Hear me out. I’ve seen lots of great photos of projects. But, I haven’t seen anyone else’s product first hand. Looking at my own cuts, I feel like there is room for improvement, but I can’t be certain because I’ve only seen my own stuff! Plus, even taking photos of my own stuff so far, I have to move it around and TRY to capture the imperfections.
Anyway, I don’t know what settings to work on if I’m already within the capabilities of the machine.
Here is what I can think of at the moment. Note: I’ve only cut 16g mild steel so far. I’ll be cutting some 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 this weekend.
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I have slight play in the torch holder front to back (eccentric bearings I believe). I’ve put a wrench to them, but it took some decent torque to move the bolt and I didn’t want to test fate.
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Settings. I have not run a line speed test. What I did though, was run multiple programs of 10 rounded rectangles lines like in the photo. It’s for a molle panel for cars. I’m cutting on my 45xp at 45 amps. I had started at 30 amps, but tried 45 and thought the results were better. Perhaps I should go back to 30 and slow down even more?
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Pierce points. Not sure how to get rid of those. I’ve tried overcut, longer lead ins and lead outs.
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Cut direction. Should it be reversed for all inside paths or just holes? I got the best results on my rounded rectangles using normal cut direction.
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Finally, my .250 skinny rectangles came out at .22. I’ve checked the measurements in sheet cam and they should have been bigger.
Anyway, I guess this is the most advanced noob post there is. I joined plasma spider, but haven’t spent much time over there. I can really only handle one forum at a time.
Standby for pics from my phone.
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I see a lot of pierce marks. Are you using Lead In / Lead Out?
Thanks for the reply.
I am using lead ins, except for on the lines that I’m cutting with no offset. The mouth of the paw patrol character was cut with no offset, so that pierce point makes sense. But I’m getting the marks even with the lead ins and over cut. I’ve tried lead outs as well didn’t see a difference, and I’ve gone up to .250 of a lead in / out.
Are they unavoidable to a certain extent?
On the cat’s mouth I would have put the pierce point at the corner of the mouth where you had a little more room and the pierce if noticeable wouldn’t be as obvious.
Thanks, I agree. That was the result of a design error, I’m slowly figuring this out.
Any input on the molle rectangles?
I see a lot of little seemingly random waves and imperfections. The problem with the Crossfire and Hypertherm machines is the feed rates for Hyperthem at 45amps are a lot faster than the Vipercut plasmas. The Crossfires are made from thin walled square tube and they move and vibrate a lot at feed rates above 200ipm. On my OG I saw huge improvements in the cuts when I tied the legs together with a big steel shelf and got rid of the casters. I know the pro doesn’t have casters but a large shelf with some weight to it may help add some rigidity to the frame and weight to dampen the vibrations and movement.
Sometimes you will get some dings at the end of the cut if the piece is small, as it falls away the arc kind flares after it.
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Thanks for the feedback. I have added a lower shelf, I think it made a little bit of difference. I started cutting the 16g with 30 amps and lower speed and noticed an improvement as well. 275 just seemed awfully fast.
Ran some 1/4 inch yesterday and while the cut looked great it still had a bit of a bevel. I’m thinking the torch isn’t square. I’ll be making some more adjustments tonight.
I started using lead in as tangent and picking 90 degree corners for my lead in and that helped as well. Looking at a couple laser cut pieces I have, I can see a tiny lead in. Perhaps some of this is just the manufacturing process? Metal can only be cut so clean?
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I’m cutting 16ga at 30 amps and 120 ipm and it turns out great. I don’t see how you could expect the couplers on the motors not to slip at that speed. I’m using .15 arc lead in on everything and pierce height of .15. I’m going to try the overcut tonight to see if it makes 1/4" holes look any better.
What cutter? I have a pm 45xp
I looked at the Hypertherm cut chart and that thing will move on. It almost seems like putting a Ferrari engine in a riding mower…