My consumables are burning up fast. I just cut this sign today of fresh consumables. Using a ptm60 machine torch with a 30amp unshielded tip. Here is my air setup.
What Cutter are you using?
What amps are you cutting at with each tip?
What is your air pressure at the plasma cutter when you are cutting?
Length of post flow are you using?
Do you have a desiccant cell in you CFS filter? If so, what do the beads look like?
RW 45 @ 30 amps using the 30amp unshielded nozzle. I’ve tried 25 to 30 amps with it. Today was 30.
Desiccant beads are still clear.
Pressure at the cutter is currently 75. I’ve done multiple test cuts from 65 to 85. This machine seems to like 75.
50ft 3/8 hose to the refrigerated air dryer.
Have you monitored the pressure during your cuts? are you maintaining the 75 psi throughout the cut?
How long of a post flow are you running? Is it adjustable on the RW45?
Yes it’s adjustable on the Razorweld just have to take the cover off
And yes 75 psi is steady during cut
I’m fairly new to this so can you elaborate on post flow. The torch cable length?
Post flow is the amount of time the air continues to run after the completion of each cut.
Yes i want to say it’s around 15sec. Not sure how I can adjust that. I will time it in a min to get a more accurate time.
I have a concern about your air…
You mention clear beads…beads usually come blue and then turn clear…just curious about that…double check that part…
also do you drain your tank often?
You have a great drying system set up…nice copper lines and Refrigerated dryer
The real concern I have is volume of air getting to your plasma…
what is that unit under your hore reel?..Is that your desiccant bead unit?
Also I see you use a hose reel to feed your dryer when cutting…that is a lot of line to run air through…if you could eliminate that with a copper run across the ceiling it would help.
also you have a regulator off the compressor…a regulator off the desiccant dryer…then there is another one in the plasma…too much restriction on the flow…
Also mount your Motorguard on the wall if you can.,…that is a lot of stress on the plasma unit.
you do say air runs after easch cut…but the R45 has adjustable post flow…it should run for 30 seconds…
I have wondered if my hose reel could be the culprit. The desiccant filter is right before the hose. The beads came clear when I installed it. Still clear. The compressor seems to be doing well with suppling air. Doesn’t stay running but I’m definitely open to rerouting some things and trying out something new.
This filter has the silica clear beads. I’m going to replace them with the blue gel beads. That seems odd. I called Eastwood and the lady said they are supposed to be clear
This is where I think I would start also, there are allot of losses in your system.
I see a radiator type after cooler > water separator > tank > wall mounted copper passive cooler > desiccant dryer> hose reel > refrigerated air dryer > motor guard filter > Plasma cutter
In between I am seeing allot of quick connects. What size are they?
Am I seeing everything?
What is your pressure at the tank vs at the plasma cutter while cutting?
Looking at your compressor, it looks like a 11.5 cfm which in my opinion is borderline what you want. With all the losses you may not be getting enough volume as Toolboy said.
I think you need to try to eliminate as many of the losses in your system as possible. also I would have the desiccant filter after the refrigerated dryer… right before the motor guard filter.
Allot of the desiccant beads are clear. In the pic it looks like most of them have turned a little cloudy… but that could just be shadows. If you get the blue ones it is allot easier to tell when you need to cook them.
If you have an old toaster oven you could just retire it to the shop to cook your beads.
Pressure at the tank is 150 then I have a regulator mounted to the outlet and that is set to 125. Pressure while cutting stays at perfectly at 75 on the unit. Do you recommend getting rid of anything in particular or just rerouting? I’ll make a Home Depot trip in the morning and route 3/4” copper to the refrigerated dryer and figure out how to mount the Motorguard to the wall. I will say the after cooler has cut out about 80% of the moisture in the tank, judging by the amount of water that comes out when draining the tank. I have thought about getting a different desiccant dryer. Not a fan of Eastwood products.
If it were me, I would do as @toolboy said and cut the hose reel out of the loop and use 3/4" lines or hose.
If you are using 3/8" quick connects or fittings I would use 1/2" wherever possible.
I live in a dry climate so I would probably do either/or on the aftercooler/wall mounted passive cooler but not both.
@Bigdaddy2166 curious your thoughts on this where you are in a humid climate?
@brownfox has some really good threads on air treatment… Any thoughts?
I think that (Eastwood) is a good desiccant filter basically a copy of the Devilbiss QC3
Chattanooga, Tennessee .
I have a large ingersoll rand screw machine w/ refrigerated dryer.
I also have a Motor guard desiccant unit at the plasma table.
I never had a moisture issue even in the humidity of summer.
The refrigerator dryer handles the bulk of it.
A screw compressor runs at about 170 ° discharge temps. Where a recip compressor would be much higher.
Are your beads inside the cartridge that looks like this.
You could have that desiccant cell is the last thing before the plasma it has quite a good filter in it in case some beads get by.
But the desiccant cell should be after your refrigerated air dryer
so…we all agree…the desiccant beads should be after the refrigerated dryer…blue beads are easiest to monitor…
I would just tap off right after your copper wall cooler and run a line directly to the refrigerated dryer…then through the beads…then through the motor guard.
then I would only have 1 regulator and that would be off the tank…set it at 100psi…and remove any other reg between the tank and the plasma…
you may have it set high…but a regulator usually is only 1/4" or 3/8" at best for the small ones…that is a huge restriction…then the try to keep all the hoses down to a minimum and keep them as large as possible.
if you can find a spare old air tank…I would put one after the refrigerated dryer…as an inline reserve…then have the motorguard then filter…
I still do have a reserve…it gives you extra air for smaller compressors…and guarantees they you maintain decent volume
