No issues cutting mild steel, cutting for several months, but tried my hand at Aluminum today and did not go good at all. I may have had a droplet of water on the torch tip before first pierce (accidentally set air pressure over water and it blew back onto tip), consumables were not new, but had very little use. So, before I try again, I want to rule out as many things as possible. I will recut with new consumables obviously…here are the details:
3rd gen Cut60, Raw voltage.
Crossfire Pro.
F360.
1/4" AL diamond plate, cut from backside.
Work clamp directly to piece.
1.1 tip
0.7 pierce delay
45A, 54ipm, 60psi (book settings)
I have cut 14 gauge aluminum and it cuts thru the metal fine but it is a jagged cut. I sounds like you might have something up with the consumables.
Assuming the 1/4 inch is measured at the thinnest part of the metal:
I have not cut diamond plate but you might need to split the difference between 1/4 inch and 5/16 of an inch to account for the added thickness where the diamond/tread marks are (whatever they are called). Perhaps everything is going wrong at the initial pierce if it is over a thicker area. You would definitely want your pierce delay lengthened to account for that thickness but I doubt you are going to get a pretty cut: It’s aluminum!
I use this for my MIG torch. Works great and definitely cheaper.
I assume it would work just as well for plasma cutting. Never thought to try it but I am going to later today as a result of reading here and I have occasionally had a piece of slag partially block the opening in the tip.
I usually dip it right after I make a weld so its hot and melts and coats real well.
Something just occurred to me. I forgot to turn nominal voltage off…and never cutting Aluminum, my voltage was likely way off and shouldnt have been enabled in the first place…smart should have been on. So as suggested, my pronlem likely started at the pierce, then snowballed from there. Does my thinking make sense???
It has merit but there is probably a nominal voltage setting that would/should work as well as anything.
Like I said before, or meant to say, you are going to have fluctuating demands for cutting power and not sure that even the THC response would make the necessary change quick enough when encountering the thicker areas.
Nominal voltage is worth trying. I would probably set it for something like 5/16 of an inch material (approximate what that would be) and increase the pierce delay to be sure of a successful clear punch thru before the torch starts moving.
Seriously that’s all it is? I’m assuming by cas# that’s something to do with an msds as well? I do that a lot as far as looking up what’s in some of the more obvious snake oil product ingredients.
… veg oil spray? I’m smelling like metal flavor French fries or hash browns then? Ha.
Yup for real you got it. Here is the data sheet for one brand.
I have been professionally welding for nearly 25 years. Even if the gel gets contaminated it will cause porosity. I use it at work I keep a scrap piece of metal to fire up on and burn it off. Porosity looks bad in a machined fit
I do like the ceramic spray it isn’t cheap . I scored 2 can for 50 bucks today. It will last a long time though. SDS9299311.pdf (204.0 KB)
Stay away from the veg oil. Never tried it just YouTube warriors getting clicks.
So cutting was postponed a bit while deer hunting had to be done. Retested cut, pleased with the result. 1/4" AL diamond plate, cut from the back, THC off, 45a, 53ipm, 0.8 pierce, 60psi, new tip.
I cut my first piece of aluminum lastnight with my CFP and cut60 with PTM60 torch and it went really good. I was running 55-60 psi and I ran little slower than book setting. It was a scrap piece of 1/4 and just performed a straight line cut to see how it did and was pleasantly surprised
I like to do 1” square on anything new to check kerf. I have hypertherm 45xp so always really close with book settings but like to get something out of the check.
What is the best way to do my test cuts to dial on my speeds and amps and pressures?
I was doing a test that had 3 circles and 5 lines and I would change the line codes to the speeds I wanted to try but I feel like I’m going to burn up a lot of metal getting all my settings dialed in.
Is there a good way to do it so I minimize wasted metal?
Or just start with book settings and make small changes till I find the sweet spots?
Performed another test cut with identical settings, just increased air pressure to 70. Piece on the left is 60psi, right is 70. Didnt make a change on my setup, actually 60psi didnt leave as much dross as 70. This is just my setup though.
