Bought a used plasma cutter off Facebook for 300 bucks and it was a dud

Saw a Hypertherm 45 listed for 300 dollars near me in Detroit. Met the guy in a parking lot, tested it on a piece of scrap and it fired up fine. Got it home and tried to cut 1/4 inch plate and it just sputtered and died. Opened it up and found burnt circuit board and a fan that was frozen solid. Now I am stuck with a 70 pound paperweight. Anybody got tips on repairing these things or should I just take the loss?

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abby_black5mo ago

Yeah that "tested fine on scrap" line gets people all the time. I bought a Miller 211 off some guy who let me burn a quick bead on a rusty fender and it ran great. Got it home and tried to weld 3/8 inch and it was a total mess. Turns out the feed motor was going bad and only worked when it was cold. For your Hypertherm, check the input voltage first because some of the older ones are real picky about power. Also look up the part number on that circuit board, you might find a replacement on eBay for under $100 if you're handy with a screwdriver. And for real, clean that fan out with some compressed air before you replace anything, sometimes a stuck fan kills the whole board from overheating.

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lisa55mo ago

Cleaned the fan out on mine first and it fired right back up.

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the_cole3mo ago

Buddy of mine got burned the same way @abby_black.

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