Ill try a cut this week set at .020 and pierce at .111 and see how they turn out. Im going make up a file with with some different cut speeds and see if i can find a new sweet spot.
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It may have been asked I don’t remember how is your air supply?
I believe its good. 80 gal tank, 5 hp motor, harbor freight air dryer, devilbiss dessicant air dryer, motorguard m60.
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Could pressure drop be causing problems? I noticed after adding a lot of air drying equipment when blasting and stuff I had some pressure dropping. It wasn’t bad so I added a dry air tank to my system.
Possibly, I would have to double check but i believe my regulator on the tank is set to around 90 psi and see 75psi on the plasma cutter gauge while cutting.
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If the regulator isn’t dropping that should not be a issue there is a button on the plasma run the air in case you didn’t know.
The may be a chance there is something wrong with your machine torch. If I couldn’t get satisfactory cut I would swap out for the hand torch for a few cuts
I was unaware that there was a button for that. I think I may swap out the machine torch to see if the cut quality changes, but I think I need to get my cut height correct and try fine tuning to see if I can improve cut quality. I spoke with langmuir and they’re actually sending out a new z-axis for me, which was a nice surprise.
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So I was finally able to get into my shop after we got 4 feet of snow dumped on us (western, ny) and did some cutting this evening.
I had created a line test, 15, 6" lines going up in IPM in increments of 5 IPM starting at 50 and ending at 125. I had also set the pierce height to .111 and .020 to compensate for the backlash I had measured. All cuts were done with the retaining cap snug. Cutting all on 14g HR steel.
My cuts were still all consistently poor. My measured cut height was ranging from correct, the shield literally dragging on the metal, or pushing towards .1". I tried changing amperage, from 30 - 40. I tried changing the cut pressure, higher and lower than 75 psi. At some points the cut quality wasn’t terrible, some light dross but this was when I cut at 50-60 IPM for about the first 3" of the cut.
I even swapped in my old hand torch and didn’t see any real changes in cut quality.
I had the THC set with different parameters as well, tried the nominal set to 100v and 110v with no real change. Also set it to smart voltage with no noticeable difference. I noticed the THC was rising during cutting, and also driving into the plate at times and then jumping back up midway through the cut and even at times being consistent.
At this point I can’t decide if this is a air quality issue, a plasma cutter issue, or a table/ THC issue. I’ve tried amazon consumables, razor weld consumables, and currently on a last ditch effort with hypertherm consumables, none of which have every made an improvement on quality. I usually change my consumables before a failure and haven’t really recorded to much with pierce life, I’d say 4-600ish range.
Sorry to ramble, just trying spit out as much information as I can, and still a little frustrated. I was really hoping that compensating for the backlash was going to set me in the positive direction and still feel lost haha.
Thanks!
your torch is hunting are you sure it is low enough in the holder? making the ihs trip or you may have an issue with your ihs. maybe dirty.
Does your torch strike the metal before the ihs switch trips? The ihs light come on in fire control when tripped.
Yep, it touches the metal and goes to pierce height as normal. I can lower the torch below the slats if i wanted so I dont think the torch is set too high. I supposed I could disassemble the z axis once again and clean it, but id rather wait for the new one coming from LS.
I did consider trying some different metal, but ran out of time unfortunately. I have 14 gauge hrpo and cr that I havent tried yet, just dont want to waste that material with test cuts.
Edit: looking back at some videos I saw that the yellow lights werent working during most of the cuts, and could see the live voltage rising towards the end of the line. One video where the lights were working, the live voltage stayed consistent.
Just to rule it completely out next time there. Run you z axis down and make for certain it touches the metal before the ihs light comes on in fire control. I remember now you saying you cleaned it. Man I am scratching my head. Honest it sounds to me like a air or consumable problem… I wish I lived closer I would loan you my plasma to see what’s what.
I was going to say something may be wrong with your torch but both I don’t see…
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Your running shielded consumables? You’ve tried cutting with THC off correct? Grounded to the metal your cutting? What amperage were you cutting 14g at?
From my understanding the only consumables available for the razorweld are shielded. And I tried cutting at 30, 35 and 40ish (not exactly sure where 40 is on the rw45). And ive tried with thc off, which sometimes results in better cuts. Always grounded to the work piece.
Pics of the dross?
Ill grab some pictures when I’m at my shop next.
One more question. Do you have plenty of lack in cables? Was looking back and seen you said voltage raising towards the end of the cuts. Could have a cable getting tension. May have already been gone over just another thought.
Have you tried to cut files someone else did the cam out?
Slack seems sufficient, and cant say that i have recently
Was just trying to help figure it out if you were cutting on the extreme sides was thinking i they can pull torch head up if tight. if you want to try I can cam out a circle or square to try.
That may be helpful. I made sure there was decent slack at all corners of the table. Ill get more pictures of how things are set up.
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what size scrap do you have? thickness.