Plasma cutter problems with defib/pacemaker

hi, 63 yr old with defib/pacemaker installed. I want to use plasma cutter, recreationally, what hazards or potential problems should I be aware of? Thanks in advance for any help.

1 Comments

Good question

by Theknotguy - 2014-10-26 04:10:33

Good question. Some of the older plasma cutters had a high level of garbage RF and were all over the radio spectrum. Newer ones supposedly took care of that problem because the newer "brains" were IC chips and couldn't take the RF. So older cutters could be a problem and interfere with your PM. Don't have dates or models but if the cutter has an IC chip brain it's probably a newer system.

If it's CNC and you aren't handling the actual cutter you may be OK. But I'd wait to see if anyone who has used one chimes in from this forum.

Question here is if the cutter emits enough garbage RF to interfere with the PM. Kinda like leaning over an alternator on a running car engine. I got away with leaning over an alternator twice with my PM and while the engine was running but I don't really like to temp fate. Got some weird heart action after doing that. Since it was early in my PM life I don't know if it was interference from the alternator or just a reaction to extra adrenaline in my body.

I also volunteer in a woodshop. Don't have any problems running any of the equipment other than the Sawzall. Problem with the Sawzall isn't the electric motor but the vibration. If it shakes my PM the PM "wakes up", thinks I'm running, and kicks off my hearbeat. What a rush! One of the other guys came over and said, "You shoulda seen the look on your face! Can you do that again? The guys haven't had a laugh in weeks!"

With the newer plasma cutters, since they had to shield them for IC chips, I'm thinking you could get away with setting up the job, then getting more than three feet away from the cutter head. The newer PM's are shielded enough you probably won't feel a thing. But just the same, I'd make sure someone else was in the shop who could turn off the cutter and attend to your needs if the worst happens.

I'm not sure what the worst could be, but it could send your PM into a maintenance mode. Not good when you need the faster heartbeat and increased oxygen. Getting dizzy and gasping for air is not my idea of fun - I've been to Las Vegas and seen FUN! Not my lifestyle but anyway.... You don't want to pass out, fall into some machinery and end up in pieces. Last I checked, parts of the human body don't take chrome plating too well either. Not to mention all the mess you'd make of a perfectly good shop. But I'm not going to mention that.

Hope you hear from some other members soon. Post a picture of your finished product if it works.

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