Marking with Hypertherm Powermax 45xp




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That is really awesome.

I wish my PowerMax 85 had this capability.

Thank you for sharing this.

Here’s a couple YouTube videos about marking. @Teknic

Once I get my new hypertherm 45XP in my hands I’d like to start trying to do some of this

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That top video, Argon on SS looks gorgeous. I’d love to see Argon on like 14/16g after cleanup to see depth and stuff.

So excited to test it out wasn’t expecting the machine to be arriving so soon, gonna need to order the pieces tonight

Edit: just ordered 5 tips and shields

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Oh yeah, Argon! Of course! Let me get a bottle out of the back room!

Dang! I must have used that on the last space project I worked on. Oh well, have to stock up!

Sigh…
:roll_eyes:

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More videos

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Not a Tig welder I take it?

For marking metals I like using the laser and Cermark for fusion deposition or a diamond engraver on the CNC.

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I don’t have the rhythm for it. My dimes look like eyelashes of a drunken something washed up on shore.

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lol thats a description i’ve never seen, but thats why most people have argon, either TIG or certain MIG setups. It’s not too expensive, but if you just wanna mess with marking its probably going to be a waste of a bunch of money. I’m regularly swapping bottles of the stuff anyway so it’s not much of an issue to swap it to the cutter for a bit

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Man, why cant just one person wire wheel after marking with only air. That’s literally all I want to see lol, everything is always fresh off the machine and looks like it’d be easy to clean up so it can be compared to the Argon setup.

I promise that will be the first marking video I make

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Would 75/25 argon c02 work for marking? I spent 700$ total on a giant tank for my mig. would be real nice to not have to buy another tank lol

I am not sure how C02 would react.

Typically C02 in welding is added for deeper penetration.

In welding gas is used for a shielding atmosphere.

In plasma its used for cooling the torch, ionized to plasma, the cool gas help maintain the shape of the hot plasma within, and in the marking of stainless’s case shielding too.

The question is how well will C02 ionized?? (become plasma)

I don not know the answer but I am curious of the results if you try it.

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Only one way to find out :slight_smile: oh actually now that I think about it I have a 75/25 bottle for my mig. I rarely mig so I totally forgot hahaha. I’ll try it out once I have it so you don’t have to

Marking consumables arrived today, gonna see how my schedule plays out, but prob mess with them this weekend





So here’s my first attempt at “Heavy Marking”:

I’m using book settings except height set slightly lower because the shield hangs just below the cutting tip.

The S is angular because I drew it really quick and wasn’t paying attention when converting text to single path.

The pics are fresh HR 16G steel, then I hit with angle grinder flap disc to kill mill scale fast, then 60 grit orbital sander.

Main issue right now is pierce delay, Hypertherm wants 0 so I ran 0 but I need to add time there.

However is there anyway to change the initial pierce? I know it’s usually longer, and it worked perfectly (the vertical line, it was a T and is the first cut). If I adjust pierce delay for other lines the first line will get cooked

Gonna make a nicer test drawing in a second

I can’t reply more so just adding onto this post:

Video of second marking attempt.

.3 Pierce Delay (probably .05-.1 too slow, need to bump slightly, initial pierce makes a large divot now)

slowed to 90ipm and it looks much smoother in the gouge mark

The S is now smooth in my drawing so it cut smoother, and I put the ground directly on the piece (totally forgot last time since I’m just using a scrap piece lol)

I saw previous guy mention he ran at 111V, I just turned THC off so no voltage setting just cut height.

For cleanup I’m going to do my regular procedure, drop in vinegar tonight and take it out tomorrow then I’ll sand. I honestly think it’s gonna be pretty smooth.

This is all with just air NOT argon yet.

Here’s couple pics


Still can’t add a reply so here’s more

Here’s the piece right after a vinegar bath, and then after a quick sanding. Marking looks much better now although the end of cut “ball” is still there, looks like using Argon should negate that. I’ll prob mess around with Argon this week some time, got a few orders to finish first.





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Those are some really encouraging results.

I can’t wait to try some for myself.

There is a lot of plasma cutters that use this logic for cut height.

And Hypertherm is not one of them.

This is an excerpt from the 45 XP service manual.

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Nice spotting! I’ll readjust that on my next tests. Been getting a good bit of orders so it may be a bit before I mess more with it

This turned out nice! How do you handle the transition from gouging to cutting? I’m using sheetcam and was wondering if a “pause” could be achieved in the code to signify the user of a process change.

Yes, in SheetCam you can insert any random G-Code as an ‘operation’.
Operation->Insert Code
This could include pauses, stops, and multiline code.

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Thank you, I’ll give this a try.