Just wanted to see what others are averaging on their consumable sets, and how much of an air dryer system you run, paired with geographic location.
Me - PrimeWeld consumables, 400 pierces (before quality degrades) on the nozzle, and 800 pierces on the electrode.
I can pull more pierces out of both components, but I’ve never blown out an electrode, and don’t wish to waste metal with bad cuts IE beveling.
I’m in Central CA so it’s dry here, thus a simple coalescing filter, desiccant filter, water separator and motorguard are good enough for me.
I just bought an entire set of consumables from ATTC (made in USA) as I’ve run into other threads about how they can provide up to 30% life over Hypertherm. They’ve done so well, Hypertherm actually sued them many times over patent issues, etc if that says anything. The information is public so you can look it up.
Anyway, I can’t wait to fully test my ATTC consumables but at the same time, I was hoping to get some Hypertherm consumables as well.
If I net 1,000 pierces on the ATTC electrodes, and 500 pierces on the nozzles, at the cost it might not be a solid ROI. But if I can net about 1,200 and 600, it could start making sense to switch.
I just got off the phone and sent an email to Kenny at ATTC (again, American company with support here in the US) to confirm I do have the correct shield deflector/set.
Specific to this torch; so yeah would apply only to PrimeWeld machines.
And yes, I am wanting to try out Hypertherm but haven’t because it’d be a rather bad ROI simply to “test” as I’d be forced to buy a 5 pack of electrodes (at $56/5) and 5 pack of nozzles ($33/5) not to mention all other associated items.
I did that with ATTC as I never see anyone post about them on here or the FB group so I figured “why not”.
They’re priced similarly with the Hypertherm consumables they compete against.
I got you. So the adapter won’t cause damage to your torch?
I will say this on the test I feel if you run hypertherm consumables and get anything close to those who run hypertherm machines. It will be hard pressed to beat…
I have the PTM-60 torch. I bought it right before them released the 105
Also I think I got one of the very last V2 Cut 60s. It was in the mail when they announced the more CNC friendly V3. I called and asked them to switch it… they told me they would when/if I had problems. I never have.
Yeah, ouch. I’ve read about 1 or 2 people in the FB group getting under 100 per set, as well as a member on my truck forum getting under 100 per set on his Razorweld 45.
These items have to be a result of moisture in their air systems. The rest of us pulling hundreds more (using the same torch and consumables) is proof of that.
Aside from the obvious difference on the last part, another thing I noticed was how much heavier the retaining cap was on the ATTC variant. Not only that, the holes in the swirl ring are cut to run air in the opposite direction as the PW.
So you are running unshielded the only thing that shield protects is the threads. Then if the holes are opposite would that not change your cut direction because the plasma flame would be different?
The shield, retaining cap, and swirl ring only arrived today.
I’m not doing any cutting with them until I gather some Hypertherm parts so I can compare at least 3 sets in a similar climate.
I’ll have to pull them at specific intervals say, 200, swap, and continue cutting then pull at 200, swap, and continue cutting.
I’d like to rotate them out as if one is rotating tires.
However to make it truly fair, I’d need to take an electrode and nozzle for each different brand IE one from ATTC, and one from Hypertherm, to fine tune their speeds and/or amps if needed.
But yes it seems the ATTC will be unshielded the same way my old torch was (as referenced above).
Being retired allows me such flexibility, and just having a knack for record keeping makes stuff like this easy for me and I figure others can benefit from such information as well.
But like you, I don’t like doing it on my dime either
The Duramax is the version prior to the current 45xp torch. The electrode has a spring attached to the back end of it and it’s good for up to 105 amps.
The ATTC kit has a fixed electrode and the nozzle is spring loaded. It’s designed so that you just swap out the electrode, swirl ring and nozzle.
I’ll probably contact them eventually, but I’ve got plenty of Hypertherm parts for now.
