Anyone use the Plasma to cut galvanized?

[bobh]

I have an application that would lend itself to a plasma cutter, I think.
We cut galvanized steel, ranging from 20 to 10 ga.
Presently we shear and punch parts from a 4x12 sheet. (average size of the part is about 12"x6" with various cut-outs and holes)If I could use the plasma to cut these parts out, it would save a lot of time.
The material we get is normally dry, as we apply tape to the parts in a secondary operation. There are some times, however, that the material has a thin coating of some sort of oil.
Here are the questions:
The parts are not precision, +/- .015 is sufficient. However, the quality of cut is important; I cannot have any slag or dross that would require another cleaning operation. Can plasma deliver this?
Will the plasma "melt" the plating very far from the cut area?
What about the fumes? I know that welding galvanized creates toxic fumes, I assume plasma creates the same. Is an underneath fume extractor with the proper filter media sufficient to keep everyone healthy and satisfy OSHA?
Presently we use AutoCad exclusively. Could I export files from AutoCad into the Shop Bot?
If anyone has had any experience using a similar setup, I would really appreciate any feedback I can get to help me decide if this setup will work for me.

[bjwat@comcast.net]

Bob,
Toxic fumes prevent the plasma cutter from being the ideal setup for cutting galvanized. I am guessing that you would need no less than $20k of air filtration to satisfy OSHA. I wouldn't even consider it. I inadvertently heated up my 1st generation galvanized downdraft cabinet with the plasma torch and the fumes were nasty. I am curretnly running a water table, but still advise against cutting galvanized with that setup.

If you were to cut the steel 1st and then cold galavanize it, that might be a viable approach. You're not going to get away with cutting pieces without slag or dross. That's the nature of plasma arc cutting. In most cases it just flecks right off...but it sounds like you're already using the right tools for the job by shearing.

Sorry for the disappointment.

-Brady

[bjwat@comcast.net]

Bob,
Check out this link:

http://www.thefabricator.com/xp/Fabr...3/03web139.xml