DIY pallet breaker build- testing the cheapest plasma cutter I could find from Banggood 

I have a plasma cutter just like that one, I have found that if I go slower than you did, it cuts very well, you only have to make one pass that way.

Dear Marty T. That pallet breaker works great. Congrats! Please allow me some suggestions: Try to cut with the plasma cutter in the same slow speed as you weld with sticks or with inert gas equipment (MIG) or even MAG or WIG equipment. The thicker the material the slower (same behavior for cutting and welding). Don't go back and forth. Use something to lead the nozzle (a wooden board for instance). This kind of stop also helps to get straight cuts. Thanks a lot for making taping editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and health.

Faaark! That's pretty impressive. We've got nearly 50 old Jeeps to chop up, (they're all terminal, so don't get upset, people), and that should be WAY faster than an angle grinder. Good advice about the galv. fumes. They have a lasting effect on one's respiratory system. Very nasty.

I enjoying seeing someone who understands how to economize. Scrap is never really scrap if you can still find a use for it. My grandfather drummed that into me as a kid.

Hi Marty, some of the plasma's Ive used had like a wire cage or guide in the kit from new. It gives you the correct distance between workpiece and electrode. It miight seem like training wheels but gets you used to it. Other machines Ive used had amp and air controls to play with, check out instructions. You could make yourself up a hole or disc cutting guide too from junk. Just google to see what they look like, similar to oxy cutting circle guide. Cheers.

Yes, your travel speed is way too fast on the thicker piece. You’ll figure it out. Makes a big difference then burning up grinder disks.

Love your channel Marty. Here's the cheapest way i found to take apart a pallet in minutes: wear good gloves, then place pallet standing upright in front of you when one corner points to the sky and opposite corner is resting on the ground. Lift and smash the pallet corner hard into the ground repeatedly until theres no gaps between the wood beams. Then switch to opposite corners and repeat. Keep switching corners until you wont need to smash it anymore to close the gaps. Thats when you can rest the pallet on a wall and start removing each beam by hand.

I made a tool like that about 35 years ago when I started tearing the barn down on this old fallen down farmstead. I just used it again a couple months ago when I started to tear down the old corn crib, turned wood shed. Pretty handy tool for salvaging anything wood.

Recycling pallets....free building material....you just gotta break it down and that breaker made it so much easier.....Good job Marty....🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Your videos are very entertaining,interesting and satisfying it's good to see old equipment go back to life..great work! 😎👍

If you'll slow way down, angle the head into direction of cut, and if and where possible, clamp a guide onto the piece your gutting. Set the guide up the distance of the cup off your mark to get it lined up accordingly. Always if possible clean the surface of rust, are paint, and go at pace of the flow as you would with oxygen acetylene cutting torch, and hold about same distance off surface to cut back on blow back ruining your tips. Best thing also, is watch your cutting times, are your plasma cutter will kick out due to overheating, because low grade units have very short duty cycles. Always use as short as possible power cords, and as heavy as you have, to maintain maximum current to your machine. There is basics in as short of explanation as I can give you from Texas, hope it helps, but your probably better w2ith it by now than I am...Have fun with your new toy, and if used right, they're a blast to use on smaller metal projects.

Plasma cutters are great for many jobs, however, a good chop saw does a great job on the steel you cut and the cuts are nice and clean, and much faster. A decent chop saw will cost about $100.00 u.s.... Nice job on the pallet tool.

When you are breaking pallets. lift both of the outside nailed joints first, and then come back to the center. I saw in another video that that works better.

Marty As always again you gave me another big idea ....thanks

nice work m8, that pallet breaker will make a huge difference. and a neat little plasma cutter. perfect for all your future projects!!.

What a handy and useful tool!

I agree with everyone else who say you need to slow down to cut better. I’ll also say I have the same plasma cutter and found that it doesn’t like any moisture from the compressor. I run an air drier on the outlet of my compressor plus and air drier on the inlet of the cutter and it works a lot better

Awesome tool , the one you made and the plasma cutter.

Slow down and remember you can use a straight edge, also useful to make holes once you get used to it on different thicknesses etc. Clean the metal first for a better connection.

Can't beat the ol stick welders Marty. Cheers

I need one of those pallet smashers!

There is a guide that goes over the nozzle and has two opposed feet, this helps to do smooth cuts, look into it.

Pallets are worth so much these days , might be worth saving them up and selling them

Clever Marty, I enjoy your vids

Hey mate, cheers for the videos, enjoy your channel heaps! Best tip I got for my plasma (similar to yours) was set the pressure, but crank up the amps full noise, regardless of the thickness..then vary the speed for material thickness.. much nicer cut... Practice does help too haha. Good luck! :)

I have used plasma cutters and they cut clean and are easy to use. Just make sure your air supply is dry, with no water in it. I have taken a half inch thick leaf spring and cut my name out in a couple of minutes. You will be pleased with your purchase.

Get the plasma cutter lube for it so you can dip the tip. Helps with reducing wear. Usually comes in a metal jar, like coffee used to do back in the day, and it's dirt cheap. Also, from the get go, get yourself a new set of cutting tips. The stuff that usually comes with cheapies is cheaper than dirt, wears out far faster than it should. With your cutter instructions (or on it, on the last page) there should be a single page leaflet with the variants of tips that you can purchase. Worst case scenario, find a local store that deals these things and take the torch with you. By eye, it seems to cut ok, but you need to rest your pinky finger on the part you cut, to give you stability. Kinda like drinking tea with your pinky up, that's the quintessential cutting position. Helps with cutting a radius, height control, and most important eliminates the wobble which in some situations can even cut your plasma flow (they automatically shut down). Thick stuff needs all the power it has, crank it up, the control is useful, but also speed is a key element, you're moving too fast. Take it slower. A machine can push it, because it is consistent, humans can't. Slow and steady wins the race with plasma cutters. If you find that your breakers blow easily after a lengthy cut, it's the machine's fault, being cheap, they are not very sophisticated in that area unfortunately and despite the ground, they dump a lot of it back inline. And speaking of ground, make sure you have a positive, solid grounding connection. Otherwise, you may limit the life span of these types of machines.

Angle your heat source so that the heat is ahead of your direction of travel, not behind, or straight up, especially with steel. and slow down, as others have suggested.

They sell stand-offs for the cutting tip. It should help with the cutting.

Use 2 hands when using the plasma cutter. It will allow you to maintain the correct hight. Also move slowly. You will get a better smoother cut with one pass. It takes practice and have fun.

Once again, necessity is the mother of invention! I think your tool worked great! It's so nice to be able to make something like this that makes a job easier! Plasma cutter works great too! Like others stated, just slow down with it. I can't wait to get one, I've been watching videos lately and I see more and more creators have them, it just makes sense to have one if you're into this kind of stuff. Does NZ have a Harbor Freight? I guess their new Titanium line is going to have a decent plasma. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg on a Hypertherm, but maybe this HF one will fit the bill. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you again Marty.

Deffo gonna check it out Thanx for sharing 👍

The cleaner the metal the cleaner the cut. Rust inhibits heat and can cause the cutter to go off course. Also helps reduce the slag. It's worth hitting the metal with a grinder wheel real quick, same with where you hook the ground. You'll get it though hope this helps.

Good stuff Marty T

Nice pry bar!! You are much smarter man than I!

just like a acetylene torch, blow thru then nice steady cut, i put a spring around my tip holder to use as a stand off, push down to collapse the spring to get a arc then motor on buddy. you will get use to it, you will go through a lot of tips with all that blow back, just slow down buddy

Outstanding!

Oo u want to go slower than that. Give it chance to cut. It's all blowing back on the 10 mil flat. Looks like a rats chewed it off. Haha. You'll get the hang of it

Hi Marty, Depending on the amperage of the plasma, you should be able to cut 12mm steel with around 40 amps, if you want to cut thicker you need to slow down your travel speed. That can be difficult to get an even speed as you get slower. Do some dry runs before you pull the trigger. You should be able to get a fitting that attaches to the torch to keep a constant offset distance from what you're cutting. Should be around 2.5 to 3 mm of the workpiece. You also should have an air filter close to the plasma cutter to remove any moisture, it extends the tip life. A plasma is a great asset. Dennis

Love my plasma cutter

I was really confused at first watching this... then I found the powercable at least. I thought Marty had invented the world first air compressed plasma cutter... 😂😂😂

Loving your videos mate. I have a cheapo plasma cutter but I wished I'd bought my cheapo metal bandsaw first. No compressor required, set it and walk away. Auto shutoff, some thickness and width limitations, but that is dependent on the amount you spend. Mine cuts 90 x 90 gal posts no worries. Check them out you won't be unhappy with one.

I use lots of pallet wood on my fridge bee hives, good idea on the tool, looked like it split the wood a fair bit, think I'll stick with hammer and crowbar or recipricating saw

Good of you to guinea pig the plasma cutter, useful to know... 👍

Made short work of the pallet Marty.👍👍

love it how kiwis use cm

Hey 2 years too late probly but, I've only used Oxy acetylene, I think it must be the same. It's not cut through till the rain of sparks start to come out the bottom, then you can start moving but keep it slow enough for the sparks always to be coming out the bottom of the cut. I didn't read all the comments but never saw this stated but it makes sense :) Got here from a comment about breaking up pallets 'Kris Harbour Natural Building'.

a clean ground really helps the plasma cutter

Marty When working with galvanized metals , drinking some milk 🥛 helps to keep the stomach feeling better. 🤔 And I'm sure you're a master with the plasma cutter by now, but cutting cleaned metal is better 👌. And speed and angle just like any torch work is a must. We have a hypertherm that will cut 17mm with practice.

PS: Thanks for the link!

These are pretty cool devices. I wish I could afford a hypotherm but my cheap one works ok. Dreams of a cnc table but no space lol I can't make a clean looking shape to save my life but a grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain't right?

Built mine a few years ago and have tore down a lot of pallets

I would recommend moving your water separator closer to the plasma cutter. The air is so hot at the tank, the water is all vapor. It has no chance to condense and will go through the separator. Water is the worst enemy to consumable life and cut quality.

when you are cutting thicker steel with the plasma cutter, put an angle on the cutter so that the bottom part of the steel will heat up whilst you are cutting

I want one 👌 awesome

I'd get a piece of angle iron 2 use as a guide and keep the cutting tip @ the appropriate height from your piece as probably already have thought of. 🌈🙂

An Air locker AP 700 is the ideal tool to remove the nails. Google the videos, its pretty cool. Also a crescent NP11 to pull the nails if they don't come out all of the way with the AP700.

Well done 👍👍👍. Thanks for sharing

Wicked !!!!!

Just turn it to maximum and change your travel speed depending on metal thickness

Awesome

WHen ever possible clamp a straight edge to run the cutting head down , makes for a nice clean cut and the head should be able to touch the metal while cutting to .

I wonder if it would have been better to use round stock for the part the legs attach to?

Boom early squad lol always awesome to watch mate They work. A treat aye, and can be quite fast

Mine works better if i clean a shiny spot for my ground to connect. A couple of your cuts looked like you was not grounded very good. Slowing down will give a better cut. sort of like an acetaline torch, needs some time to melt properly.

What part of the video was the paid promotion?

where abouts in nz are you?

Marty if that was chalk you were using to mark out, Supercheap do soapstone marker in the welding area. Don't bother getting the adjustable holder because it is pants. For the same price you get a pack of refill that you can sharpen and use like a pencil. You get seven refills for $10.97. It's way better than chalk. Bangood rates that cutter as needing 4.5cfm @ 75psi of air. It looked like you were using a reasonably big compressor. I am wondering if the compressor recommendation is reasonable, as I have a buddy who had to upgrade his compressor to get a plasma cutter to work well. I am also thinking that while are new to using the plasma cutter, you were getting pretty ugly results, and it would have taken you ages to clean up with the angle cutter. In fact I am wondering if there was any overall advantage?

Did the power plug fit straight out of the box or did you have to change it over to suit NZ power outlet?

How’s angry ram 🐑

seems like a messy cut, for this use-case i'm happy using my $30 angle grinder, but i use tnat for everything, i dont even own a chop saw. it helps when the local shops (i mean six or seven places closer than the nearest supermarket) sell top quality cutting discs for 40c.

I cut the left and right sides and then remove the center. Is faster, no need to remove so many nails, and the corners are ussually bad anyway

Marty I like the pallet tool. I use scrap pallets on ocassion in my Maple syrup evaporator and I use an my chainsaw to cut the boards. This tool would save my chains from stray nails by only having to trim the boards to length. Thanks

the thicker the metal, the slower you need to make your travel speed.

How many pallets you got homie? where you gotta diy a tool for them? Throw them in a pile and burnnem :) Cool tool

Why do you need compressed air what is the purpose of that. Is it to increase the temperature burn better surely pure oxygen would be better if that's the case

I just wanted to make sure there was at least one post about you going way too fast with the torch..... Yep, there is at least one.

Set up a fan behind you to blow the fumes away from you

2hundy well spent

Try ALDI, they have plasma cutters come up in there special buys, i got one and it works well. I only bought it because a couple of welding guys talking in a welding shop where telling the store how the ALDI one they got was better than the 2000$ WIA or some brand unit they bought a few years ago.. definitely getting cheaper.

If you are making long cuts use a straight edge to make better cuts.

If your new to plasma cutters.make a stand off so you dont have to maintain a steady distance from the material.

RU-vid put a second ad of 49 minutes on this video. I didn't watch it. They must be nuts. That's an infomercial

Hey dunno if u care but u can get a auto darkening welders mask for like 35 to 40 bucks on wish.com. I got one from them n it works great

Just a quick tip, When you start your cut , do not start to move along the line until the cutter has gone all the way thru and then move slowly along the line ensuring that you can see the molten sparks coming thru the base along the whole cut. Don't be scared of it, your cuts will be far cleaner the slower you go. You should be penetrating all the way thru at all times.

Tip is to go slower when cutting also maybe bring up your air pressure.

No need to worry about 110v in NZ you guys are 230v so any question I is pretty much mute.

You would survive factorio

How much was the shipping cost Mate?

A filter dryer makes a huge difference on longevity with your consumables. Moisture in your air supply is NOT your friend with plasma cutting. That's my experience.

Plasma cutting. You place the nozzle on the edge and slowly move it across the piece you're cutting, allowing the torch to "BLOW" completely through. The nozzle should stay in contact with and never leave the piece you're cutting. ONE PASS! That will make your tips last longer. I ALWAYS use guides as well.

I think your moving to fast on the thick stock. Also a straight edge as a guide will help your technique

Hey Marty. Sorry you lost the Rugby buddy (please don’t ban me from your channel for mentioning 😂) nice video as always. Cheers Andy

go slow and use a guide piece will help keep cuts straight and cleaner.

If you had put the handle at an angle your pallet puller will work better.

Your next mission: design and build an automatic nail-remover...

oxy setalin works more better

Moving way to fast with the gun slow down treat it like oxy

If you ain’t first you’re last