I’m in the process of setting up my Crossfire table and am very excited. I have a 30XP and I’m curious about people’s experiences between standard and finecut consumables.
I’ll only ever be cutting <1/4’’ aluminum…mostly 1/4, 1/8 6061 and then 16-20Ga mild steel & stainless.
Do fine cut consumables lead to overall better cuts on this range of thicknesses? Do they have shorter life times?
I don’t do anything in a production capacity - mostly prototyping, so consumable lifetime isn’t super important…but if post grinding is required regardless of consumable type then I guess it doesn’t really matter which I use and I would pick the one with longer lifespan.
if you look at the manuals for the 45xp and the powermax 65 / 85 there is no cut charts listed for cutting aluminum with finecuts consumables. Why? aluminum cut creates a type of spatter that can easily clog the nozzle making it not reliable/repeatable enough to even produce a cut chart for.
here is a example of a nozzle plug by aluminum
Dry air and running with in is range will give you the longest consumable life .
Thanks @TinWhisperer! Interesting to hear that the 45XP, etc. don’t have a chart for finecut with aluminum. Curious why this isn’t the same on the 30XP?
I originally was going to use finecut because I only had 120V…but my new workspace has 240V. The manual actually only lists cut charts for finecut at 120V, and standard at 240V…even though the manual also states that at 240 you can use both finecut & standard. A little bit of inconsistency there…unless they simply mean to use the same cut chart speed at 240V with finecut & standard.
Also, if finecut can get clogged by aluminum that might be a deal breaker for me.
I do have both consumables right now, so I guess I’ll have to just do some test cuts and compare the edge quality. I may just start off with standard @ 240V and take it from there. If cuts look acceptable then I don’t really see a need to switch.
And maybe this is saying they don’t want you using standard consumables at 120 volts?
Then both cut chart only show 120 volts. But maybe the 30 amp current chart is actually supposed to be the 240volts and 30amps? And this is the misprint in the 2nd page.
The reason for the two different 120V charts is due to the actual breaker current on the 120V line was my assumption. For instance, I have 30amp breaker on my shop 120V so I never worried about running the machine at full output. If someone is running a 15 or 20 amp 120V line the intention is to limit the machine at 25amps output.
I wouldn’t overthink it. The 30XP was most likely never intended as a production machine. They probably never thought people would hook it up to a CNC either. Hand cutting was the expectation. I bought my 30XP in 2015 for hand cutting, Langmuir didn’t exist then.
No chart for 240V on finecut. Never will be. Only Jim Colt can answer some of these questions being the most knowledgeable person on Hypertherm in that era.
Here is the main reference to both consumbles running on 240V:
Regardless, I will start off with the standard consumables and take it from there.
I guess my original question was more along the lines of - does anybody have comparison photos or experience with edge quality comparing the finecut to the standard on <1/4’’ aluminum and thin gauge steel/stainless?
Quote confirming the expectation that the 30XP was for hand cutting so you just won’t find any more charts. It’s up to the individual user and his needs. Also Jim hasn’t participated here for 3 years so don’t expect him to jump in anytime soon.
