Cutting problems RW Cut45 with 200 Volts incoming power instead of 240 (solved)

Where are your consumables from?

No air pressure drop?

Is you pierce count on the screen correct for this set of consumables?

consumables are from hypertherm website.
and air pressure is at 90 but when cutting stays just under 80. but ive tried a wide range of air pressures with no change

the consumables were changed at around 700 pierces. so only about 100 pierces on this set of consumables. but even on a fresh set, nothing changed

I have a rw45 also I use it mostly to hand cut now. I never tried using hypertherm consumables. Some say they work I have heard others say not. George on here sells the best I have used I like them better than the ones ls sells . When you say you have a air dryer what type? Is there any chance you are over tightening the torch holder? Is so it can hinder the blow back on the electrode.

ive seen a lot of people on here having problems with the rw45 for plasma cutting, but they always seem to find a solution. but for me i just cant find it.
i have my air running through a series of water traps and then going into an electric air dryer. not sure of the company but i can check later. but ive only recently been using it with the air dryer to see if it resolves my problems, even before when i didnt run it through air dryer i still had these problems.
as for the torch handle, ive tightened by hand and tried it, tightened with only two fingers and tried it. tightened it up with two fingers and backed it out a quarter turn where it is noticeably loose and tried it, nothing changed the inconsistency.

I meant the torch holder you can tighten the screws up to tight. It will hinder the electrode from moving.

The rw45 is a good starter plasma so don’t give up.

I was wondering if it was a refrigerated air dryer or something else. Do you have a bead cell dryer? It just depends on where you live how much air drying equipment you need.

Are you certain you aren’t having air pressure drop? Your air dryer could be freezing up.

I also tightened that up and tried different tightness. ive tried it pretty loose to where i could manually wiggle it out of the clamp if i wanted too.

This is pretty much the setup for water traps and air dryer.
Air compressor with built in water trap → bead cell dryer → pvc water trap → bead cell dryer → bead cell dryer → refrigerated air dryer. then from refrigerated air dryer it connects to plasma cutter.
I watch air pressure the whole time and it consistently stay just under 80 while firing. I do automotive painting which is why i have an extensive air drying setup to avoid any water or moisture coming from my air lines at all. which is why i dont believe it has to do with water or pressure because i get consistent dry air and consistent air pressure throughout the entire time im using it.
I believe it has something to do with my THC. it seems odd that some of the lines it cuts it stays at torch pierce height even during the cut move, and sometimes it goes down to cut height slowly while moving through the path. and its not always on the same lines. if i retry the design, it will do those in no specific order, changing every time.

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hopefully this is correct. please let me know
line test f3d.f3d (35.9 KB)

It should not be your air for sure. I am certainly no expert. I think your setup would work best if you had the refrigerated air dryer before the beads cells.

From the sound of it you sure have done a lot of research and testing.

Can’t remember if it has been asked but how is your cable management? Any wires overlapping especially the USB? Have you checked for ground loops?

Also how does it run with the THC off?
Can you post picture of your consumables?

yes im doing as much research as possible in hopes i can eventually use the plasm cutter effectively. right now it is just taking up space not getting used because i am running out of things to try and burning through so much metal trying to get it to work.
I keep the cables as away from each other as possible and not looping or crossing other cables. I did check for ground loops but i will check again next time i try to run the machine.
whether thc is on or not it works the same.
i will take some pictures next time i get the chance and post them here as a response to you.
i appreciate you going back and forth with me to help resolve this problem :beers:

I recently got my Table running and my first cut I just did a Line Cut thats one of the options on Fire Control…Cut perfect with the settings that just popped on top of my head from reading through years in here. When i went and uploaded gcode it Did the exact thing your experiencing. I got a lot of research to do! Hope you fixed the issue

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So cut fine on a straight cut in firecontrol. But when you tried something else you had problems.

So was the cut you had problems artsy? lots of detail?
Or was it something fairly simple with straight lines?
Look at what changed between your good cuts and the cuts you had trouble with.
That will help you narrow down what’s causing the problem

What CAD CAM are you using?

One thing i would try is create a line cut from your cad/cam software the same as the line cut you made directly from fire control. use same settings, and try the line cut from fire control first, and then immediately try the line cut you created from your software. see if they both work

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Sorry for late update. been away from shop for few days.
Whether thc is on or off runs about the same.
here are some photos of the consumables. these have less than a hundred pierces ran through them so far.



One thing i would consider would be to move the air dryer have it before your bead cells so your beads don’t have to work so hard. How old are your beads? They lose their effectiveness over time as well.

The electrode may be bad looks to have a decent hole in the center. They should be changed when they have about a 1/16 dimple in them.

Have you took cover off the plasma and turned up air pressure? Sorry I can’t remember. I have mine set to 75 psi when running. You said 80 when running is that on the front of the plasma?

Those are ht consumables right? Just to eliminate that it would be nice to see how oem run. If you don’t want to buy a set I am sure I could send a set to you for what I have in them.

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i will try that out one of these days when i have time and see if it makes a difference. would probably help the bead cells last longer like you said.
ill try to measure the size of the hole tomorrow. would it be bad after less than 100 pierces?
they are the hypertherm ones but ive been having these problems ever since getting the machine, so i used up the oem one in the beginning and its exactly the same.
yes i took cover off and turned up psi. and yes 80psi on the front of the plasma cutter on the gauge.
would definitely love to try out a set that you use and see if it makes a difference. i really appreciate that.

First thing I would do is open the machine up and back the internal air regulator off several turns and place your regulator with a gauge on the air line right at the line going into the plasma cutter. Have found that the internal regular is set to low and you really are not getting a true pressure reading of air at the nozzle.

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If you have a issue of cut height moisture or a number of other things can ruin consumables faster .

Does it cut decent with new consumables?

I am think it had been a while since my rw45 was on the table a couple hundred pierces at best. Arc time as well can affect how long they last.

You can dm me you address I can see what postage will cost . Could drop a set in the mail on Monday.