[Ultralow787]

When we were looking at getting a plasma cutter for our shop, our concern was that we don't have a very large compressor. I enquired about using compressed N2 and was told, it should be okay, but the capacity would be reduced a bit because of the lack of oxygen. Since then, I spoke to Hypertherm at a show and they were using N2 as a portable air source. The operator told me it worked great and was real easy on the tips and such. From that and what I read here, I don't think I would bother with a bigger compressor just for a plasma.

[rankamateur]

Unless you're doing some SERIOUS cutting with a manual plasma, you can generally get by with a pretty reasonable sized compressor. When we set up our new shop and got a plasma table, we upgraded our compressor, but before that, we used a 33 gallon Craftsman compressor and as long as we weren't cutting six feet or so of quarter inch with our little TD plasma, we had no problems. Nitrogen works great, don't get me wrong, I have thought about going to Nitrogen on our table, but I am a cheap bastard that can never bring himself to spend that money. Just remember if you use compressed air, add as many filters and driers as you think you need, then mount two more. Drier inserts are cheap compared to how many tips, cups and electrodes you can chunk out.