Hobart 500546 Airforce 700i 230-Volt Plasma Cutter

I bought this with the intention of maintaining my farm equipment, so I wanted a plasma torch that had some teeth to it. And I was not disappointed. It is rated to cut 5/8 inch metal, so when I got it out of the box and got it hooked up, I had a 1inch thick piece of steel plate that I tried it out on. And to my surprise it did the job. Don’t get me wrong I had to go really slow to cut through the plate, but come on how often will you be cutting 1” plate. I cut some 7/16 plate and it cut really clean and fast. So far I am very happy with this product. If something changes I will make sure that this post will get updated to reflect that. One more thing I would like to add, I went to 5 different stores in my area to purchase this product and Amazon was the cheapest by 100.00+ dollars. If you purchase this product just make sure that you have an air compressor that can keep up with the rated CPM’s,(which isn't very much) and the air that you use is filtered and dry.

As the titles says Hobart does not offer a cnc torch for any of their modles. If I would have done a little bit more research I would have saved myself this trouble. If this is a deciding factor in your purchase your better off with a Miller or equivalent. If this does not matter to you, than this plasma cutter is a beast of a machine and works wonderfully. Cuts light a hot knife through butter!

They are a little tricky on their advertising of what it will do.It does not cut as good as they say, and is not cnc compatible. From what I have found out now after I purchase cutter, is to use with cnc machine you have to do extensive rewiring, and purchase different torch.

This review is mainly for those who are thinking of giving this item as a gift and like me, know nothing about plasma cutters. A compressor is necessary. I didn't know that, so while my poor husband loved his gift, he opted to return it as we cannot afford to by it and a compressor right now. I wish I'd known that ahead of time, that Hobart would make it VERY clear (maybe I missed something?), I would have gone with something else.

Having been impressed with the overall quality of Hobart MIG welders, I purchased the 700i and have found it equally impressive in its overall construction and performance. The new inverter IGBT technology makes for a physically small package, but impressive cutting performance. Prior experience was with a Thermodyne unit, which worked fine, but I really like the 700i unit.

the unit arrived without a swirl ring install in the gun. this caused me to use all of the consumables I had purchased before I figured out the problem. contacted hobart service and no response. fixed it myself. when functional seems to be a good unit.

Hobart 500546 Airforce 700i 230-Volt Plasma Cutter, supplied from Northern Tool, is a great addition to my little shop. I do alot of fabrication so I can give the (Hot Wrench), the torch, a rest for a while. I would recommend this product to anyone who is serious about their work.

This little machine exceeded my expectations on cut quality and capacity. It a perfect fit for a home\ hobby shop where you want to cut something thicker than sheet metal.