Langmuir Systems Crossfire - Quality + tolerance issues

CrossFire ® Troubleshooting
1

I have a crossfire + bestarc btc500xp; and recently i’ve wanted to get better cut quality and tolerances with it (i do competitve robotics, its nessecary). While tolerances have been fine, cut bevel has had a major effect on the fitment of some parts. what are ways to reduce cut bevel (and also hole blow-out)

  1. Sometimes when cutting holes out (m4) they will blow out the outside material
  2. i believe this is due to a kerf issue but i don’t know
  3. i was considering investing in higher quality ipt60 consumables/torch

also would getting a smaller ipt60 consumable (.6mm) decrease kerf?

Finally, do machine torches improve quality? i’ve noticed my stock torch tends to sag diagonally and might be contributing to tolerance issues

2

There’s going to be a point where throwing money at this plasma cutter is a waste. It’s literally the cheapest version of a blowback cutter available. If anything this is your bottleneck of quality.

You could try taking your torch and basically making yourself your own retrofit hypertherm duramax machine torch. If you have the capability to do it it’s likely your cheapest option and will result in the best quality your machine can put out. @ds690 has experience with this.

@mechanic416 is the man to answer this question and maybe even make a purchase from.

I’m going to put it out there that maybe it’s time to consider a higher quality plasma machine. Perhaps a Everlast or a Primeweld. These are both relatively inexpensive machines.

You could also try Craigslist to look for a used hypertherm duramax platform plasma.

Or if you have the coin maybe a hypertherm sync 45.

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3

If you’re in the Central Valley (California), there’s a 45XP for only $800.

I don’t need it as I already have one, but I saw it the other day and a guy I cut parts for messaged me about it last night as well :rofl:

4

Thank you guys so much for the quick reply. I’ve since done research on both the forum and youtube and I’ve bought a Primeweld Cut 60. I’m very excited for the new machine–but i still (optimally) want a machine torch. Does the quality of the machine torch effect the overall cut quality? Thanks

5

I would just order one from the get go, but then again my use-case might’ve been different from yours.

I’m a welder/fabricator first, so I always had a hand torch and value being able to remove metal on jobs I’m having to repair/replace.

When I first bought a CNC table, it was a no-brainer to buy a machine torch with it so I did just that to keep my hand torch free for work off table.

What am I getting at?

The hand torch that comes with a PrimeWeld is an IPT clone, which you can find consumables for everywhere. However if you want quality consumables, @mechanic416 is who you want to buy them from as his aren’t the Chinese knock-offs.

Anyway, I ran the PTM-60 torch some years ago and after dialing in my table, I achieved amazing results on everything I cut. I was more of a 3/16” and 1/4” kind of guy and my cuts were perfectly clean, dross-free, and square all around.

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I didn’t even have an air dryer back then and I was running a +30 year old 110v air compressor, all while using PrimeWeld’s Chinese consumables.

Point is, dialing in your own cut chart and ensuring your cut height and pierce heights are correct will net you the best possible cut quality.

Buying premium consumables means longer lasting consumables that will perform consistently.

I was getting around 400-450 pierces per set, but I didn’t care cause they were super cheap. Pictures speak for themselves.

Moving up to the UPM-105 torch, I found my consumables to last a bit longer and I blame that largely due to the consumables being shielded. No real change in cut quality since I was already getting the most out of plasma anyway, just more pierces per set.

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I bought the machine torch just for the hell of it and did so right when PrimeWeld released it. Personally I’d just go that route but if not, the PMT-60 is fine as well.

I’m just assuming that you should be able to achieve similar cut quality being the same consumable type. I just don’t know if I would trust the hand torch to run similar duty cycle as a machine torch, but I could just be overthinking things.

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