Is it possible? Otherwise how do you minimize it? I cut 1/4" mild steel the other day and it cut with almost zero dross. I followed my chart that came with my plasma cutter and was very impressed. Now, I go back to 14 gauge mild steel and I can’t get it to the same level. What should my strategy be? Should I keep increasing speed until I get skips? Should I keep decreasing my amperage until it doesn’t keep up? I have a hypertherm 45xp running at 45 amps
I do believe that with thicker material it is A lot easier to get little to no dross where the thinner material you can only do so much to minimize.
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Yep. What he said.
Really hard on 14g and detailed stuff
Like was said before, you can try to work on lessening it, but light gauge metal is more likely to have it. If you are cutting something thin and don’t mind the added cost of waste material, you can put something under it and cut through both layers at the same time at the combined layer thickness’ settings. If you find that 1/4" cuts nearly perfectly with the cutter and settings you have, then a sheet of 8 gauge added underneath it could help, but that is more costly to cut both materials only to use the other as scrap.
Are you already using a water table? Those are supposed to also help with lighter gauge cutting. Of course they come with their own added challenges.
Thanks all for the replies! I am using a water table and it seems to be constantly splashing the fluid up on the underside of the metal. I think I’m going to quit messing with 14 gauge. 11 gauge cuts soo much better and you can get by with thinner metal inside your designs. I’ll just use the 11 for my signs and small tinkering stuff and the 3/16 - 3/8 for the good stuff. I was surprised how well even 1/8" aluminum cut on my table. All the thicker stuff is evidently easier.
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I’m glad you’re seeing better results in a little thicker material without having to go up to something really thick.
1/8" is my go to for dross free cutting! I cut a lot of 14 gauge too and find that a good knotted wire wheel mounted to an angle grinder knocks the dross off very quickly.
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same here, wire wheel it or on small pieces a pair of dikes will break off 1" or so at a time.
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Hi, I also have a Hypertherm 45XP and I have been free cutting 14 ga (table is not assembled yet) and having very little dross on my cuts. Are you using the fine cut consumables for the 45XP? It makes a huge difference!
What dross I do have, I use a HF Compact air needle scaler. I just lay the needles perpendicular to the edge and it knocks off very cleanly. Can’t wait to see what using constant speed of the Crossfire will do for my cuts!
Hope this helps!
I do not have the fine consumables. I’ll have to give that a try. I kinda want to try etching some stuff so I might order the gouging tip too while I’m at it
If I remember correctly, I set the amperage to 25A, so that I can move the torch at a reasonable speed. With the table I am sure you can do much better. They also offer a drag tip for the fine cut, but not listed under the 45XP, but I believe it is listed under the 65XP…
I got my fine cut consumables in the mail and ran another 14 gauge sign and it is very impressive what it does with them. It’s gonna keep the 14 gauge metal in the mix. The cuts are very sharp and cleanAnd no melting issues
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How fine a nozzle diameter did you get?
It’s just called “fine cut consumables” by hypertherm. Not sure how to quantify it beyond that
Yeah I did some research. They don’t spec the orifice size. According to them, they have some stepped nozzles so orifice size isn’t an appropriate measurement.
But the kerf sizes they claim are 40% the kerf of a .8 nozzle on the RW45. That’s pretty amazing and part of what the extra thousand dollars gets you when you buy a Hypertherm 
I certainly don’t regret buying a hypertherm 
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Hey buddy I am using the same plasma you are. I am curious to know at what speed you are cutting 3/16 material at? I tried cutting out a design at the recommended 85ipm on Hypertherm but I noticed I was cutting a bit too fast. I am using the regular machine torch consumables.
You should be cutting at 122ipm on 3/16 mild steel with the standard consumables. I accidentally ran mine at 165(ish) the other day on 3/16 and I’m thinking I might make an note on my chart and cut closer to the 150 mark
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I still get a good amount of dross with a razor weld cut45 on 11g.
What IPM are you guys running yours at?
That wire wheel almost knocked my thumb off today, thankfully the leather gloves took the brunt of it’s bite!