I recently bought the CrossFire about 4 months ago and have just now had a chance to get this thing going. I bought for cutting out brackets and what not mainly of 1/4" mild steel for projects in the garage. My issue is i cant for the life of me get this thing to cut 1/4" without destroying a tip and finishing the cut. I am using a thermal dynamics cutmaster 42 with the sl40 torch, 40amp stand off tip. I’ve tried slowing the cut down, I have tried lengthening the pierce delay, change the gap from tip to metal, put ground straight to metal,ignite torch a couple times to warm up before cut. I’ve got it to cut one piece almost and that was with a drag tip. I have noticed the ignition time on this plasma is extremely inconsistent which doesn’t help the fact. Side not it will cut 1/8" mild steel with no problem. The plasma cutter is fairly new as well. I am running out of idea’s and need some advice, and advice is appreciated, would really love to get this thing going.
Thank you
If your settings match your cut chart-speed, amps etc and your consumables are fresh, it is time to look at your power supply, is there anything else running on that circuit? Does it stop cutting when the compressor starts?
If your power is clean then time to look at your air supply, do you have a gauge on the back of the plasma cutter? Does the pressure drop when cutting at high settings?
Too many fittings or clogged filters could wreck your day.
Just a thought, hope you figure it out.
Pics of the failed cuts can help us figure out what is going on.
Well I have the amps turned all the way up at 40amps, I was running about 90psi with an external regulator but I took it off to see if it would help so now it is at 120psi. There is another regulator inside the plasma cutter but you have to take shell off to get to it. Do I need to adjust this one or is pretty well pre set? This is the only thing in this circuit so power shouldn’t be an issue. Here is a couple pics of the failed attempts.
Is the orifice on the nozzle oval? It looks like it in the picture but it may just be the picture.
Last thing that I can think of is to change out the swirl ring and all consumables, start fresh.
They are both oval now and that is after just one or two cuts. I am using a brand new starter, electrode and tip. Everything but the shield is new. I did notice when I stopped last night an took the nozzle out of the clamp on the machine it was restricting some of the air flow. Maybe a little to tight. I’ll check air pressure coming out of internal regulator tonight to see if it might be restricted.
They oval like that when you have contaminates, oil aerosols, and moisture/humidity in your air supply. When one of those things hits your arc, it basically blows out the orifice and causes the arc to shoot out to the side rather than straight and gouges the material instead of pierces straight through. This can happen the first time the torch fires on a brand new nozzle.
If you have don’t have a way to remove 100% of the humidity in your compressed air, you’ll need a refrigerated dryer or a large desiccant dryer. If you have an oiled pump on your compressor you’ll need a .01 micron filter to remove the oil aerosols.
So i finally had a chance to check the air pressure being supplied from the internal regulator. It was at 110 psi. Could it be possible i was pushing to much air and it cause it to act crazy an burn things up? I havnt put it back together to try yet will try to here tonight.
That didn’t make any difference soon as I hooked it and tried and check my consumables my electrode looked like this. It’s like it’s arcing inside handle. I did put an inline filter in as well. 
I think I’m about to throw in the towel and get a new torch I think it is the issue. I’ve never had a problem with it untill one day I tried cutting 1/2 steel plate and it blew back in the torch. It’s been nothing but problems so I think a new torch may be the cure. And might upgrade to the SL60 torch.
Any possibility of it being wired wrong from the factory? My Hitbox 3n1 welder was wired with the polarity reversed. Wouldn’t weld worth a crap. I switched the polarity on the stinger leads, inside the machine, and it welds beautifully now.
Maybe you just got a bum unit from the dealer… just a thought.
I had an issue like that where my torch made contact to the plate while cutting at 60 amps and it blew molten metal back inside the shield. Destroyed the nozzle and shield. You may want to try replacing
everything (nozzle, electrode, shield and/ or retaining cap, and swirl ring) before scrapping the torch. If there’s no visible damage to the torch or pieces of dross/slag stuck inside, it’s probably fine. That retaining cap/shield cup (whatever they call it) looks trashed for sure.
I had a similar issue with my everlast 50s. The Oring on the torch head was damaged allowing air to blow out the head, swapped out and works perfect again. Not sure how your machine is set up but worth a shot.
I have a Cutmaster 42 and am able to cut 1/4 no problem. One of the first things I do to before I cut is open up the .tap file and change the very first pierce delay to 3 seconds and leave the rest at 1.5 seconds. I noticed that when starting any cut file, the Cutmaster 42 has a longer pierce delay for the very first cut only. Changing the first pierce delay in the .tap file helps make sure it has completely pierced the material before the torch moves, eliminating any extra blow back that may cause your tip to become clogged. I also use a ceramic spray on my tips and nozzles which stops pieces of molten metal from sticking to the tip. I also noticed that after a few cuts my electrodes look like they have arced out like yours, I just use a piece of fine scotch bright to clean up any arc marks and it keeps the torch cutting normal. 
Well since i am so impatient i ordered a new torch this weekend because the place ships this stuff to me so quick and i already got it. I did examine the difference between the two torches and the shield is definitely messed up and only blowing air out the one side. The swirl ring inside the torch seems to be really stuck in there and i cant seem to get it out. Will try and drill it out tomorrow at work, it may be melted in there. But i would say that was my issues and i found there was a pin hole in my torch cable from a burn and was leaking air. I plan on fixing the old torch and will use one for mobile use and the new one for CNC only that way it never gets melted. The new torch worked perfectly and cuts the 1/4 inch like butter. I am truly excited to finally get use this thing for what i bought it for! Thank you guys for all your help and you were definitely leading me down the right path…