CNC Plasma Cutters - Some Background
Bill Kunz and his family built his former business (Torchmate CNC Cutting Systems) from a one car garage operation in his back yard in 1996 to over thirty thousand square feet and 66 employees when the business sold in 2011. Torchmate, now owned by Lincoln Electric, is still thriving in its present location in Reno, Nevada.
Prior to developing his first CNC plasma cutters in the mid – 1990s, Bill manufactured pantograph cutting machines, which he sold via magazine ads and direct mail campaigns. The timing of his first CNC plasma cutters fortunately coincided perfectly with the Internet first getting off the ground.
In the beginning, there were a number of relatively co-equal search engines, and none had yet figured out how to adequately charge visitors and websites for bringing them together. furthermore, the States had not yet figured out how to get their hands on sales tax revenue from Internet sales.
This period of more or less free advertising didn’t last long, but while it did it was not unlike the California Gold Rush. It was during this same period that CNC electronics and software were becoming available for desktop computers. Plasma cutters were still expensive but were becoming affordable to small shops and hobbyists.
All the stars were briefly aligned for the introduction of a low-cost line of CNC plasma cutters to be marketed via the Internet. Bill and his company were, pretty much through dumb luck, in a position to take full advantage of these conditions.
Now fully retired, Bill has spent much of his time engaged in projects using a succession of small CNC plasma cutters
assembled from various components purchased on-line. A few are pictured on this site. He now draws upon over thirty years of experience in the industry to share his views on the fabulous CNC plasma cutting process.
Visitors should note that there is some lack of uniformity of viewpoints within the industry on many issues. These are Bill’s impressions.
Over the years, Bill has built literally dozens of different CNC plasma tables, selected some for manufacture, and abandoned others. His views have been shaped by personal experimentation, feedback from employees and customers, and sales success.
