Where do you source your consumables from? Edit - sorry if I missed that somewhere prior in the thread…
On ebay from welding supply shops like Harris welding. they are all legit Hypertherm items.
Perhaps try some other suppliers to see if maybe…maybe…there’s some difference? Can’t hurt in any case…
I have been doing that. Iv use 3 or so different suppliers for everything. The electrodes have mfg numbers on them. But haven’t been able to gather much data or tracing on it to see if there is more consistency. Its just what I deal with I guess. Im starting to lower my expectations on everything. If I gotta spend more time cutting an more money on consumables that is what I gotta do right now to keep my cool. Between table issues and misfires my days can get ugly. I can live with 20% of the time dealing with something but when I get up past 50% of the time I have issues, its just not ideal. I don’t run this table 8hrs a day, all Im asking is for 3-4hrs and have all my stuff cut. Not much consistency unfortunately, I just deal with it. I need to invest in other equipment but Im now trying to decide where and what I should invest in. This table is fine for the size and all that and when it works Im happy with it but I just would like something a tad bit more reliable. As for the misfires and hypertherm, I just don’t see any other company having consumables last as long as theirs. So its pretty much a love hate relationship with them!
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Thought I give a weekly update. Cutting has been going ok, not exceptional but not disasterous. Today I had the Z axis completely froze up from the start, had to blow it out and spray it. Had it hang up on me mid day, blew it out. Also had FC completely freeze again on me during a cut, so had to shutdown the plasma by hand. When FC does this, it won’t save the zero coordinates. So it takes a while to line everything back up.
For consumables. I had the one batch hit 3500 pierces which was great. Then I had a set at 1800 and the nozzle got blown out ( from water table debris) So I now use and old nozzle and the electrode as seconds. I been also using another old set to cut my 1/4". I put a new set in today and within less than 2 hrs I had 4 misfires. Sometimes FC catches them but is probably less than 50% of the time. I really wish this feature was more accurate. It seems very sporadic. I have about 900 pierces on the set from today. I bought the set of 5 on 10/18. I have the set I put in today and also one more set. So hopefully that will put me at 5 or more weeks of use. Which I can deal with. I know I can get more out of them and will be experimenting with using them strictly on certain materials. I also have a set of the basic electrodes to try back out, I use the copper plus pretty much exclusively. Im just happy Im getting better life out of them now. For a while I was really eating them up. I think a combo of the torch being outta sq and experimenting with diff pierce heights and cut heights.
One last thing I noticed today, at one point my live voltage when nothing was cutting, was moving around 5 v up and down, is this normal? Secondly upon looking at Gcode, when the IHS does its thing, it says .20 backlash. Would that effect anything with pierce height etc? This was a concern I had a while back, but just noticed the Gcode and the backlash number. My pierce height is set at .150
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@directioneast have you installed your adapter plates to raise the rails? This is on my list of things that I want to modify on the table. I think that getting some more distance between the water table and the Z-axis carriage will keep it much cleaner.
Hey directioneast. I think a lot of us have that problem. Here is what i did thanks to #mancrafting. It works like a charm. It cut down on the water splashing not only on the z axis, but everywhere.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07STBWMB7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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No not yet, I been so busy. Painted my garage since weather was really nice last week. Week bf we had 6" of snow! I can’t wait to get them on. Im also making a deeper water table.
Yah Iv seen those, thanks for the link. I think I’ll get one of those as well. Raising the rails will help in my case cause I have a 65amp unit so this table is too shallow. Plus I have a big machine torch like you. By raising that whole unit up, it will allow the torch to come down more and I think balance the weight better on the Z axis. Im already getting grooves in my X rail. Another peeve I have with this machine. But again for the price and how much money can be made off them, its understandable.
i hear that. I have an 85 and cut something out one day and just about burned a hole thru the bottom of the pan.
Yah I really don’t understand why they didn’t make the rails raised and a deeper water table. But easy mod really, just gotta find the time. How you like the 85? What speeds you cut 3/16 at and are you happy with the quality? Im torn on jumping up on next machine to the 85 bc it seems the faster you go the flame just bends. I round my corners on alot of parts, so I don’t know if I can slow down the machine for those corners or not. I think that might help. I already slow it down for holes. I cut 3/16 at 125 IMP 63 amps. I need to tweek it some bc I get dross on back side that easily comes off. I think I can get a little better but Im happy with it. I do get bevels on certain sides of the parts. I’v felt like the water table being so shallow effects the flame. Just a theory but its like having that resistance on the flame and I feel like it effects the cuts some.
If you use sheetcam, you can use path rules on corners and radius. I have all different rules for different hole sizes, different corner angles etc. Once set its automatic. It also helps with cutting as it will disable the THC if you drop below 85% of the main cut speed, Prevents the torch from trying to correct itself when the voltages get funky on corners etc. I use my table commercially but no where as much as you do.
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This is a loooong thread and I skimmed a lot of it but didn’t read every word. I just thought I’d offer one simple thing to check and that’s keeping the O ring on the torch head for the retaining cap clean and lubricated with the silicone they supply. I have a PM85 on my 5x5 table and it’s been flawless other than when that O ring tore a little because I didn’t keep it lubricated and everything went to shit. Luckily I could feel the resistance in the cap when I unscrewed it to start checking for issues and knew right away there was an issue with that O ring. Maybe you’ve already checked and replaced it but I thought I’d throw that out there.
I get about 5 sheets of 120x48 10 gauge out of a nozzle and electrode with about 4500 pierces. And that’s not running it to failure, that’s just when I feel like the electrode is pitted to about 1/16". I’ve never had a misfire except when the O ring slightly tore.
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yah I just hadn’t taken the time yet to mess with corners or radius corners as far as path rules. There is options on corners with a slider bar in sheetcam, I just leave it alone. I have rules on my holes thats about it.
I read on here someone lubing that up so I did try that. I still got misfires but its just so random. Today I had 1 within an hour of cutting, pierce count was around 1k. I will see if I can order some of those o rings.
I bet I could get around 4500 pierces if I cut just 10g. I got more life outta mine than normal with only cutting 11g and 3/16 split 50/50. I use to use the same consumables on that and 1/4". For quite a while I wasn’t able to get my copper plus electrodes to actually pit, the hafinum inside would just spatter out and then misfire way too much. What really helps I feel is taking the electrode and rubbing it into the nozzle to create a better contact and get rid of the debris in there. I then take a wire brush and hit them with it. I also take everything apart and clean it all out more often.
So today p’d me off again as FC just decided to freeze up during a cut. Second day in a row. When it does this I have to force close the program, it will not X out. Then upon reopen it doesn’t save my zero coordinates. This is a huge PIA and couldn’t imagine cutting a large sign or piece of art and risk finding perfect alignment.
I had one misfire today also within an hour. The consistency is what kills me with cutting. If its not misfires its the machine Z axis, lead screw or now the FC program. I will be able to eliminate a few of the machine issues here soon, but the program issues have happened 3 times atleast since using the 20.5 update. I never had that issue with the 20.4.
So far I love the PowerMax 85. But I haven’t really used it to its capacity. I bought it knowing that later on that I would be needing something a little more powerful than the 45. Right now the max that I have been cutting is 3/16 and I’m still using 45 amp consumables so my cut rate is only 70 in./min. I like your theory about the table in the height of the slats. If you think of the table as north south east west on my south cuts I get more of a bevel but the other cuts north east and west seem to be fine. Go figure. I finally did my first index cut tonight on some fire pit sides that are 56 inches long. It worked out really well. I surprised myself.
I finally got the 3" stansion plates on. I’ll make my new water table about 1.5" taller so that will still help with splash up. I will be getting a silicone cup to try out also. By raising the rails it allowed me to push my torch down more so its better balanced. Can now actually slide full sheets under the rails too.
FC completely FROZE again on me yesterday (happens at least once a day) when it does this, the zero coordinates are completely gone. This SUX a big one bc in order to save material it takes 10-15 minutes of getting it back to where you hope it will be good. With accurate parts its difficult, with parts that aren’t based off much accuracy not a big deal. But this is now my number one issue aside from misfires or mechanical issues. FC is just not reliable with the 20.5 patch for me.
I also made flats on all my lead screw and motors to help the couplers bite better. So far so good.
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Need to find time to hook my other compressor up and run my air lines. Everything is just a mad mess right now. I been cleaning out my printshop that is 100 miles away, this compressor was used there so thought I’d put it to use. Only 60g but its a rotary screw, much more quite and efficient, also has built in cooler.
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That compressor is nice! Will be interesting to see how it impacts your production.