Hypertherm Powermax 65 air compressor

Hello Im new to the forum looking into getting an XR table by the end of the year. I recently bought a hypertherm 65 I plan on using for the table and was curious about what air compressors people are using with that set up. Tractor supply has an 80 gallon ingersol rand air compressor (pt# TS4N5) that puts out 15.8 cfm @ 90psi which is tempting at that price point but I’m not sure about the longevity of it and if it’ll keep up with that plasma cutter with out going off multiple times during a nest. Any help would be very much appreciated thank you!

That’s the compressor I ended up buying, but I added a magnetic starter to protect the pressure switch and the motor. Here is a video that explains why a mag starter is needed. Do I Need A Magnetic Starter on My Air Compressor? - YouTube
Air requirement for your Hypertherm 65 can be found in the manual.

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Thank you for the response I’ll be looking into that switch. Do you feel like the compressor keeps up with your plasma cutter i believe that 15.8 cfm is over the recommended amount hypertherm gives you. My biggest thing is the noise of the compressor going off repeatedly during a nest.

I was pleasantly surprised with the sound level when using it to power hand tools. I have not run my table yet but 80 gallons of stored air at between 150 and 175 psi seems like it will be adequate, but I can’t say for sure yet. I’m sure others will chime in with actual experience.
This is the Mag starter I put on mine. Eaton 5 Horsepower Single 1 Phase 230V Magnetic Starter B27CGF30B040 M – compressor-source
These folks were very helpful with guiding me through the wiring.
Dry air is reportedly very important, so check out the thread on the cooler I made for my Ingersoll Rand TS4N5. Finally finished my Pre-Cooler

I’ve got a 18scfm 7hp 80 gallon kobalt compressor from lowes that is more than needed for my hypertherm 65. The compressor will come on during a cut, but shut off after a bit more time than normal. I’m sure 15.8 will be more than sufficient. They claimed something like 15,000 hours of life on this compressor. I’ve had it for 15 years without issue for weekend use.

As Joel48 mentioned dry air is also quite important. It all depends on your region, in dry CO I did an HPC dryer with desiccant, but in humid areas you might want a refrigerated dryer. I used the hypertherm with a hand torch for many years with a basic air dryer and I’ve noticed the consumables last much longer with the dryer air.

It is fairly loud, but I’m around 40 feet from the compressor and don’t really notice the noise over the plasma cutter.

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