Do you know how many pierces or inches of cut that is?
I was also told to clean out the nozzle more often. What I do is take the electrode and twist it into the nozzle to get a smoother clean finish, then I blow out the dust.
Today I had some semi used consumables in, ran some sheets and had 3 misfires within my 5th sheet of day. Now that is only a 12x24" sheet and by the 3rd misfire (all within a couple minutes of my 5th sheet) I stopped cleaned out nozzle and continued to cut for another sheet and then had another misfire. So 4 misfires in about an hour of cutting. I also had the Z axis get janky on a sheet. So for a few cuts I could tell it wasn’t cycling and piercing properly. I stopped the program and reset it. Made sure the Z axis was clean.
That is 3 days in a row with a table issue and 3 days of misfires. Unless things turn around drastically for me. I’ll def be trying out a Wright CNC next year. Hypertherm has NO solution for the 0-30 error code. Everytime I talk to them, they know all about it. I don’t know why Im plagued so bad with it.
I used to be able to get consumables to look like yours, that was back on my CF table. Now they misfire way too often bf I can get a dimple worn into them.
I also ruined a nozzle today, that is two within a couple weeks. I rarely had that happen with the CF table too. maybe a fluke, Im glad it wasn’t a new nozzle cause they are $7 a pop. I need to find time to make my stansion plates to raise up the rails, then build a taller water table. I think this table is too shallow, way too much debris comes up onto sheets and rails etc. I don’t do a full flush very often. I do clean out my table everyday and add more water, but there is still fine metal in there that gets splashed all over.
The one file I have left on my laptop I opened it in sheetcam and it was 874 pierces and 6400 inches of cut.
I can start recording exactly what they are and what I get but it will be 2 or 3 weeks since I just cut out a pile of stuff that will last me a while.
The water table I’m not sure if I’m a fan of it or not they get so gross and messy.I cleaned out that CF table the other day and it took two hours.That was probably a month of cutting and I do use it pretty much everyday but only for small parts but there was almost half a 5 gallon bucket of fine stuff in the tray.
With my big table and down draft fan it takes 5 minutes to open it up and sweep it up and still no smoke in the shop.
I’ve been following your thread. Don’t really have anything to add on as I’m not cutting anywhere near the rate you are If I were I would definitely be looking at a more industrial table and something bigger. I’ve been getting into some bigger projects so I’ve been investigating… you might want to do some investigation into wright CNC. join the group on Facebook called “CNC plasma the good, the bad, and the ugly”
As Iv stated bf Iv made over 100k just on the CF and can do the same with the PRO, I like the PRO but I’v just don’t have time to constantly deal with it and the plasma misfires. I couldn’t imaging hiring and teaching someone how to manage all of it, bc it even frustrates and challenges me. I was really debating the PRO vs the 2x4 Wright. Then the scandemic hit and Wright was backed up. I decided to bite the bullet on the PRO bc the forum is great, I trust the company and they didn’t ship freight. It was a little cheaper too. So we’ll see how things go, its been about 5 weeks of cutting with the PRO, I cut 10-15hrs a week thats it right now cause its just a fight everyday almost. Overall I’m happier with the PRO than the CF but man Im wasting alot of valuable time. Its one thing to waste time, then waste material, then eat up consumable costs. All of it starts adding up. I do this for a living so adding 10$ to a product equates to 120 a month etc.
Dang, I couldnt do 874 pierces on one file with no misfires unless I had brand new consumables. I went my first 6 months with no water table, it was insane. But I didn’t have heat in garage and wasn’t sure about tips in the water, plus clean up etc. I finally got a water table and its well worth it. However it has sprung up debris onto the rails and threw my coordinates off quite a few times on the CF. So far on the PRO iv had coordinates get off 3 or 4 times in 5 weeks. I think most of them were from things coming loose. But, the water table IMO is def too shallow on the PRO esp for the 65xp plasma, just kicks stuff up too much. Keep me posted on your pierces, if you use sheetcam you can go into job report and it will tell you how many pierces and inches of cut etc. I really like sheetcam.
Just read through this. Simple question here does it make a difference if you use the regular electrode 220842 I think. (Not copper plus). I have a Hypertherm 1000 with the retrofit duramax torch. For some reason it does not like the copper plus electrodes misfires all the time. But with the regular electrodes it basically never misfires. I’ve just resorted to using all regular electrodes and haven’t had a problem since.
Hey man, that is interesting. I’d def call them and let them know. For me the regular electrode still misfires and doesn’t last as long. I just used my last one the other day. I so personally think this is more of an electrode issue. As I have stated, I’v had batches of electrodes that were very problematic compared to others. I will most likely order up a set of those and try them with just my 1/8 and thinner material. I’m also going to start trying to use the same electrode for each material. So rather than use the same electrode to pierce 1/4 all way down to 1/8" Im going to see if I can’t get more life out of them that way. Or what Im saying is have less misfire potential on my 1/8 stuff that has a ton of pierces. So its a way to keep fresher electrodes. I’ll keep ya all posted. Hopefully Langmuir can get the Run from here setup going a little better. I think if the G code is highlighted on the map it would make things much easier, also I can’t stand how it deletes what was already cut and then re numbers the G code. Basically if Run from here was easier, misfires wouldn’t be as bad. I also rarely am able to have FC detect the misfire and stop the program. Its very hit or miss.
I did call them and they sent me a new pack of them just thinking the electrodes were bad. But it didn’t help. I am going to try and play with the air pressure on the machine. I was told to try that because the timing of the electrode striking is very critical and that can be altered slightly by air pressure. The copper plus are slightly heavier I believe because they have more hafnium in them so they move slower. I have not had time to mess with it yet.
Today was 4th day in a row with issues with Hypertherm and FC. I had brand new swirl ring, electrode and nozzle. Ran up to 575 pierces cutting 1/8" 52 amps, and had several misfires within a very short time. I then had another FC nightmare. After resetting my run from here, the THC did the ol, can’t recognize where it is at trick. Once it started back up the torch just drug across the metal. So I homed it, shut FC down and restarted. I do like how FC remembers your previous home aka zero coordinates. So between that I had lost about 20 min. The Run from here patch needs to drop asap bc this is killing me.
I had another random misfire after about 100 pierces, I just let it go and it re arced on next hole. Then at end of day, I had some 1/4" to cut. I had like 3 misfires on that little bit. So we are talking in a span of less than 3 hrs. Which actually should have taken way less, I had 6 or more misfires.
Iv ran over 120 psi for a long time, I now run 120 psi which pulls 110 when running on full tank. Pressure has not made a difference in all my variations. Long time ago I tried running 100 psi. Made no difference. The randomness is what drives me crazy. Last consumables I had in, I got over 800 pierces bf one misfire. I spent about 4k on my plasma setup and the 3k or so on this table and another 500 on air line and filtration, just this year, hoping to get me caught up on orders. Both systems have let me down. So while I cripple along with them both, now I have to research other alternatives bc I can’t possibly expand my business when I can’t cut for 2hrs a day without problems.
Here is the code I got when I tried restarting the file. I’v gotten these bf.
Curiosity question, 52amps to pierce and cut 1/8 inch? 32amps is more than enough on my smaller razor45. Is it possible that the electrode/tip etc is getting too hot and then swelling up causing sticking? Copper expands a lot. Maybe clearances are too tight and pcs are seizing up
I had mentioned that to the Hyp tech. He said I could just drop down to 45 consumables and amps, but to me, why have a plasma that can got up to 65? My sweet spot I found is 52 amps and 180in a min. I get zero dross minus my holes bc they cut slower. But those settings will save me about 20 min or so cleaning the parts I use with 1/8". I clean them while programs are running, where as I use to have to babysit the CF much more so I didn’t have time to scrape them, plus had alot more dross on the CF. Also why I don’t think that is an issue is bc I use to cut all 45 amp with my other machine and I had same issues. I have misfires on every thickness of material. Iv tried just about everything imaginable, really i been dealing with it for 2 years. Today I just gave up on a set of consumables that had 1,000 pierces, about 700 on 1/8" and 300 on 3/16. That’s what Im dealing with lately, just way less life bf I have to put new ones in. They will cut great, but misfire way too much. I had about 10 misfires with this set. Takes me about 2hrs to hit 800 pierces.
10-22 5th day in a row that was just another bad day. First off, not a fan of the new 20.5 release at all. The run from here is an absolute nightmare. I had a misfire very early in day, FC caught it, restarted and was ok. After that it was just bad news. @langmuir-daniel PLEASE stop deleting all the paths that were cut and recreating the number in the Gcode file. That is the biggest issue I have. The highlighted spot on the viewer I thought would make things easier, but really just didn’t. Im going back to the 20.4 bc that thing just had a mind of its own today, hemmed me up 20 min. Then right when I got it back going, the X lead screw came loose, ruined parts. I was beyond over it today.
Lastly with the update, now every time you pause this pops up, which is same thing that comes up on a misfire. Honestly this is completely not necessary, I pause the runs alot to remove parts and now I gotta click out of this every time to restart. Its just one extra step to deal with that I can’t see any reason for having.
I also noticed today that the Z axis doesn’t travel up before it starts the first cut. If that is the case its problematic if you have a have a warped sheet and your tip is 1/16th off the plate and scraps across the table.
Im giving honest feedback, I like this company alot but man this has caused me so much guff in the past 5 weeks of running it, I pretty much regret this purchase. I think this machine needs upgrades, I think the software should be tested more. Its good for very light use but I’v had program issues, then Z axis issues and now the X axis gave me issues 3 times in past two weeks. I can deal with alot but between this and hypertherms constant misfires I have to invest in other equipment and or change up my business model. I cut for about two hours today and 20 min was dealing with issues. Happened 5 days in a row, if you read back through my posts.
Im in a rock and hard place big time. I have 2 months of orders, I work 6 days a week min. I have only one time been able to have a good week of cutting with this setup. I can get my bare minimum orders done in two days cutting 5hrs a day. Then rest of week is fabbing most it up. Now Im spread out to 2-3hr cut days with atleast a 20 min hang up everyday. One day I actually finished out my day on the CF bc the Z axis kept messing up. Its a good machine for small runs or hobby stuff. Full on production its not happening, that is why I started this thread. I want to see professionals actually using it alot. The X axis coming loose twice this week in two different locations was just salt on the wounds. My hypertherm 65 is good as long as it fires. Iv seen on many occasions people having misfires with them. I can’t believe the nerve they have selling these without telling people you will have misfires alot. No one has a definitive answer, its always ten different things and not one has been a problem solver for me atleast. I had the xp45 also and it misfired all the time. They just can’t handle alot of back to back pierces unless you have new consumables. I had misfires at 600 pierces on my last set, got up to 1000 and had to remove em. I go through about 2k lb of steel a month.
I would remove each setscrew, get a drill 118* tip slightly smaller that threaded hole “dimple” the shafts. Reinstall setscrews, another upgrade if that simple dimpled shaft comes loose would be dimpled shafts with a knurled tip locking type setscrew
The above code will pause for 60 seconds after pierce height is reached, then pause again . I left out firing the torch, however run it with THC off and your plasma off. Edit the lines which set the piece height and cut height to the values you use. Now run it, when the first pause is reached, pause the run in Firecontrol. Now measure the piece height. Continue to the next pause, cut height, pause the run in Firecontrol and measure.
If they are not correct this would suggest that you may have additional backlash, so you can change the line that compensates for backlash to match your findings. This can be done by editing the Sheetcam post.
It’s unfortunate that they didn’t go with a flat on the shaft or some other means of a more positive locking on the motor coupler, as this failure was one of the main complaints of the original, and was supposed to be addressed by the new coupler design.
The Motor Couplers are changed from being a set screw style coupler to a single piece clamshell style coupler. We made this change to fix the issue where the set screws can loosen over time.
Iv talked to him about it, Iv watched videos, I have talked to tech guys 3 or 4 diff times about the xp45 and the xp65. Again, they all point in many directions and the point is, for the price of the machine and cost of consumables Iv never been so disappointed in a product. Zero consistency unless I have absolutely brand new consumables. So if it were pressure, loose retaining cap, wrong pierce height etc etc. why would I be able to get 600-1000 pierces bf I expect misfires? The techs say its a “phantom” thing that haunts them. They said clean out the nozzles from time to time. Its the same error code every time. Everyone points in ten directions, and none of it yields anything consistent for me except using brand new consumables. So at this rate to avoid misfires I’d have to change them twice in a 4hr cut period. That I would like to avoid if possible because of costs.
