Would it be possible to have the pieces cut by someone else by laser or waterjet? You seem to have a good idea of future orders. Perhaps a batch that covers 6 months worth of kits would bring down the price enough for laser/waterjet to make sense. Keep one of your tables for R&D and lower production runs. I’m asking out of curiosity, as I have no idea what the laser/waterjet cost would be.
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I’ll check him out. As much as I dislike YT and geeewgle right now for all their censoring, Iv put in some time on there in the past. Its always good to see what others are doing for sure. My specialty is 47-55 chevy trucks, I could easily expand into many other eras and have too much work. So I like to stay in my lane but I can’t expand at this rate. I need more efficient equipment and help. Iv been building trucks for 10 yrs on the side and was running my printshop up until 2 yrs ago, the fab stuff just took over and kept me busy as can be. I now can stay home 7 days a week rather than traveling 2hrs to my printshop. I’l get there, Im def growing and seeing so much progress in just 2 yrs. I was so gunhoe on saving up for a bigger building, but I think right now I need to focus on equipment. Another table, cnc press brake, horizontal band saw, tubing bender, another compressor all on the list. I plan to make full custom chassis in the future so need a bigger space.
Trust me, I’v thought of that even last year. I got a quote from one or two places and it was insanely expensive. For a 12x24" sheet of 3/16 I think it was around $50 cut. Id need 5 of those, 5 -1/8" sheets and 1 - 1/4" sheet that size just to make one kit. My costs right now are very low compared to that. I have thought about just having some parts outsourced but we’ll see I guess. Def a balance between my time and costs vrs turning away orders. What has helped me has been going to bigger plasmas. the 65 has helped me with time for sure. I’ll make a post about that here in one second. Lasernut I think was one of the companies I got a quote from.
10-24 So today was better, not perfect but I went home feeling good. Right off the jump the Z axis wasn’t hitting my sheet, so I blew it out. I had to do this 3 times today so I desp need to make a guard for it. Other than that I found out the Glitch in 20.5 update. Unless they designed it this way. I was griping about when you “pause” the run this screen would pop up, which was same screen as when I got a misfire. I noticed today it happened only after a min or two of not using the machine while it was paused. So I shutdown FC and reopend it on next file, paused during the run and the screen wasn’t there. I really didn’t have any machine issues today except the Z axis. Also on the 3 misfires FC caught it and run from here was automatic. When I put my old consumables in later in day, I did have one misfire and FC didn’t catch it. So I really don’t know what its hit or miss. I did notice the plug in the THC module was about halfway plugged in today, so not sure if that effected anything or not, but FC seems to catch the misfires sometimes and other times it won’t.
Which now I got a better handle on. In the past I was so worried that I’d get the error code saying its lost its location, like if I went and pushed up on the Z axis while the program was paused so I can check to see if its cycling smooth. Well now I can stop the program, then blow it out, cycle it up and down, to touch the sheet and then restart with the Run from here. One thing I really wish they didn’t change was the Z axis location on starts and restarts. Now the torch will stay where it is at. Which is bad news if you have a warped sheet, slag on table and your torch is .06 off the table. I would like the torch to cycle up to an 1" every time a file starts or you do a run from here.
I had new consumables in today, well they had 200 pierces on them. I got 3 misfires at around 520. So after that file, I stopped and cleaned out everything and put back in. I then ran from 520 pierces all the way to 860 pierces with no issues at all, even letting the compressor run its balls off. I then took them out and used some old ones to cut some other sheets. So that is the plan as of now is rotate older consumables in on certain sheets that don’t have a million holes in them.
I was able to my whole kit cut in 2hrs and 25 min and that is with the Z axis issues and somewhat taking my time. In that time I scrapped a ton of my parts which is a huge time saver come fab time. So a day like today is all I ask right now! Here is a pic of around 750 pierces and 4500 inches of cut.
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I do too, but YouTube is an amazing tool to learn stuff, regardless. I wish they had better leadership, but it is what it is…
Seeing the picture of the inside of your nozzle, looks like how some of mine ended up looking.
I read on the plasma spider faq that gray swirls inside the nozzle indicate contaminated air. It’s making me question my own setup because I have a dryer and desiccant and Motorguard. Obviously you’ve done just fine prior to the pro, but could this all be air somehow now?
Also, does duty cycle apply to only the power supply or the consumables as well? What I mean is, can you just run the torch too much to the point it fails or wears prematurely from heat?
Duty cycle isn/t going to have anything to do with the consumables. I’m sure the 45 and 65 use the same consumables and maybe the 85 and 105 too but not 100% on that.
My 45 is around 50% duty cycle at 45 amps and thats where its been set at since it came out of the box but I let it cut a full 5’x10’ sheet in one go and it never shuts down. The 65 would probably be at 100% duty cycle at 45 amps with the same consumables.
I really don’t know if air is contaminated or not. I just upgraded to a really good filtration system with about a gallon size desiccant. Every time I try and drain the 3 filters, nothing comes out. Now bf that 4 tier setup I do have another watertrap regulater. I get water in that all the time, I drain it every couple compressor runs. Im running about 50ft of air line, to help cool the air. I don’t think all the filtration is an issue with pressure drop bc I watch the system and it pulls about 10psi. I’d love to say it was just dirty air but typically with new consumables Iv go atleast 500 pierces and def over 1k pierces many times without a single misfire. I am beginning to think the retaining cap loosens or tightens after a bit, so I been playing with that a bit, also just taking it all apart, blowing it out with air. The inconsistency is what bothers me.
I know what you are saying for the heat. The machine def isn’t having duty cycle issues at all, not even close. My 65 barely has the fan kick on. My 45 it kicked on alot. But…I have thought about lack of ground and or too high of a cut and it could create too much resistance thus creating too much heat. I have thought maybe the swirl ring, O rings maybe expanding and contracting too much if that was the case. Or what I think is a much more probable issue would be the springs on the top of electrodes. That just seem like way too much room for error. I been watching my cutting voltage and its very steady so I don’t think the ground or cut is an issue. I use to cut on the CF at about twice the rec cut height and honestly I was getting more life outta the consumables than I am now.
The 45-85 use all the same stuff except nozzle. The hole in the nozzle is diff size on the 45, 65 and 85. So you can run the smaller nozzles on the bigger units and turn the amps down. The 65 is a beast, fan barely kicks on. The air solenoid is much quieter than the 45 too. The 45 is a beast too, but I def noticed a loud fan and loud air solenoid. To the point where I thought the solenoid was bad. heck when I used my 30 amp I don’t think I ever overheated it.
I agree that the air valve in the 45 is loud the first time I used it I thought something was wrong with it.
I’ve never had a duty cycle issue and I run it at 45 amps and it cuts for 4 or 5 hours straight and never shuts down on a 5’x10’ sheet
That’s an impressive stack of skeletons!
I’m running a Powermax45 with Duramax torch. My manual says that running continuously on the expanded metal setting will reduce consumable life. Maybe the PM65 is different (I realize a tech told you it didn’t matter).
I’m not cutting nearly what you are. I do small batches for repairs and ideas on the farm, but have some heavy cutting planned this winter. I don’t want to be plagued similar problems you are having. So far I haven’t. I’m watching this thread hoping you get your system tuned in.
I do think you will see dividends by plumbing your 1/2 lines in. I have a similar size compressor as you, modded with an inter cooler and automatic tank drain. Running 3/4 pex ( I know! Bad boy) across the shop to an In-Line Filter and Coalescer. I regulate it to 90 psi. I tried to make the run from my tank to plasma with as little restrictions as possible.
How clean is your air? If you blow air onto a cold mirror does it form condensation? (Jim colt posted a YT video how to check this) https://youtu.be/X4_nFpARRRY
Also, you should post a pic or two of your end product. I’d like to see what you hard work is producing.
What is that compressor CFM rating and do you run any other airtools while you are cutting. I have an older IR 60 gal 2stage, (i think it is 11.9CFM at 90psi) and if i run any other tools while cutting I will get misfires. So the funny thing is you should get an amber low press indication on the Plasma cutter(running a HT85 by the way) right…but i never saw it so i tested it out. My compressor is set to come on at 110psi aprox. So i ran a cut sequence and stood there with an air grinder running and sure thing, missfire and low press light until i released the air grinder. Tank charged up past that magic press point and light went out on the Plasma Cutter. started cut again and all was well. I might be at the critical CFM for my compressor even though it says 11.9cfm at 90psi. I dont know if this will help but i dont run other air tools when i am cutting which can be a pain in the but sometime, but my problem went away. I will be looking to upgrade my compressor later on due to the fact i need to be able to run airtools at the same time i am cuttinng.
yah Im at the same rating on my dewalt. Although it kicks on at 120 and off at 150. I don’t run anything while cutting. I drain my compressor everyday, I drain my filters, just checked desiccant. I have never gotten a low pressure error code. So yah all my theories and everything Iv read from all the experts and talking to the techs just seem to have theories. I guess Iv just been looking for that one obvious problem and it just hasn’t shown up for me yet. I did just pump my pressure inside machine from 68 to 69 psi. I don’t know if I should try more or less, but it didn’t help. I greased up my O ring on torch too. It just always points back to the consumables. Little consistency with them. I am going to try the regular electrodes again, Iv been running the expensive copper plus for a while.
I feel like the air is clean, when I disconnect the hose from my filtration I can’t see any moisture. On my old filtration I use to see moisture when I release the air outta them from where the air hose goes in. Im hoping the larger air line will help. I really need to try that and get a different compressor. But… Still doesn’t explain the life of the consumables, Im noticing less life on them vrs when I cut on the CF. I thought it would be other way around, I was expecting more life. My settings are on point with hypertherm settings. I have ran the 45xp on my 80g bf and still got misfires, and on my 60g and had misfires. For me I’m cutting back to back for 2-3hrs min. I average about 800 pierces a day and 4500 in of cut. So to have sometimes 5 or more misfires a day is just insane to me. If the FC software detects it, its not as big a deal but sometime it won’t and when I use my CF and mach3 I’d have to go back and reset it manually. I’ll try the mirror trick thanks.
Here are some product pics. Everything I do is proprietary and geared specifically for 47-55 chevy trucks. the main stuff I do is swap kits to put them on modern chassis. I have people all over the world hitting me up. I make motor mounts and patch panels too. Im working on a 4 link for air ride, just pressed for time right now.
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the 65 is much smoother, I was super impressed with it when I first got it. Its heavy though. I take it home with me every night and it sets in my kitchen, like a toolbox! I don’t trust it in my shop, lots of druggies live near by. But lately I’v thought about leaving it!!! Nah I would hate if it got stolen. I think paying more attention to pierce count right now is going to really help. If I can squeak atleast 2 kits out of one set I’d be happy right now.
I’m curious as to why you are running at 69psi. Did you read that somewhere? And im not saying that to be disrespectful or anything. Just trying to help you figure it out and also so i dont run into same condition. According to the power max 65/85 specs you should be running at a minimum of 85psi at the machine. From other sites that i have read, most people run 100 to 120 inlet pressure to their machine. I think the max pressure is 135 and that is due to the filter bulb. The machine is going to take care of it anyway internally. Just my .02$ 
https://www.hypertherm.com/Download?fileId=HYP106022&zip=False
Sam
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No worries. Yes confusing I know. So the inlet pressure is different than machine to torch pressure. The machine is setup at 68psi to run the 25ft lead torch. The inlet to the machine has to be atleast 85, which I run 120. So the torch isn’t really getting 120, its getting 68 psi. You can overide the settings manually which I did and bumped it up 1 psi. It will allow you to go up to 75psi and its probably bc of using a 50ft lead. Basically the machines are setup to an auto setting of 68psi.
Well now, i learned something new then…
Well dang…i guess the forum can keep trying to figure out what is going on then. Myself included.
Iv heard so many different theories on here and some through plasma spider. even the techs say its just a phantom issue. For me, the cost of the machines and consumables its hard to hear that and except that. Im only 2 yrs into this, so maybe I expect too much! I’ll just have to up my consumable purchases each month until I can expand to a different machine or system. Unless I can really dial in some consistent results. Again, I had just had new consumables misfire at 520 pierces and then I got them to go up to 860 with no issues, took them out and I’ll let ya know how much longer I go on those. I have a stack of consumables I brought home to take pics of, some of them have huge holes worn in them. Now most may have been used on my 45xp machine, only thing I can think of. Bc now with my 65 amp machine I can’t seem to wear a hole into the electrode.
The only variables here are the IHS system and Firecontrol right?
That means it must be something related to those elements. The only thing I can think of is the ground interference issue that happens when you are cutting while a three prong plug is powering your desktop or laptop.
I can’t remember if I brought it up before, and I don’t want to try and find it, but have you checked your live voltage while cutting?
Cutting 3/16 I was able to do quite a bit while experiencing the interference. It wasn’t until I started cutting a bunch of 3/8 and 1/4 that I noticed something was wrong.