A structural steel fabricator we work with brought us a subcontract job this summer — cutting gusset plates and connection brackets for a pedestrian bridge renovation. The material was A36 steel plate, ranging from 3/8″ up to 1″ thick, and the shapes were all straight cuts and simple geometry. This is exactly what CNC plasma is built for.
We ran the parts on our Hypertherm HPR260XD table — a 5×10 foot cutting envelope with a fume extraction table underneath. On the 3/8″ material we were moving at a healthy 80 IPM, and even the 1″ plate cut cleanly at around 20 IPM. Cut quality on thick plate with high-definition plasma is impressive — bevel angle stayed under 3 degrees across all thickness ranges.
We cut just over 300 pieces across about a week and a half of shop time. The fabricator was handling all the fitup and welding, so they just needed clean-cut parts with consistent geometry. Plasma got them exactly that at a cost per piece that made sense for a structural job where you don’t need laser-quality edges. Sometimes the right tool really is the obvious one.