[Aussie Mike]

I've had a plasma cutter for years now and love it. The old angle grinder gets used less and less. I find it great for cutting up sheet metal. I clamp a piece of angle iron or strap to the sheet I want to cut and run the torch along the edge. Makes for neat straight cuts.

My machine is an older 40 Amp inverter. It's a contact style and I'm tempted to upgrade to a 50 Amp machine with a pilot arc. The advantage with the pilot arc machine is the torch doesn't have to make contact with the work piece to start the arc. It's better for piercing as you can start the torch and bring it down onto the metal. With the contact start you get a lot of slag and sparks coming back up and messing up the tip when you try to pierce.

I would rather have a dedicated machine than a 3 in one. The plasma on it's own is smaller and much more portable.