I know cutting galvanized is not ideal because of the toxic fumes but I do have a Miller PAPR that I wear when I cut it and the area is well ventilated. I generally cut mild steel but recently picked up 11 sheets of 17GA galvanized to upgrade my sand blast cabinet and build a powder coat oven so I have to cut it for these two projects. Does galvanized require any adjustment to cutting settings compared to mild steel? So far I have been running it with mild steel settings and it seems to be doing a decent job, not great but not bad.
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I use the exact same settings as mild steel when I cut galvanized.
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Galvanized is really no different…you might want to make sure you get a good contact with the clamp…but settings should be the same as same thickness of steel…
Real good to hear you are wearing and taking precautions when cutting for the fumes…
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Funny you should mention the work clamp, true story…
So I’m filming all of this for my YouTube channel (video will post when the project is done) and I fire up the table to make the first cut and it gets about 6" into the cut and throws a “lost voltage reading” error and I’m thinking no problem I’ve got this it just happened to me this past weekend and was just time to swap tip and electrode. So I swap them out, regenerate tool path and return to zero to start over. Hit the start button, rub my hands together, here we go lets get these pieces cut so I can get to sandblasting my cuts for paint. About 6" in it cuts out with the “lost voltage reading” error again, now I’m worried because I know it’s not the tips and looking at the cut it wasn’t penetrating just gouging. I start packing my things up in there so I can head in and ask you guys what might cause it, then I noticed something sticking out under my table. Looked under the table and my work clamp is on the floor…it didn’t fall off, I flat out never even hooked it up and it’s all on video… This only happened I think because I’m cutting a 4x8 sheet so it’s hanging off the front of the table by 5 feet and I didn’t notice it like I normally would. The torch was only firing the blowback pilot arc which explains why it wasn’t penetrating that first 6". Anyhow, I thought it was funny at the time.
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this is why I have a wonderful white board above my table…a check list to make sure I do not do something stupid…something stupid too often…
- check consumable condition and size for material
- check air supply
- check position of material…not blocking gantry
- check pattern layout…ZERO ALL AXIS…
- check material clamp
- check amps on plasma
- …
- …
asd so on…
flip it over…
trouble shooting
- check material clamp
- check consumables…
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He doesn’t mention that between every other step there is
- pour a dram
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I thought that was a given with me…
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