Steadier cutting plaform with a Plasma Cutter?

[docmel]

Howdy: I have had my Plasma cutter for a long time now. It works great, but my hand isnt that steady, and my cuts tend to be far from straight, even though the design is marked out beforehand. That to me equals waste of materials and labor cleaning projects up

My cutter is hand held: So what do you guys use to make staight cuts straighter and curves smoother

[DoomBuggy]

Have you looked at the guides available? Like this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/P80-P-80-Pl...gAAOSw5sBbiNED

I've been using fences and guides for years when cutting wood, seems like they would work well for plasma as well. Do let us know what you end up with!

[ExplodingCoffinEmporium]

Howdy: I have had my Plasma cutter for a long time now. It works great, but my hand isnt that steady, and my cuts tend to be far from straight, even though the design is marked out beforehand. That to me equals waste of materials and labor cleaning projects up

My cutter is hand held: So what do you guys use to make staight cuts straighter and curves smoother

I don’t know what size material your working with, but on smaller line runs I have used home made mahl sticks to steady my hand for significant angles and movements. When I’m doing long body panels runs I’ve learned to not tense up and practice effective breathing, but almost two decades of body work has really created a lot of muscle memory. I know they make adjustable wrist rests for welding as I have a recently out of the game buddy who used one for tacking before he started having significant health issues that forced him out, might be worth a look depending on what kind of work your doing.

[BuddhahoodVato]

Metal ruller, wood templates, cardboard templates.

[farmall]

I like the mahl stick idea. That's different and would also work nicely with a cutting torch.

Search the subject on the Weldingweb forums. They're easily the best welding forum and of course cover plasma cutting. Dunno if Jim Colt of Hypertherm still posts but he had much good info.

[DustyDave]

A stand off and a straight edge.
Dusty

[47str8leg]

I've used a piece of pipe for curves to rest the torch against and pieces of angle iron or whatever for straight cuts.