aluminum etc.) metals. which you can’t do with oxy-acetylene.

By: Chuck Cage

Chuck Cage — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:38:21 +0000

Rick: Thanks as always for the comments. We shoot ‘em at 7 MP, but 450 px is the limit for TM’s three-col format, so it’s the biggest we publish.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:30:58 +0000

Nice summation guys.. I’d been looking for this review since you guys discussed it on the podcast. One thing, it would have been nice to see some close-up shots of the cuts after you were done with them. To really see what the unit can do.

Oh, and 450×338 pixels? What kind of random dimension is that? Let me some some 800×600 at least when I click on a little image. I can’t see anything in those tiny pictures.