OPERATION |
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
WARNING
ELECTRIC SHOCK can kill.
•Do not touch electrically live parts or electrode with skin or wet clothing.
•Insulate yourself from work and ground.
•Always wear dry insulating gloves.
FUMES AND GASES can be dangerous.
•Keep your head out of fumes.
•Use ventilation or exhaust to remove fumes from breathing zone.
WELDING, CUTTING and
GOUGING SPARKS
can cause fire or explosion
•Keep flammable material away.
•Do not weld, cut or gouge on contain- ers that have held combustibles.
ARC RAYS 
can burn.
•Wear eye, ear and body protection.
PLASMA ARC can injure
• Keep your body away from nozzle and plasma arc.
•Operate the pilot arc with caution. The pilot arc is capable of burning the operator, others or even piercing safety clothing.
Observe additional Safety Guidelines detailed in the beginning of this manual.
DESCRIPTION
The PLASMA 20 is a constant current, continuous control plasma cutter power source.
The PLASMA 20 comes standard with an air regulator and pressure gauge. The unit is powered from a 115Vac, 20 amp input circuit with a 40% duty cycle rating on a 10 minute basis, with 20 amp output. The unit includes a
The PLASMA 20 utilizes a 3 second delay after press- ing the trigger before arc initiation to ensure that the operator is ready. The unit will not function if consum- ables are not installed correctly or missing, protecting the user. The unit uses
Plasma is a gas that is heated to an extremely high temperature and ionized so that is becomes a conduc- tor of electricity.
This cutting procedure utilizes the plasma to transfer the electric arc to the metal workpiece. The arc melts a small amount of the work piece and the compressed air blows away the molten metal there by producing the cutting action.
The torch uses compressed air from a single source, for both the plasma, cooling and protective gas.
The start of the cycle is determined by an arc, called the pilot arc, which is struck between the moveable electrode (negative polarity) and the torch nozzle (positive polarity) due to a short circuit between these two elements.
When the torch is brought near the workpiece to be cut and the trigger is pressed the pilot arc is trans- ferred between the electrode and the workpiece thus striking a plasma arc, also called the cutting arc.
The duration of the pilot arc is set in the factory at 3 seconds; if the transfer has not been made within this time, the cycle is automatically stopped except for the cooling air which is kept on.
PLASMA 20