Metalworking has always been very much a “mixed method” art. Forging, welding, milling, grinding; anything to remove metal or push ... new tools like CNC plasma cutting and computer-aided ...

Affordable plasma cutters are becoming a popular step up from an angle grinder for cutting sheet metal in the home workshop, but cutting long straight lines can be laborious and less than accurate.

If a shop was “high-tech,” it might have a metal cutting bandsaw or abrasive-disk chop saw. In recent decades plasma cutters appeared ... cut flat sheet steel up to 3/16-inch, and pretty ...