Air plasma cutters changed my bodywork process completely. I had been using an angle grinder and cutting wheels for panel removal and it worked, but the heat and slag created problems — warping thin panels, leaving rough edges that required grinding, taking more time than I wanted to spend.

The plasma cutter cuts clean, cuts fast, and generates almost no heat in the surrounding metal. I can cut a door skin off in five minutes and the remaining structure is ready to weld to immediately.

Used the Harbor Freight unit for a year before upgrading to a Hypertherm. The HF unit works but the Hypertherm is in a different class. Budget for the right tool if you do any serious amount of bodywork.