Sounds right. You account for it in the F360 CAM setup. The default Langmuir recommended was .06" so that’s good.
Kerf will change with material, amperage and tip size. But unless the finished size is really critical, using a single setting is okay. If you get a job where you need to be spot on you’ll need to do a bit of testing before the final cut and then regenerating the G-code.
thanks, yah I was thinking that the kerf would change slightly. Hypertherm doesn’t mention it in my book, so I went with the .06 the tutorials recommended. I just need some time to play with it. I think now I can really get some parts goin. I need some new material as everything I have is warped, so that isn’t helping. I’ll keep posting results and projects I make. I have tons of stuff, mostly hotrod parts.
You can clamp your materials directly or get a couple of 3 ft flat stock bars (I have 2"x1/4" flat bar stock) that you can lay on top of the material outside your cut area (& torch travel) and clamp to the table. The length makes it easy to keep the clamps out of the way.
If it’s not warped too badly you can use magnests to hold it down. There are some pretty heavy duty ones available now.
I put warped material on so the edges are raised up off the table vs having the edges down but the center portions raised. That lets me clamp the edges and get it flat.