I’m having an issue that started recently where about 30 % of my pierces are not operating correctly. The arc is firing, but it doesn’t sound like as much air is being allowed through the torch, and because of that it doesn’t pierce through the material until after the torch moves. You can hear a noticeable difference in the air pressure coming out of the tip when it fires and it doesn’t pierce correctly, but there is still an arc.
I performed the fix for the misfire issue immediately upon receiving the plasma cutter in the mail. It has never missed an arc so I know that’s not the issue.
I have clean, dry air coming into my cutter and brand new consumables. To give an idea, I have a refrigerated air dryer, then a desiccant dryer, about 25 feet of tube, followed by another desiccant dryer, followed by a motorguard filter, then to my plasma cutter. I’ve never had an issue with moisture and/or consumables burning up.
To me it seems like something inside the plasma cutter is getting stuck and not allowing the correct amount of air to flow through when the trigger is pressed. Has anyone else experienced this issue? This machine is only a few months old and I use it a few days a week but for small stuff. I’ve gone through maybe 5 4x8 steel sheets.
From your post, I’m betting that your compressor is appropriately sized, but just for consistency, how big is your compressor? lol
Are you using aftermarket consumeables? This sounds like my experience with eBay consumeables that I tried to run on my harbor freight cutter years ago. Beyond that I’m not a razor weld guy so I’ve got nothing.
Make sure your work clamp/ground is on the metal not the table. You need 100 to 120 psi going to the plasma cutter. Watch your air pressure gauge on the plasma cutter and make sure its not dropping lower then 65/70 psi. Also check your torch height it should be around .060". You also need to check your electrode is moving freely in the swirl ring and not binding.
I’m using at 60 gallon compressor rated at 15 cfm. Plenty big enough. I am clamping my ground directly on the metal as close to the cut as possible. I have never clamped onto the table. I am using the consumables from the man on here that everyone has recommended. I haven’t had a problem until these last couple of weeks.
I’m running between 75-80 PSI at the plasma cutter while it’s cutting. .063 cutting height and .12 pierce height. I was running at .15 pierce height for a while with no issues. I started lowering it as this issue started happening recently to try and overcome it.
To me it sounds like the air solenoid in the plasma cutter is sticking. I opened the plasma cutter today and the solenoid they have in the razorweld is a 3 way solenoid and the 3rd port didn’t have a plug in it. So crud has fallen inside. Is it possible that this crud is causing the air solenoid to stick and not open fast enough to let enough air through to pierce in time?