Hard Dross on 14ga

CrossFire ® PRO General Discussion
1

I’m working through my first sheet and trying to get things dialed in.

I do not have THC, but I do have a good clean air supply.

My machine is a PrimeWeld CUT-60. I started with the setting closest to 14ga (skips over 14ga) in the PrimWeld cut charts and was using the tips that came with it, 1.1. As per the chart I was at 30a, 100IPM. It cut fine but had lots of hard dross. I ordered the 40a tips from mechanic and tried again, still the same. Then I started reading and saw some were cutting 14ga at as high as 225IPM at 45a with some machines.

I did some test cuts from 80 to 160IMP with varying amps, air pressures. At 160IMP it looked pretty good but they were just straight line cuts. I cut out a small 12" x 6" design at 160IPM, 40a and it was much better. The straight sections had light dross that popped off or came off by chipping but in the curved/detailed areas I still have some small blobs, hard stuff. It came off with less effort than before but still a pain. Some of the tighter curved areas were just a bit jagged but not bad, the other less curved and straight cuts look excellent.

I’ve read some that can get almost dross free with 14ga but others say there is no getting away from it with thin metal. Also it was mentioned to get the water as high as possible in the table to keep it cool.

I would appreciate your experiences or suggestions with 14ga or similar material.

2

From day one, I am cutting 16g mild steel and galv steel with great success with my PrimeWeld CUT60
I’m using the standard consumables that came with the machine. Feed rate 110ipm, pierce delay 200ms, cut height 0.06in, pause at end of cut 100ms. I have very little dross on the backside which is easily removed by chipping with a paint scraper.
for 14g, try bumping the amps up a tad maybe to 32 or 33A
Pressure from compressor is 125psig, static pressure at the CUT60 (torch off) is 90psig and dynamic pressure (torch on) 75psig

Hope this helps.

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i use 32 amps, 120ipm, 55psi, .9 tip for 14 gauge on the Cut60. minimal dross but then i place the piece in cleaning vinegar overnight and I’d say 99% of the dross falls off on it’s own in the tub. the rest comes off with wire wheel.