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Got any cool tools lately?

My hand held is a Hypertherm. Bought it in 2004. No issues.

What I think is cool about that Arcdroid is the tracing feature. I have to make a pattern, then draft it in CAD by measuring. But I needed a table that I could make 8' cuts on.
 
I have a Thermal Dynamics 60A.
Essentially this machine but blue.

One of the best tools I've ever bought.
Pricey MF though.

Screenshot_20241227-085549.png
 
When I was looking at buying one, the guy at the welding supply store had this and Miller. Miller was fairly new at plasma cutting. He said the Thermal Dynamics torches were being put on the miller units after purchase. Thermal Dynamics brand were the first for small portable units. Because I have zero brand loyalty, I bought the better torch unit.
PXL_20241227_162834507.jpg

All metal housing back then.
 
I know why mine was so expensive now.... They wrote 'Professional' on it :haha: .
I had cash in my pocket and they said this one would cut 1⅛", so I just handed them a wad.
Like I'm ever going to need to cut 1":rolleyes: lol.

IMG_20241228_091441187.jpg
 
I did 3/4 by hand back in my 20's at work.
Which was the only time in my life I have needed to cut so thick lol.
It actually came out nice.
It was only about 18", cutting a 45 on a corner of a welding table I built.

When I bought this I just went with the "too much is better than too little" way of thinking.



I used that hydraulic crimper today.
Not too bad. But definitely have to make sure it's centered.
I ended up with one side squished out flat on my second crimp.
I thought it was centered fine. But had a big sharp spot on the other side I had to file off.
 
ktmoutfront said:
I have done 3/4" with the table. Never by hand. I could not move that slow.
Click to expand...
I did 3/4" with mine by hand, but it was a double stack of 3/8" which is worse, I did ok but there were a few spots on the bottom plate that didn't go through all the way, I had to go back and finish off.
 
Are there different lugs for aluminum vs copper wire? Because sometimes aluminum wire has a larger diameter than the same gauge copper wire.

I don't crimp those with a huge crimper, I drill a hole in them, pinch them with a smoothed jaw vice grip, then solder them through the hole until it comes out the back of the lug, then I heat shrink the joint.
 
It's the wrong jaws on the crimper, the wrong lug (thinner wall) or you have some of that Chinese wire that's sold in AWG, but it's really a similar metric size.

I'm also a fan of soldering them, and you can also get pre-sized solder slugs to ensure you don't make the wire brittle, but it's relatively slow and he's probably making dozens of these connections.
 
ktmoutfront said:
I have not had one do that. Is the lug the correct size? Looks a little big for the wire.
Click to expand...
This is the same as the lug I used. I recrimped the other one with my hand crimperIMG_20250109_140139763.jpg
IMG_20250109_140359653.jpg

folkenheath said:
Are there different lugs for aluminum vs copper wire? Because sometimes aluminum wire has a larger diameter than the same gauge copper wire.

I don't crimp those with a huge crimper, I drill a hole in them, pinch them with a smoothed jaw vice grip, then solder them through the hole until it comes out the back of the lug, then I heat shrink the joint.
Click to expand...
I won't solder large wire. Specially high amp stuff.
Mechanical connection only.
Dies just say 4 awg. Only set that says it.
I'm guessing they're expecting you to use them on industrial/commercial wire. Less strands and the strands are thicker. I believe it'd work with that.
It just doesn't crimp down far enough for this super fine strand stuff. :dunno:
 
Blue85 said:
It's the wrong jaws on the crimper, the wrong lug (thinner wall) or you have some of that Chinese wire that's sold in AWG, but it's really a similar metric size.

I'm also a fan of soldering them, and you can also get pre-sized solder slugs to ensure you don't make the wire brittle, but it's relatively slow and he's probably making dozens of these connections.
Click to expand...
Nope. On all accounts lol.
 
shady said:
I'm guessing they're expecting you to use them on industrial/commercial wire. Less strands and the strands are thicker. I believe it'd work with that.
It just doesn't crimp down far enough for this super fine strand stuff. :dunno:
Click to expand...
It shouldn't matter because you get the same amount of copper regardless of strand count. Once properly crimped, it's basically like a section of solid (1-strand) wire.
 
The dies on my hand crimper with a 1/4 bit shank in themIMG_20250109_142020854.jpg

The dies in the hydraulic with the same bitIMG_20250109_142033212.jpg

The wire is good quality, true spec. IMG_20250109_141817363.jpg

And there's a big difference in wire between 4awg THHN, and this stuff.
It doesn't take a lot of crimping to get a lug to stay on THHN tight .
There's a lot of air space available even crimped with commercial wire. Not so much with this.
I personally think it's the Chinese crimper lol.
 
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