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Hi Everyone,

My latest CD-ROM (burned CD-R) disc is the one you are reading now. I am sitting down to write it
after having fixes 25 plasma cutters of various brands and all in the Cut40 or Cut50 family. There is
a striking resemblance and after removing the cover they all look pretty much alike.There are a
few models with some extra features or gizmos added on. We'll talk about that later.

I got involved with plasma cutters only because I spend my time on ebay searching for technical
things of interest such as welding and tools and computers and more. I was searching for a plasma
cutter for years and bid on some from time to time but you know how it goes- bid $25 bucks and
the item is yours until the very last second and then goes up to several hundreds. I was also
looking at used units and big occasionally but either was outbid of decided that model was too far
gone to spend money on.

The most affordable ones came from China and I saw the same or similar shape machines with the
same front end- typical Cut40 control panel face selling from various sellers. I knew then what I
know now that they are all alike. Now that I have taken so many apart- I can say that is 99%
factual. Some differences but not too much.

These China-made plasma cutters are affordable just barely to most people when they're new. I'm
not sure how the big name brand outfit survive sales-wise charging a few thousand dollars. Even
broken BIG BOY plasma cutters on ebay go for big bucks. I've see those in photos and they have a
totally different design based on transformers and more.

The Cut40 series (which I'm including the 50s in that statement and throughout as they are nearly
alike) uses standard electronic parts as found in TV sets and radios. It is amazing that putting parts
in certain ways make a radio and other ways make a plasma cutter. There are some unique parts
in a plasma cutter just as there are unique parts in a TV set - like the screen for example.

I got my shot at obtaining a broken non-working plasma cutter about a year and a half ago and
during that same month I saw more and more and more and more good deals. Some of my broken
ones I got for between $36 and $79 dollars plus shipping. The two models were purchased from
ebay broken and from the seller. When I got lucky it seemed like a domino effect that were too
good to pass up. I spent about a thousand bucks on the broken units. I figured they were all the
same and when I took them apart I noticed that I could swap the boards. Once I got one to work, I
could swap out boards and test whole parts for being good/bad. I once swapped out a board and
blew out my good one so there is some risk because the bad board can take out the good boards
in the process.

Every plasma cutter had some issues and none worked. When they say defective or untested or
needs repair or as-is no arc- no ain't getting a good one by accident. Ok I had this big mountain of
plasma cutters in a room in my house. I went looking for spare parts or replacement parts and
found zero helpful companies, zero parts available and forums which had zero helpful information.
I was on my own and a thousand bucks down the drain. I thought about parting out some like
some ebayers were doing but I saw no money in it. Everybody wants a deal and selling stuff for a
penny and at the end of the week it ends at $2.29 is nothing for me especially when the ebay fees
are so high and paypal gets their cut. The $2.29 would have me owing them money and giving
away my good finds for less than free.

I still see good finds every month. Seems every month or so I see a broken cut40 series go for
about $70-110 plus shipping which after what I learned by soldering and more is reasonable-
especially if you can pick it up and there is no shipping charge. If something is missing like the
torch or clips or more then that price is a bit much by the time you put money into it you could
just buy a brand new cheap model.
My first plasma cutter was a real nightmare and sat on my kitchen table for months while I went
through it comparing identical parts inside itself to each other and comparing these to some other
spare units to finally figure out what a good part should look like and test like. Most of them had
blown out top board problems clearly visible by charred areas on the PCB itself and also viewing
the charred area inside the metal case cover. The black charred areas are like a beacon telling you
where blown parts are inside the unit. Some of the ebay units looked like they were opened up
and tinkered with and the previous owner closed it back up incorrectly. Some units were the
compilation of leftover blown boards where none of the assemblies were any good and they made
a Frankenstein unit from all of the crap. That was my unfortunate luck to have opened that unit up
and why it sat on my kitchen table for months. Some were easy fixes and some were not.

I choose to film the units that are on my CD now most all of the problems were present in one
unit. The solenoid problem was present in the other Cut40 so between the two I could show you
everything. None of the blown units had a power connector. Isn't that something- the seller blows
out the unit and scavenges the ac connector for his/her next plasma cutter. I don't have any 220v
ac power in my house or shop so I made sure when I bought the units that it runs off 110volts or
was a combo unit 110/220v. The only error I made was buying 1ea 220v unit by mistake. The
mistake is beneficial to you as a viewer so you can compare identical units CUT50 CUT40 and see
they are the same. Only the power supply bottom board was different.

I'm not picking on any of the brand names or models as they are all good and share the same
electronics. There are a few common problems in design, assembly, and structure

Problems

1. Cooling system is prone to cracking

2. Structure of unit is plastic and also affects cooling system

3. Not rugged enough to withstand being dropped

4. Cardboard box is just barely bigger than the items

5. Vendors put their name on it but get it from China so support is elsewhere and they don't know
how or don't want to deal with replacement parts

6. AC plug is not attached and people screw that up installing it backwards

7. Parts have unusual part number that are hard to cross reference to known common parts

8. Owner's manual is written in pigeon English and makes zero sense.

9. Outer case has screwholes that don't line up with anything - more structure was intended as
originally designed but later dropped the ball in production.

10. Hot parts need heatsinks and many of the smaller mosfets on the top board and the bottom
boards have zero heatsinks- add your own is my recommendation for longer life. Some people
have solenoid problems in otherwords their trigger on the torch doesn't start the air- cause by a
bad mosfet near the solenoid connector- pt a heat sink on it and it will last longer- Radio Shack
sells mini heatsinks for a few bucks.

11. Everything is scrunched together inside the case and should be spread out a little more to help
with heat.

12. Nothing and I mean nothing is holding the top board on. The four plastic standoffs should be
mashed down with a hot soldering iron like a mushroom and that is a forgotten step at the
factory. Also the upside-down Mosfets are not secured to the heatsink individually they are
clamped in pairs. Don't change the design because the screw would be an electrical short. Mosfets
are sitting on a rubber thermal mat and rough shipping loosens the top board with impacts inching
it and inching it and inching it until something blows and when it does it takes another thing out
and out like a split second domino effect. You hear a single loud pop but really it is several pops all
at once milliseconds apart.

I use paint thinner bought from Kmart and costed me $9.99 4 years ago. It cleans everything even
flux. Rubbing alcohol is Kmart brand and was about $1 for a bottle. Cleans well too and gets rid of
the oily residue from paint thinner. Using a combination of the two gets you perfectly clean
professional results on circuitboards. It is hard to tell a redone solder joint from a factory one.
Your solder can be any brand I use Kester or Radio Shack and are identical in my opinion. 60/40
rosin core .032 thickness. I use lead based solder as it works better. Most TVs and more use this
too and is nothing unusual. Just wash you hands before eating so you don't get lead inside you.
Don't rub your eyes etc.

The handy dandy desoldering iron with rubber bulb comes from Radio Shack and I've had mine for
over 10 years and the one before that was the same model which blew out after the previous 10
years of use. Well worth the $20 bucks approx price and sucks really well. The idea is to heat the
molten lead solder until it is a liquid then suck it up. Where does it go? Inside the bulb. You can
unplug the bulb and dump it out. I keep mine in a small jar where all of my lead scraps go. I then
remelt the small shavings into lead fishing weights or something.

The main problem with fixing the plasma cutters is the upside down MOSFETS which all were
Wisdom brand on ALL of the units. Some are advertised as having Toshiba brand but that is wrong.
They must have taken a quick peek inside the case and looked at the Toshiba Mosfet on the top
board (on the bottom board too) but didn't bother to see the 12 mosfets under the heatsink
clamps. Not Toshiba. Wisdom is in China and I was lucky to find a datasheet on the original part
which I studied and cross-referenced for months and made phone calls and more trying to find any
information or to buy these parts as spares. ZERO LUCK. Zero helpful vendors. I made alot of
emails and phone calls and I was SOL. ShXt Out of Luck not Sorry Out of Luck.

I continued to find better and better cross-references but all were lacking in some way whether it
was amperage or the curves were wrong or more. I did find a perfect match and that is the part I
used and recommend. It has a slightly different outer case so that means with the claming system
clamping pairs- make sure two identical parts are side to side. In otherwords two Wisdoms clamp
well together. Two replacements clamp well together side-by-side. If you were to clamp mis-
matched pairs (don't do it) they would be fine electrically but since one is thicker than the other
their back would not press evenly to the rubber thermal mat and would burnout. You can mix and
match as they are the same electrically but just make sure you clamp in alike pairs.

The 12 rectifiers were not difficult to cross reference and I used these because of cost- inexpensive
and good substitute. I could have ordered original part numbers but would have costed much
more.

The hidden problems are blown copper traces which are not visible until you start removing
boards. Let's say you fixed the top board and replaced obviously blown Mosfets etc. and you plug
it in what would happen- if you are lucky nothing. If you are unlucky you blew out more traces and
more parts and doubled your costs and back to square one or worse. It pays to be thorough and
don't be anxious to plug it in until everything is done.

Also I plan on adding two cooling fans on each side of the plasma cutter I plan on using for a future
cnc plasma cutter design. It seems to me that the existing fan draws the air through the heatsink
which is basically a tube. The airflow on the outside if the tube is non-existant as the vents on the
end of the tube on the side of the case is where air is drawn in on. If the system were more S-
shaped and air exits just inside of where it exits then the existing fan might be good enough. It is
better to have too many cooling systems than just barely enough.

The flimsy internal plastics and rough shipping shift the internals with each jolt. The plastic cooling
plates were cracked or broken on almost all of the bad units. Some had broken support sticks also.
The middle board is typically bent and the only thing holding it in place is the two big copper
brackets at the front of the machine. Structure is the main area of concern and shipped items
coming thousands of miles with flimsy support structurally means lots of bad units or brand new
units with problems before they are ever plugged in for the first time. Check yours first before
plugging it in.

I once had a Eureka older vacuum cleaner when I was a kid. It looked like a turtle with wheels. The
front hose had a metal tube with a black rind around it shaped like the letter C. The tube had a
small hole in it. If you turned the ring so that it covered the hole- you would get full suction. If you
turned the C shaped ring so the hole was showing you'd get alot less suction. Let's apply that to
plasma cutters- the fan is at the back of the unit and you have a cracked side plastic plate- you get
little or no airflow. The fans spins but there is a gap. Really take a good look at the fan. There is a
metal plate below- sometimes bended- straighten it so there is no gap. The top plastic plate gets
shifted out of place with cracked plastic rod which affects airflow. The broken or missing plastic
side pieces c'mon with all of those MOSFETS clamped in pairs to a single heatsink tube type
structure- it's gonna blow out.

Why not replace the plastic plates with metal plates- don't do it as plastic is an insulator and
you're gonna make a short and poof. Replace plastic with plastic and make sure you use the best
plastic you can find. I used an Ace Hardware $5 carpet sled. It took me a year of scavenging and
figuring out stuff. I could have used a kitty litter box- good plastic. 1 gal pail of ice cream- plastic
too flexible, the carpet sled was a good stiff spring-like plastic. Ordinary scissors cut it and paper
punch punches well too.

The solenoid section was a result of an email from someone wanting more information on what to
do and how to test and which parts to change out. If you squeeze the trigger and you get arc but
no air then check your solenoid and notice in the videos the parts I touch as these MOSFETS are
often bad and not hard to get. It is rare for a solenoid to go bad but I have one and show it being
tested. The bad one made no clicking sound when hooked up to the 12v dc power adapter 850ma
and was dead and shorted. Typically a good solenoid will measure between 50ohms and 100ohms.
The bad one shown measures in the thousands of ohms. I don't know where to get a replacement
but McMaster Carr sells generic ones or ebay sells them. The original solenoid is marked 220v but
that doesn't mean it is powered by 220v. I used 12v to test it and had a strong click.

I included an unusual damaged part the PC817 opto device on the top board. It looked like it was
broken by prying. I don't know if that was done by the previous owner or at the factory - check
yours and it is a commonly available part.
If your plasma cutter doesn't work it isn't because it ran out of plasma. I saw someone on a forum
ask where they could buy plasma to refill it locally. Plasma is an electrified gas (air from your air
compressor) that is all. A spark in air is plasma. Some people get way too technical talking about
plasma as being the fourth state of matter.

My lawnmower makes plasma when I pull the cord.

No bootlegging or displaying my secrets on forums or websites or other things because it hurts my

business and my livelihood. The proceeds from this cd go to support me and also to invest in
future Cds and projects.

My website is drviragopete.com and my email address is drviragopete@att.net See my other cds

and plans and items for sale. I'm a copyright and patent holder and paid my fees and completed
documentation and more. No copies or reselling of the cd, contents or competing products please.
I have to fight those sometimes which eats my time and more. You can make money by buying
used broken plasma cutters- just don't give away my secrets how. If someone on a forum asks you
how to fix a plasma cutter - send them my email address and give them my website but- don't
broadcast the solution to one person or to many people. I appreciate referrals and positive ebay
feedback. The solenoid section on this CD is a direct result of a buyer's suggestion and I have
included it to be helpful.

Enjoy your plasma cutter and email me if you have a question,

Dr Virago Pete