Hey guys, just put together my crossfire XR 4x8 with Hypertherm 45 xp. I have a copper pipe dryer and a desiccant filter setup. The problem I’m having is I’m getting wavy/ choppy edges to all my cuts (tested on 14 ga steel). Very noticable on letters, holes, small cuts but also shows on larger edges. After reading a bit, I don’t think the cut settings would cause this, but could be wrong.
The questions I have:
Would the caster wheels I have on the machine cause this? I don’t see any movement from the table when cutting but it may be so small that it is just enough to throw the cuts off
Would cut speeds have anything to do with it or is that more focused on bevel and kerf size
When moving the z axis assembly manually, I’m able to tilt back the whole assembly on the gantry. When i let go of it, it sits back into place onto the rollers. Is it nornal for it to be this loose and just held in place by its weight?
If I were to guess, there something loose with the ball drive or the lead screws needs some lubrication. Someone with an XR will have better insight. Or torch has some slop.
Now going backwards on your list; item #3. Are you saying the z-axis pivots or just rises perpendicular to the table. Because the mechanism does have a “float” feature. That is how it establishes z=0, during the IHS. Check to see that the consumables are stacked in the right order and configuration.
Item #2. If your cut speed was too fast, you might see additional dross on the top of the metal or incomplete cut. Too slow and you would see a larger kerf and/or more dross on the bottom of the plate.
Item#1. Caster movement. Would not be so consistent, especially on straight cuts.
Edit: Just found this post that might have some “bearing”…
Can you post pics of cut? One cause can be Y and X axis rails can have paint chipped off or rough finish. will make jagged cuts will smooth out after rollers and bearings break in on paint or you can sand smooth.
Hey guys thanks for the replies! I found a roller that wasnt making full contact with the gantry which allowed some play.
I do have a few other issues though, the pierce delay settings from the hypertherm book werent working. I belive for 14 ga steel it was suggesting 0.2. Ive had to bump it up to 0.6 and still may need to add even more.
I noticed yesterday when cutting, a couple of random pieces would get skipped, the torch fire would skip that cut section but the torch would still be following the cut path. (Example: doing a flag it would skip a star). If i ran the same program again it would skip a different area so it must be the plasma cutter
Another issue was i wasnt able to pause the program, i tried from the screen and the hand held controller. Ive been able to pause before but yesterday it wasnt working.
I had wavy cuts when moving on x axis and no wave on y axis cuts. Watching the machine i noticed the belt pully was not centered. This was causing a bouncing motion that transfered to torch