My cutter is a Viper 30 that I ordered through Langmuir. When I plug compressed air in to the machine, the air hisses out of the body of the cutter. The hissing is almost as loud as when I use a blow gun, for instance. The air seems to be just running from my compressor to the cutter and out, as my compressor loses pressure while it is connected to the cutter and hisses the whole time.
I’ve tried fiddling with the air knob on the top of the cutter, but it doesn’t seem to do much of anything either loosened or tightened. I haven’t been able to get the cutter to arc either, but it does push air through the system as evidenced by a post push of air after I attempt to fire the torch.
I traced the sound to a port on the bottom of the machine. When I called Razorweld, the guy I spoke with said it’s something of a blow off port in case there’s too much pressure, but the hissing starts immediately even at low pressures like 10 psi.
He hinted that “none of the new Viper 30’s have had this problem,” but since we ordered the cutter along with the table several months ago, I don’t know if maybe we got an “older” model that still had leaking issues. When I asked if this was possible, he asked that I go through Langmuir for a service request since they are wholesale only.
Admittedly I am new to pneumatic tools and air compressors, and the noise could just be part of the plasma cutting experience. But I’ve never heard loud hissing in the videos I’ve seen the Viper 30 in, and the loss of pressure from the air compressor makes me think it isn’t normal.
So is there something I need to do with the air knob? Or is it likely that I have an air leak? Happy to provide a video if we think it will help.
On the face plate of the cutter there is a switch you can toggle that turns on the air flow through the torch for the purpose of making pressure readings and adjustments. Can you verify that’s not currently switched on?
The first problem was that the (clear plastic) bowl on the internal air filter arrived incredibly loose. (I didn’t touch that part of the cutter while attaching the Crossfire cable.) Opening up the unit again and hand tightening the bowl cut down on the hissing sound significantly.
That didn’t completely fix the air leak though. Like you, I still could hear a leak from the base of the unit and feel it with finger pressure. I finally sent Jasic this video of the leak and they sent out a (used) replacement.
Like you said, the leak from the bottom is not related to pressure in from the compressor (regulated to 90psi) or the internal regulator and it just leaked like this until my air compressor tank was completely empty.
Check the brass fitting at the back of the plasma and the brass fitting right inside the machine
The water trap inside will leak if you have more than 90psi.
My water trap (not my vipercut) leaks at really low psi until it builds enough pressure to hold itself shut. That’s normal operation. Check if yours leaks at 70-80psi. If it does you may have an issue or a hose isn’t seated all the way
I attempted to jack the psi up to 70 and then plug the air in from there, same problem.
Our machine came spliced already so I actually haven’t opened the cutter and I’m a little hesitant to do so for warranty reasons. It would be really pretty awful to need to return the machine but have voided the warranty by opening it up to diagnose and tighten stuff down. But then I do tend to be over cautious =)