How much 'juice' do you supply to your plasma cutter?

[pony]

I have to replace the breaker box in my workshop this weekend, yep another chore I didn't schedule time for.
If I run my Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster A60 on its highest setting it will occasionally trip the breaker. I discovered this circuit has a 30 AMP breaker on it, which was always fine for my welder or Japanese made plasma cutter. In looking at the breaker panel it is fully populated, and about 20 years old. I have had problems getting breakers for it before, and had to buy used ones on eBay The workshop/barn wiring is terrible, and I'm 100% sure it is not to code, nor never was.

Deciding on a new panel with some expansion for extra circuits, I just bought a larger breaker panel (12 breakers instead of 8), and enough cable to bring a new feed from my main panel that is attached to a pole in my side pasture. In that panel I have a 200AMP feed for our mother-in-law apartment and a 60 AMP feed that did all my workshop/barn (a different electricity pole and meter supply another 200AMP circuit for the main ranch). I had planned to change this feed to the workshop/barn to 100 AMP. I read my manual for the Cutmaster and it says to provide a 6 AWG cable with a 100 AMP fuse. Can this be right? I'm fairly sure the socket/plug is rated for 50 AMP, so 100 AMP seems very high. I don't want to overrate the breaker and lose any protection it offers.
What AMP circuit do you run your plasma cutter on?
BTW (this is in the US and I'm using 220V single phase.)

[FiveORacing]

I have a similar setup. 200 amp service to the house with a 100 breaker in that panel that runs to the garage, 100 feet from the house. The 100 amp panel in the garage has 12 breakers, the largest being 30 amps at 230 volts for the Powermax 45. Most of the garage is lights and outlets. I considered going to a 50 amp circuit for the Plasma cutter but I have had no problems with the 30amp and I turned it all the way up and cut some 1/2 inch just to test it. I'm sure it would not be ideal to run the Powermax at full power all the time on 30 amps (it calls for 28 @ 230 volts), but I usually cut no more than 14 gauge. It's all to code as far as wire sizes so I feel comfortable with it. All my service is underground, and several hundred feet, and it's just too expensive to run a bigger service.
Not sure about Thermal Dynamics, but the Hypertherms, especially the new ones do not seem to require a ton of power.

[pony]

Thanks for the info.
One thing I did not consider is its just a faulty breaker. I am unable to buy new breakers for it, so I'm using 'refurbished' (a nice name for used or old ). I'll put the new panel in and give it a 50 AMP breaker. My workshop/barn is in the pasture next to the power pole, literally within 3 feet of it. Not too much digging to do.

[dreamer]

I run mine off of a 50 amp slow blow fuse not a breaker........Harold

[parrotlady]

60amp. I will likely never need it, but you never know if someone would like an order for sewer covers

[FiveORacing]

Thanks for the info.
One thing I did not consider is its just a faulty breaker. I am unable to buy new breakers for it, so I'm using 'refurbished' (a nice name for used or old ). I'll put the new panel in and give it a 50 AMP breaker. My workshop/barn is in the pasture next to the power pole, literally within 3 feet of it. Not too much digging to do.

I bought a new house in 1992 and it had one of those all plastic boxes called "Trilliant". Man, those breakers were expensive. I think they are now obsolete?

[jimcolt]

The amount of power that any plasma system draws is related to the amperage you have it set to produce, and the length of the arc.....which is the load voltage. Thicker materials requires a longer arc, higher load voltage. The specs for the A60 are correct (the people that designed the unit certainly know how much power it will draw at a given input voltage!)....but the draw varies based on input line voltage (lower input voltage means more input amperage draw) and what you are cutting. So if the input line while cutting drops down to about 200 volts, and you are severing some 1-1/2" steel with the A60 at full output amperage....you could draw some pretty serious amperage from your breaker panel.

Jim Colt Hypertherm