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I was in the market for a mig welding rig and a plasma cutter for the C303 bodywork I want to do, and came across this thing, the multiplaz:



From what the website and some forum reviews I can find of it say, it is a russian design/chinese manufactured, basically uses water and electricity to create a plasma flame similar to a brown's gas torch setup, but up to 14K degrees. No gas, no fumes, no flash and UV dangers. Supposedly, this device uses 110v or 220v pulling about 2-3W to power it, but in doing so replaces mig/tig/arc/plasma/soldering tools with one device. I looked at some welds that it did at the store I went to today and they looked pretty clean an d had deep penetration and nice corner in/corner out, though I am no expert. It is capable of plugging into an inverter and doing heavy weld work right in the field, which seems ideal for overlanding or situations where you are out in the nothing and a tie rod breaks, etc.

I picked one up today instead of getting the several other pieces of equipment to weld and cut with, and am very anxious to find out how it works. Ive got (as you can see from my other posts) quite a bit of work to do on my rig, cutting, welding, blasting, painting, etc. so finding one machine that does all those things is pretty interesting to me. I will report here what I find after I have had some helmet time with it out in the shop. NOTE: I am not trying to spam or commercialize with this thing, nor am I affiliated with the company in any way. I bought one today here in WA and am generally curious if anyone here has used one as it seems ideal for people that own an older military offroad vehicle which is prone to broken metal parts. lol. Pretty much every other post I see here is about something breaking or something being worked on Soooooo, go figure.

Has anyone here heard of or used on of these? Vince? Jim?

Have not used but from what I know of this kind of system jewelers and some knife makers use them (perhaps smaller units?)

I've used "micro torches" that used electricity to break down water to hydrogen and oxygen, then burned the gasses in a very tiny flame (smaller than a pencil point). This made for a very tiny, controlled heat source that would run all day on electricity and water. But physics dictates that, at best, energy in equals energy out -- so the unit I used pulled a few hundred watts from the electrical system and gave a similar heat energy at the small flame (but very hot, and very compact). It would not heat a large volume of material. We were using it to cut hundreds of very fine copper wire strands, strands so fine that they were difficult to cut even with the best of precision dykes.

However, it is possible to store the gasses and then release the energy in a bigger blast for a shorter time. But I'm very leery of the 2-3 watts of power; maybe 2-3 KILO watts would explain how they plan to get enough heat to do any work.

Let us know how it works for you.

Correction: Power consumption on this is 2 kWt for 110v, 3.5 kWt for 220v, I incorrectly wrote 2W and 3.5W before. DURP. Sorry about that!

Higher power consumption on 220 than110?

I'd wait till Andre can chime in. He would know better than anyone else. I have a feeling it won't work as well as they say, but maybe I'm wrong. Chinese/Russian devices- not a good combo...

I'd also test that inverter idea out first. I doubt that will function too well.

Bluntly, I'd hire a body-shop experienced welder do your final panel welds. They need specialized and experienced attention to be done right, in my opinion.

I tried to google multiplaz
10 pages of people asking what it is and how it works
I think I found 1 site (not from the manuf) that said something about it.
Seems suspicious but will be interested in your findings!

Here's the site: http://www.multiplaz.com

Jimm391730 wrote:I've used "micro torches" that used electricity to break down water to hydrogen and oxygen, then burned the gasses in a very tiny flame (smaller than a pencil point). This made for a very tiny, controlled heat source that would run all day on electricity and water. But physics dictates that, at best, energy in equals energy out -- so the unit I used pulled a few hundred watts from the electrical system and gave a similar heat energy at the small flame (but very hot, and very compact). It would not heat a large volume of material. We were using it to cut hundreds of very fine copper wire strands, strands so fine that they were difficult to cut even with the best of precision dykes.

However, it is possible to store the gasses and then release the energy in a bigger blast for a shorter time. But I'm very leery of the 2-3 watts of power; maybe 2-3 KILO watts would explain how they plan to get enough heat to do any work.

Let us know how it works for you.

I have a Micro torch in my basemement shop that splits the O from the H as well. I have used it for a good 15 years to do all my jewlery repair work. Absolutly the cleanest flame I have ever found. If this works in a larger scale for automotive work you will be pleased.

I remember reading an artical about 5 years ago about a project MB was involved in to make a hydrogen generator large enough to power a 350 hp car for 7.5 seconds, and make the fuel in 5 seconds. ultimatly meaning you never had much free hydrogen on board, reducing the bomb effect.
Considering I have heard nothing more about it, I suspect it was found to not be subsainable.

For those curious, here's information on the company itself: http://multiplaz.en.alibaba.com
There's also lots more info on that site about the Multiplaz 3500 .

It sounds very interesting. I've asked them if there's a dealer near me so I can take a look at it. Christmas is coming

Max..keep us in the loop with your results I would love to see pics of this unit in operation cuts and welds and your take on the product as you learn to use it maybe even a youtube video of its operation. I will definately buy one if your results are favorable.

If you follow this link you can get some info. There are a couple of YouTube links and a review of the cutting abilities near the bottom of the article.

http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/worksh ... w-unboxing

Tibbermore wrote:If you follow this link you can get some info. There are a couple of YouTube links and a review of the cutting abilities near the bottom of the article.

http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/worksh ... w-unboxing

So he unboxes it
then you go to part II and he talks about cutting but the pictures only show him cutting maybe and inch or so?
I will wait for MadMax's review but I would say it is a bit of scam or everyone would know about these machines - no?

I wasn't promoting the Multiplaz, simply responding to the request for more information sources!

Tibbermore wrote:I wasn't promoting the Multiplaz, simply responding to the request for more information sources!

yeah I know - I was just commenting on the lack of info and that guys review
Thanks for posting the link
It will be interesting to get MadMax's review so we all know what up.