Plasma taper measurement tool

I started cutting slightly thicker material as I am building experience for a project I intend to work on in the future.

I noticed what I believe is a more pronounced taper on the cuts. It’s NOT due to the torch mount as it’s very consistent when cutting a circle - it creates a “cone” instead of a slanted cylinder.

My question is: what is a good tool to precisely measure the taper angle? I know there are many tools like that, I am asking for one that people have successfully used for this purpose.

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If you have measurable and repeatable taper then why don’t you tune your settings to eliminate it? Or, is that the goal, quantify first and then tune? (That would be unique in the annals of this forum! JK :wink:)

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I would like to acquire the correct tool to measure and assess how much of a taper I have in order to come up with the best strategy. Dial tools, unless they have some sort of a vernier mechanism, do not seem precise enough…?

Have you tried replacing the tip? When mine is worn it gets a bad taper.

Brand new consumables of course.

I measure my laser taper in thick materials with a machinists square sitting on the top surface and hanging over the cut edge. Caliper the offset distance in the cut and do a little math, or draw in CAD and measure on screen.

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That sounds interesting and the math is not a problem, but I am not sure how to exactly measure the “offset distance”… I will think about it :wink: Thanks

Sounds like he is measuring the distance between the square and the cut edge with calipers then trigging out the angle. My guess is he has an angle tolerance to hold

the tool I showed above is the easiest way to measure the angle, no math involved

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if you want to be really picky