Another Marketplace find..

[Scott V]

I was searching for a Thermal Dynamics SL-60/100 hand torch on Craiglist/Ebay, and Market place. The ATC style and the Cheaper RPT is going for huge money now.. You can still find them for $500 here, and there but mostly over $700 + now.. That led me to a Marketplace ad about a old Thermal Pakmaster 50 (at least 25 years old now)Was listed for $150 non working,but had a pretty new SL60 RPT torch, and a spare with a burned up cable end. Also came with quite few consumables that match my machine torch..

Anyway,
drove over to the valley to a huge farm, and in the maintenance shop was the cutter and parts.. Took it home, and messed with it a bit, and it was dead like they said, although it did turn on, just no spark.. I was trying to retro some parts out of the torches, and took the torch off the machine. Had the adapter that fit the old machine opened up,and a couple of the wires/ pins was loose, I reinstalled the torch,and it fired off.Just a few more adjustments it was cutting like new. Really better than new, because of the better torch setup..These machines are only 35 amps output rated , but it was outputting 38 amps and a good strong arc.. That means 40 amp consumables can now be used with the shielded tips or dragged with good consumable life.. The only downside is the machine is heavy, at 68 pounds, but it is built like a tank. Just sitting on my other dinosaur, the Esab CV-353.. I have been using it a lot, and it has not missed a beat..

[GWIZ]

For $150

Ok then, YOU SUCK!

[toprecycler]

Nice find.


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[Scott V]

Originally Posted by GWIZ

For $150

Ok then, YOU SUCK!

Really, I had to go for a nice day trip of 450 mile round trip. I wanted to check that area out for a possible future living area. It did cost me about $40 in gas,and not too bad at $4.50 a gal.. The consumables more then made up that cost,since it was easily 3 times $ value in those things.. Sometimes in these deals, you do best when you don't expect too much out of them. I was just hoping the torches had some value in them.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by GWIZ

For $150

Ok then, YOU SUCK!

Yup, you suck.

[digger doug]

Originally Posted by Scott V

I old Thermal Pakmaster 50 (at least 25 years old now)Really better than new, because of the better torch setup..These machines are only 35 amps output rated , but it was outputting 38 amps and a good strong arc.. That means 40 amp consumables can now be used with the shielded tips or dragged with good consumable life..

I always thought that machine put out 50 amps.....

The "50" must have meant something else ?

[milomilo]

Nice clean cut!!

[Scott V]

Originally Posted by digger doug

I always thought that machine put out 50 amps.....

The "50" must have meant something else ?

Clean 0.50" cut...Meaning over 10 IPM (12)
Pakmaster 38 = 3.75"

[LKeithR]

We have an old Hypertherm Max42 plasma cutter that we bought sometime in the 80s. I was never really that impressed by it but it worked OK and we did use it for a lot of stuff. It was hard on consumables; we seemed to go through them pretty quickly. As the torch deteriorated it got to the point where it cut so bad that we hardly ever used it.

About 20 years ago Hypertherm came out with a completely new torch setup and, in addition to using them on all their new machines they made torch assemblies to fit all the old power units. We bought one for our machine and what a difference it made! The old girl has been working great ever since; it's really been like having a new machine, it works that much better...

[digger doug]

Originally Posted by Scott V

Clean 0.50" cut...Meaning over 10 IPM (12)
Pakmaster 38 = 3.75"

So my old xfomer unit, a "Pak-5" is a 55amp machine.....Must have changed things in the labelling department