Long torch for plasma cutter

I recently started using a plasma cutter for demolition work and started getting ragged cuts compared to using the standard 18" long oxy cutting torch. I get much straighter and smoother cuts with long oxy torches than with short ones as I can swing the torch in an arc and roll the handle over the edge of my other hand thereby moving the fulcrum to make the arc into a straight line. Anyway it works well for me the end result being very fast straight oxy cuts, I use machine tips for manual oxy cutting as this technique enables me to keep up with them.

The problem with the plasma is the short 6" torch, not only does it give ragged cuts it greatly reduced my ability to reach into places, does anybody know of an extended body plasma torch, the machine is hypertherm 38 (slow compared to the oxy but great for non ferrous).

After seeing the guts of one, it would be prtty easy to build.

There.s not much to a plasma torch handle, the consumables make up most of it. You could see if you can get a broken torch, where the plastic housing is fubar, and steal the brass thing the consumables mount to. Then add your own button, using PVC pipe for a handle. You'll have to fab up a nose for it to mount the brass thing in, probably an elbow with a cap on the end, and the brass thing mounted in the nose. It doesn't look hard to do at all, there's nothing to a plasma torch as far as the handle is concerned.

Thanks I have never opened one up, but if there is very little in one (like a TIG torch) it would be too difficult to modify one.

Nope, there are no extended torch handles available.

I do a fair amount of plasma cutting and I rarely freehand. I clamp a cheap aluminum straightedge to the
piece offset by the amount I know to use (for my torch it's a fat 1/8th) and then just drag the torch along
the straightedge. I get really good results that way.

I used to use an oxyacetylene torch all day every day, and I know just what you mean about how
you can use the topology of the torch itself to make nice cuts. But plasma is different.

Grant Erwin
Tinyisland Forge
Kirkland, Washington

I would add rollers to my extended torch handle.

Doing demolition work, I could see how an extended plasma torch could be handy. What would be difficult is to make nice cuts with that. You can't "rotate" it like you can a gas torch. I too have used that method on a gas torch, and it does work GREAT. Plasma on the other hand you must maintain the nose straight down into the work for a good cut. A three wheel roller system could make cutting MUCH easier on the end of your extended torch for the plasma. It will be much easier to maintain proper angle, and avoid tocuhing the torch to the metal. You could also use shielded consumables, which would work if you can keep the feed consistant. I dunno, once you get the feel for it, plasma could be just as easy as gas cutting. You may to integrate a T square thingy for making nice straight cuts when needed.

That would be really nice

somebody must've done it already? Maybe not.

Myabe it can be my million $$$ invention I've sought!

Maybe I can build it, and make a few million $$$! If it really doesn't exist, I'm going for it, somebody will buy it, and I'll SELL IT!!! CHING $ CHING $ CHING $!!!!! Maybe I'll get lucky, and get it prototyped before I see it available, unlike every other $$$ making idea I've had that's goten taken!!!!

It sounds like an idea, I always say that the fastest way between 2 points is in a straight line and cutting torches have a limited cutting speed meaning if I can get the raggedness out of the cut I can cut faster. I guess the people who make the plasma torches just copied the form of a MIG (GMAW) torch. The other thing is that the weight of the torch will need to be similar to the oxy, I think the greater moment of inertia of the long heavy torch slows down the deviations to some degree. Demolition cutting is quite different from fabrication cutting, it requires far more manual dexterity to follow the contours of what you are cutting.

JunkyardJ I knew the plasma was much more sensitive to the angle and standoff than an oxy,
I can't cut hole in a steel deck drop the torch though the hole and cut the 12" beam supporting the part of the deck I am not standing on all from above the floor with a plasma

Wheels or skids might be good but I have found with the oxy that if they drag unevenly it creates irregular cutting speed so you have to travel slower to avoid loosing the cut. Wheels might get in the way, frequently I will cut beams which I find easiest with the torch along the beam axis, depending on the cut sequence the wheels might foul on the inside of corner where the web meets the flange.

Thanks guys I have something to think about and will probably try it when something heavy damages the current torch as it no doublt will.

Those torches are pretty darned tough. Its going to take something big to break the handle.

There have been many, many designs of torches in the past 30 years or so that plasma cutters have been around. The only ones that I have encountered that have longer handles are torches from OTC and some of the older high amperage torches from Thermal Dynamics. And the main reason for that is to keep your hand away from the heat of the torch. These are 140+ amp handheld torches. Water cooled too.

A long torch makes close up work annoying which 99.99% of the people that buy them use them for.

Some models allow for remote hand triggers. You could always extend the handle with some PVC or something and use the remote trigger.