I am having some issues with cut quality. The first several cuts I made were as clean as I could ask for. Then I start having some cuts be good and smooth then some look shaky and then some beveling. Here is what I have and what I have tried.
-Razorcut 45
-14 guage mild steel
-100 ipm
-.60 shim from torch to work piece
-plasma set to 30 amps
-water table
-material clamped down
-grounded to material
-new tip
-air pressure is good and dry with no pressure drops
- table and slats are level
-nothing loose in the gantry including set screws, bearings ect.
-torch holder is good
So I’m at a loss of what to try next. I have played with the feed speeds up and down and it doesn’t seem to help any. Im just baffled because it did cut well on the first 5 pieces or so.
Any suggestions would be great!
Hi there,
When you say clean vs. shaky, what kind of difference are we talking about? The reason I ask is that it could be something HUGE or something minor.
When it starts clean and goes to shaky, does it ever go back to clean? Also just to be sure, what consumables are you using and where are they coming from?
can you post any pictures of the issues?
You didn’t say if you changed consumables or what shape they are in.
Also you said your air is dry but how do we know? What filters do you have? Has the tank been drained? One filter or 2 little $20 filters don’t cut it.
Okay! So here are some pics of a piece i made just to test cutting. Also my air compressor and dryer setup. This is all new and can assure there is no moisture in the lines. Once thing i did notice is the ceramic was cracked, I’m assuming it was from the torch holder being tight and not round.
Nothing on the inside is cracked so I assumed it wasn’t the culprit. I have ordered some new ones for backup so waiting on that. The consumables have maybe two short runs on them as i just replaced. Let me know if its the ceramic or something else im missing. Thanks again
I don’t approve of your Compressor/Dryer setup, you should just send it to me for disposal ASAP 
So it’s probably not wet air. The small cutout looks like a lost ground issue, but if it’s clamped to the metal it can’t be that.
The consumables look fine, but I think the ceramic could definitely be the issue. Perhaps Gamble or Mechanic can explain, but my guess is the air could be flowing through the cutter incorrectly because of it.
3 Likes
Lol yeah I can second that if you need my address… but the only variable i didn’t see was the actual psi that your cutter is running at for static and dynamic PSI.
1 Like
The retaining cup is trash now. Air should be 100 to 125 to the plasma cutter with a 3/8" air line. Are the cutting tips 0.8mm/30 amp or 0.9mm/40 amp.
I ordered some new retaining cups but would they be the cause of these cuts? My air is set to 90 psi cause I run air tools off the same line but I also made several very clean cuts with this setup before i started having the issue. As long as there is no pressure drop I couldn’t see the air as an issue. As far as the cutting tips its the Razorcut 45 plasma and its a one size as far as I know and I’m not sure of the specifications.
That’s what I used when I was using my RW45 (I’ve since switched to a Hypertherm with a machine torch). If I recall correctly there’s another pressure regulator (& dryer) inside the cabinet so it’ll get stepped down if you over pressurize the source but there’s an upper limit to what it will take. There’s a warning somewhere that says what the upper limit is but I don’t remember if it was the user manual, website or somewhere else. So I didn’t make it more than 90psi.
I believe the tips are .8MM (30A) S45s if they are the same ones that came with my cutter.
I think it could be the retaining cup (so that’s what they are called). I went back and looked at my RW45, and from what I gather and read the air goes through the swirl ring which creates a vortex around the electrode before exiting the tip. Since that whole enclosure sits in the retaining cup, I would think that any disruption could affect your cut.
When does your cup come in? I’m kind of curious about this myself.
They are suppose to be here tomorrow so I’ll see what happens. I really hope that’s the issue because I’m running out of ideas. It was cutting so nice before. Once I get a new one in and try it out I will update!
One thing to keep in mind for the future is where you are getting your consumables from. I’ve found that the cheaper chinese copies can drive you up the wall because you won’t always know if they’ll work properly.
I’m not sure what the ones that came with the machine are from, but mine were only 8mm and therefore good for up to around 30A. When you get a chance you might want to look at getting ones that are 1.0 which will be good for 40-50A.
He can not get 1.0mm tips if he want to keep using the S45 style consumables on his IPT torch.
I didn’t know that sir… Glad I’m getting mine from you then 
How’d it go patriotfab?
Double check your air pressure at your plasma torch. I had my shop air set to 90psi, so figured it was fine, but on my Hypertherm it only showed as 57psi, so I ran a separate line that gives 70psi at the torch. The cuts are much better now, still some backside dross, but much, much better. I hope this helps!
-Ben
1 Like
Ok update! Got the new retaining cup and tried it out. There was maybe a slight improvement but still not making a clean, consistent cut. I double checked everything I listed previously and still am baffled. I was so blown away at the first several cuts and how clean they were and now, not so much 
I hate to keep asking you to “go and do XXX”, but in order to compare apples to apples with me I’ve only known IPT consumables other than the (imo crap) ones that came with the cutter.
Have you purchased new consumables yet? The reason I ask is that if you haven’t perhaps you should try out some of the Italian ones, either in S45 or IPT (change out the swirl right as well)
Otherwise I’m not sure what to do. I’ve always had nice cuts with my RW45 using the IPT consumables, and I didn’t much like the ones that came with the cutter.
1 Like
I did purchase some new consumables on ebay. I tried not to get the cheapest and ordered from a U.S. vendor. I know they could still be China made. At this point I might just order some OEM ones to rule it out. 
Yeah it must be frustrating…
If you’ve used two tips I’m guessing it’s not them, but you never know as maybe you got a bad batch with some weirdness. Have you taken a look at your swirl ring to make sure it doesn’t have any imperfections? Short of returning the cutter, maybe try out mechanic416 IPT consumables with a new swirl ring just to be sure. Maybe give him a call, he knows everything about plasmas. I would actually stay away from the OEM stuff, but that’s me.
