Issues.. Everlast 62i E04 Error

[Domo]

Hi Burners,

Sorry for falling off not too long after my entrance. I actually have not made a lot with my table since the last stuff I posted, but have been more involved in familiarizing myself with the design side on Fusion 360…

So here I am (yesterday) with 4 sheets of 1/8" that I am Looking to make pieces/parts out of. With the cutting that I have done so far, I have not had a single issue with the table, cutter, THC, limit switches, nada… Well, I probably got ahead of myself and went in too fast with my cutting I will admit, but now I’m in a bit of a pickle until I can get this resolved.

I start cutting one of my pieces/parts (40A, 86ipm, .06 standoff, 60psi at torch I believe when cutting), and it cuts out the first circle in a vented wall. Then it goes to cut the outer frame of the wall, and I notice that the torch appears to have a high standoff. Shortly after noticing, the arc goes out, fire control kicks an error message and I have an E04 error on my cutter. Baffled by this, I retry the cut and notice the same thing re standoff height. It cuts for a couple inches, then just gouges, then the electrode greened out on me as it was going bye bye. CRAP!

So I swap consumables, grind the mill scale at the ground attach point, test the spring in the torch, get lit up with sensing voltage and try again… Same thing each time. I am calling this failed attempt my drop section as it is still within range, so no harm/no fowl but I am curious if I am overlooking a path that has been gone down before? I realize that the E04 error is for overvoltage. I know that I have a good feel and good voltage going into the cutter. I really think that it is something else, but I am not 100% what it might be. I have read the few threads threads that I could find on E04 errors, and I plan on further inspecting the torch plunger and pins for free movement, adding a bit of silicone grease for future benefit…

I know that this is a little spastic wall of words, but curious: If my air pressure were to drop too low while cutting, would this be a symptom of that?

Project pic for reference. Will post more if I have any success at gitten her done…

[Domo]

As a note, I am observing where the cut stopped last, and it appears to be a solid .25 between the tip and the steel…

I just went back and checked all of my stuff between setup files, post files, my tool library… Everything seems to be on point, so I don’t know why the standoff is so high. I was going to try it without THC, but I post processed with THC enabled, so didn’t know if that would work out. I was thinking of going back and post processing without THC, but my day ran out on me. Getting ready to hit the road and head back home for some more troubleshooting…

[mechanic416]

E04 is not over voltage. It means something with the torch or consumables, like a swirl ring missing, wrong consumables, contact pins sticking, etc.

[Domo]

So that’s what I was reading regarding the error as well. I didn’t know if overvoltage was at the input of the machine or at torch… So, the first thing that I did was take apart and reassemble the tip, ring and housing. That was before the electrode melted and replacing.

I took the torch off and the body seems to be fine. Nice and clean, the plunger and contact springs actuate smoothly. That tip was subjected to a bit of brief firing and soon after E04’ing.

[Domo]

I guess that I noticed a few different things going on between the seemingly high standoff and the E04 error. I misinterpreted the error, but the nozzle was the first thing that I ran across in discussion of the error.

Is that error 100% specific to something in the nozzle, or could some other condition/variable (low air cfm or high standoff) make it happen? I was going to fire the system up and watch the air pressure closer, also stop it mid run before it errors out and gauge it. Would this be a waste of time, and should I focus more on the torch? I’ll probably do it either way for peace of mind re THC sanity check. That way I know if it is a perception thing or not.

[Domo]

I just ran half a shim and stopped it mid way. I’m measuring .115 between tip and surface. Not trying to go down the wrong road with the E04, but could it be any relation?

I did the RTFM re: the THC User Manual, and there is not much on the issue that I am seeing (high ride, stops mid-long straight cut, E04). Again, could be totally unrelated. The whole setup has sat for a month or two, so this is the first time firing up in a while… I could be running into more than one issue here.

[Domo]

Eh, so reseat the THC box barrel connectors ( ) and she’s holding a tight gap, minimal dross. Huh? I dunno… More test cuts needed.

[mechanic416]

That cut looks good. It may have only been some bad connections.

[Domo]

Yeah, that was weird… I made good use of that section though. Got a number of small parts cut out of it, so thankfully it wasn’t too painful of a lesson! There will be many more… Thanks!

[rat196426]

Nice looking smoker project you are building…

[Domo]

Thanks @rat196426. Made some progress today.

[Knick]

Tell me you have converted the brake over to air over hydraulic?

[rat196426]

I see you have a rogue tube bender in background, do you like it.

[Domo]

@Knick Yep, those are Yellow Jacket AOH 20T’s tied to a manifold and foot pedal. Had a eureka the other day with that press. I think that I am going to break down the bottom die, or replace with sections to give more flexibility. Fingers on the top is ok, but a fixed die on the bottom limits things. That little Langmuir brake looks to be the bees-knees, but I’m in too deep with this one.

@rat196426 I have not used it for complex multi-bend pieces, but it does pretty good. I have a handful of dies, including square tubing, and as long as the walls aren’t too thin, it has provided clean bends. I think that a horizontal bender might be more intuitive for me though, as I find it harder to spatialize with the vertical plane being my origin point.

[apynckel]

I used to get a lot of torch misfire errors and had an E04 a while back that was due to bad contact of the sprung prongs to the torch shield cup. Some scotchbrite and dielectric grease fixed the E04 (fitting an oring around the cup to prevent coolant back splash too), and after actually manually setting the Z axis zero before running a program seemed to greatly assist in both fixing the torch ignition issue, as well as cut quality. Stupid things you take for granted with the THC setup.

[Domo]

Thanks @apynckel

I’ll be sure to stay mindful of this moving forward. I think that I’ll do a through cleanup of all things that might potentially get wet after doing a long run, including the cutter head from now on. I have my silicone/dielectric grease too, so after this job is done, gonna give her a little TLC. I need to do test cuts/sanity checks as well every time that I cut, as that was just dumb on my part to assume it was operating the same as I left it months prior.

[Upstategrowguy77]

I was wondering same thing since I have one all built and have yet to use. I got the tradesman kit with dies from 1” up to 2” but since welding it all up haven’t even had any projects to try it on. Hoping this summer that will change