Hi Firebird. I have a plasma cutter, but it's a small one and doesn't like 1/4 inch plate. It's great up to 3/16, but after that it doesn't always cut straight through and it's slow. I wish I could afford a more powerful unit, but... I've used cut-off wheels on my 4 1/2" grinder, too. It seems like the total time comes out about the same, so it's six of one and a half-dozen of the other, if you know what I mean. Over the years I have made a bunch of patterns that I can clamp on a piece of plate and drag my torch around the edges while cutting. It's crude, but I can duplicate a piece as many times as I want. Then comes all the dreaded grinding...