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The compressor at work has 175 PSI. Can I hook a Hypertherm Powermax 380 plasma cutter up to this 175 PSI without damaging anything inside of it?

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It won't work as well if at all with out a Regulator, most Plasma cutters use an average of 30lbs of pressure and that varies at the thickness of the metal your cutting. Most Plasma cutters have a built in reg. and as long as that is working you'll be fine. Check for the desired pressure in the manual for the thickness your cutting.

 

Yeah, it has a built in regulator that gets set at 60 PSI. I'm just hoping that 175 PSI isn't too much into the regulator.

 

What does the reg. show as max press. If it doesn't show less than 175lbs.- 200lbs. you should be ok. If it shows less that the 175lb then you'lll have to put an external reg. on it or you blow the seals in the one on the plasma cutter. As stated above the amount of air you actually need going thru the Plasma cutter depends on the thickness of the metal your cutting.

 

Alright, I drove to the shop to check it out... the regulator reads to 140 PSI, and there is a sticker on the back of the machine that reads 120 PSI max. It looks like I'm going to be buying a small regulator soon.

 

Yep, you'll need a reg. that will handle 175lbs + 10% so a 200 psi reg. prior to the Plasma cutter will work fine. Once you have that in line, bring your line pressure to 20lbs below max on P/C then you will be able to control it with the reg. on the P/C.