Hi guys, as the title says How important is a THC on a 2x2 table? I plan on cutting mostly 1/8" or less material which will be new and flat.
I have never done any work with a cnc plasma so I’m not familiar with how much it will warp during cutting etc, but I feel with a small table like this using new flat material should be ok without it? or is it really worth the extra 550USD? im up in Canada and the exchange is bad, and we also get hammered with import fees so the lower I can make the bill the better - so do I REALLY need it?
If you can get the thc, think youll find that even 1/4 inch wont be flat after handling and a few cut. youll be wasting time finding the high spot in material and adjusting torch hight manually to not hit material and hoping its not too high for the lows. not overly complicated but time consuming.
I dont have thc. lots to learn b4 i spend another 550
THC is MOST needed on thinner material, IMO. That is likely to warp during cutting and only THC will follow it. Further, on the 2x2 table, with the cantilevered arm, it is difficult to impossible to maintain a perfectly level arm over time across the whole surface of the table. If you set an 0.060" gap on one corner, what’s the gap on the far corner?
Finally, consumable life will be longer because you can have a proper pierce height and then drop down to a proper cut height.
You can get less splash too if you raise the torch, which still as post-flow air, well above the work on rapids.
Can you cut with out it sure, but its hard on the consumables. If you are doing much and really want to optimize the machine its required. So for a Hypertherm plasma and other will be similar the pierce height is .150 inches and the cut height is .060 inches. For reference .060 inches is thickness of a US penny.